Joan’s Boomer Blog

Baby boomers are concerned about healthy aging and using simple ways to reduce stress and anxiety can have a huge impact on how well we age. Healthy coping with everyday problems can make you both physically and emotionally stronger and help improve your memory and concentration, all things that contribute to healthy aging.

You would think, as you get older, your life would be less stressful but often the opposite is true. Stress not only ages us, it destroys our immune system, causing us to fall prey to colds and more serious illness and disease. When you are stressed your body releases hormones that can cause sleep problems, anxiety and weight gain. Stress hormones also speed up the aging process.

Stress is a fact of life, whether you’re a baby boomer or you are younger. There are simple ways to reduce stress that help you change the way you deal with life’s situations. As we get older, hopefully we learn that you can’t stop having stress in your life but you can change the way you deal with it.

Many ways to reduce stress in your life are simple and basic. You just have to make the effort to change the way you live in small ways to improve health and well being.

Here are some easy ways to reduce stress for more healthy aging

1. Start exercising - exercise is one of the most important, yet simple, ways to reduce stress. If you’re physically fit, your body is better able to cope with stress and exercising gets rid of stress hormones, helps you keep your weight down and sleep well. Start any exercise program slowly and build up. Walking is one of the best exercises and the least stressful on your body.

2. Diet helps relieve stress and antioxidants keep you young - Reducing the amount of sugar and processed foods in your diet helps relieve stress and eating more fruits and vegetables keeps your body strong and healthy, another great stress reliever.

3. Too much caffeine can cause stress - If you can’t cut out the coffee altogether, switch to herbal tea or water later in the day. Also, cut out the alcohol. Alcohol stresses your body and doesn’t help relax you or help you sleep in the long term.

4. Practice deep breathing - One simple way to reduce stress is simply by breathing deeply to help relax your body. Here is one simple deep breathing exercise. Breath in slowly to the count of 6, hold your breath for the count and breath slowly out to the count of 8. This will reach the air trapped deep in your lungs.

5. Practice living mindfully. When stress hits, take a walk and really look around. Take time to observe nature and what’s good about the day. Living mindfully means focusing on the moment. Don’t fret over the past or future. The present moment is all you have really and it IS possible to feel good in the present moment. If you can’t do this all the time, at least practice living in the moment a few times a day to quiet the mind.

6. Take some time away from stimulation. Turn off the television, go sit outside or in some quiet place and practice your deep breathing. Most relaxation exercises begin with silence and quiting the mind.

7. Try relaxing your body. Lay on your back and focus on each body part in turn, relaxing your feet, then your calves, then your thighs, until you’ve worked your way up your body. If you aren’t sure how to relax, get a CD of yoga relaxation techniques and do the exercises along with the CD.

8. If you feel stressed out, make a list of things that are stressing you and, more importantly, what you can do about them. Sometimes, creating a to-do list will help us get the many details of life off our minds. If it is a situation that you can’t do anything about, try to take a small 30 minute vacation from worrying about it.

9. Try affirmations. Tell yourself “I feel calm and I can handle any situation.” Keep repeating this until you accept it.

10. Take up a hobby, even if it’s putting together a puzzle. You’d be surprised at how focused you can become when putting a puzzle together. If you love to cook, look up some healthy and tasty recipes to try. Put on an inspirational or happy movie and do some stretches while you watch it. Do something to distract yourself from worry or stress.

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More information on finding fulfillment in your boomer years

More relaxation tips and techniques.

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