Simple Habits to Help You Live To 100

Not that long ago, living to 100 was probably impossible for the great majority of the human race. With advancements in the medical field and modern life, reaching 100 is not as far out of reach as we once thought. To increase your chances of reaching 100 years, below are some simple habits into your daily routine.

Don’t Overeat
Overeating is a major cause of premature ageing. Food which is in excess of the body’s requirements is not broken down properly and acts like a poison in the body. In addition, overeating wastes up to 60 per cent of your body’s vital energy on digestion, resulting in chronic fatigue and reduced mental clarity. Overeating is also a major cause of obesity and heart disease. The extra food is actually causing malnutrition, since there is reduced assimilation of all the food you eat.

Eat Fruit, Fruit, Fruit!
Fruit is so important for vitality and reversing ageing that it should comprise up to 50 per cent of your total diet. Eating fruit produces a large net energy gain resulting in increased vitality. Eat fruit early in the morning to take advantage of its toxin elimination effect, and wait for about an hour before eating other foods such as breakfast cereals. Fruit is also ideal at morning and afternoon tea breaks, and for snacks at any time during the day.

Add Red Foods to Your Diet
Not only will adding red foods to your diet make your plate more colourful and aesthetically pleasing, it can also help keep you healthy enough to live to 100! Cruciferous veggies like red cabbage are known to help protect against cancer, while beet juice contains nitrates that relax blood vessels.

Splash Cold Water on your face and scalp when you wake up
Cold water, applied properly, has a very positive psychological effect on the body. When you get up in the morning, just splash cold water on your face and scalp from the wash basin. Make sure you splash cold water onto the closed eyes, since this directly stimulates the brain through the optic nerve connecting the eyes to the brain. Repeat this process for about one minute. Don’t dry just yet. Next, massage your scalp with your fingers. Just apply pressure on the scalp and rotate that part of the scalp with the fingers. Then move on to the next area until the whole scalp is done. Use both hands and quite firm pressure. This should only take about two minutes. After this, just dry with a towel.

As well as stimulating the brain, this technique will also stimulate the hair to become healthier, making it richer and shinier and preventing greying.

Cold water stimulation to the brain is an excellent way to start the day. After waking up fresh from deep sleep, the brain is then stimulated into action. As well as feeling better, you’ll find your day will be more productive and efficient.

Think Positively
Negative thoughts such as worry cause depletion of nerve energy, which will sap your vitality and reduce brain function. This causes you to feel ‘down and achieve less’. Increase your vitality by sleeping well, eating well and exercising well. Form the habit of positive thinking by replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Engage the mind in constructive activities, then you have no time to worry. Formulate goals. This gives purpose to life and gets the mind on a higher level than worries.

Do Mental Exercises
As ageing processes, the brain gets smaller, and this process is accelerated if you overindulge in alcohol. But it has also been shown that the brain can grow as we age, if it is frequently stimulated and if we lead a healthy lifestyle. It is the old principle of ‘use it or lose it’. Mental exercise is as important to the brain as physical exercise is to the body and further studies have shown that frequent mental stimulation can reverse brain ageing.

There are many things you can do to stimulate your brain. Of course, if your job provides a lot of mental stimulation, there is no need to do anything extra. If your work is routine, try playing games such as bridge or scrabble or doing crossword puzzles. If you enjoy learning, do a part-time evening course in a subject you are interested in, or a subject which will enhance your career or even start you on a new one.

Deep Sleep Every Night
Deep sleep has the greatest immediate effect on the rejuvenation of the body. Correct nutrition is more important in longer term rejuvenation, since the benefits take longer to manifest themselves. If you sleep badly for just one night, you know about it immediately the next day from the way you feel and look.

During deep sleep, nature restores and heals the body. The nervous system, including the brain, is given a rest and the body is recharged with energy.

The elements which contribute to deep sleep are: good nutrition, reduced coffee and alcohol, a light evening meal with the emphasis on vegetables, aerobic exercise, specific deep sleep exercises, not retiring too late, keeping the bedroom windows open, a firm bed and a hot bath before bed.

Use the First Toilet of the Restroom to Prevent Getting Sick
When you use a public restroom, do you tend to skip the first toilet and choose one farther away from the entrance? If you do, you are not alone. Experts theorize that people tend to skip the first toilet in favour of toilets further back in order to have a little more privacy. But because the first toilet is used least often, it contains the lowest bacteria levels. Instead of skipping the first toilet, choose it in order to help avoid possible infections.

Do Aerobic Exercises
Research shows that exercise by the middle-aged and elderly can turn back the clock by ten to twenty five years. Aerobic exercise is essential for maximum rejuvenation, since it increases the supply of oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body, including the rejuvenation centre itself, the brain. This makes you stay younger and live longer.

Aerobic exercise is even more effective than dieting in reducing body fat and statistics clearly show that less fat means a longer life. It also causes you to look and feel younger.

All these benefits come from doing aerobic exercise for about twenty minutes three times a week, which makes it an excellent time investment.

Hold Your Breath
This simple exercise can be done at any time during the day and will give your lungs a nice mini-workout to keep them healthy! Just take a deep breath in, hold it for 10 seconds, and then slowly let the air out through pursed lips. This helps to make sure that all the pockets in your lungs are opening up.

(Source: Dr Oz)