Numerous studies around the world have come up with surprising findings that the pandemic, which has been looming over us for close to two years now, has aged us all much faster than our natural processes. Needless to say that we have all been struggling with more tiredness than usual and suffering from numerous ailments from sitting at home for too long among other things. While this is a common problem which almost the entire world is suffering from owing to the perpetual pandemic anxiety, there are ways to mitigate this unusual ageing.
A lot of this occurs due to some common activities which we tend to do on a day to day basis. And the fact is that we have become so comfortable with these daily habits that we do not see the fault in them till it becomes too late to reverse their harmful effects on our health and wellness in the long run. Therefore, the key here is to figure out the error of our ways timely and change them in order to be able to lead a better and wholesome life. For this purpose, we have curated a list of all the activities that we tend to do regularly, which can actually age us much faster than usual, in this article. Keep reading to know all about them.
- Sitting In One Spot For Long:
Owing to a working culture shift throughout the world, the nature of many jobs has changed from being physically demanding to working on the laptop for most of the day. While this has proved to be a boon for a lot of the working class, it can spell trouble for our health. Due to the ‘working sitting at one place’ nature of most of our jobs, we tend to lead an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. This has heralded a lot of back and neck discomfort for many people, which although can be fixed momentarily with a warm compress, can lead to more dangerous problems in the future. There is not a lot which can be done in such a case so all you need to do is to make it a point to get up and move for about a minute, every hour.
- Eating Too Much Of Sugar:
The amount of sugar which a person eats in modern times per day is exponential to the amount of sugar a person used to eat a century ago daily. Due to an increase in availability of sweet foods around us, most of us have developed the unhealthy habit of gorging on these foods throughout the day. Eating too much of sweet food can cause spikes in your glucose levels leading to diabetes and other harmful diseases in the future. You can check your glucose levels after you have eaten a helping of sweet food through a blood glucose meter and see the situation for yourself. Try to eat sugary foods in moderation, if cutting them out from your diet seems too big of a task for you. - Not Exercising Or Doing Too Less Of It:
Exercise is one of the best ways to keep your mental as well as physical health in check for a long period of time. Humans are supposed to be active creatures but with a lifestyle shift, we have become more sedentary than ever before. This can be the cause of many serious diseases such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes which can age us a lot faster than usual. A good way to combat this is to make it a point to exercise every single day. You do not need to engage in heavy or strenuous workouts, but something like walking or stretching can also do the trick without tiring you out.
- You Sleep Too Less:
Not sleeping enough is another cardinal sin which can ultimately have a detrimental impact on our body and hence can age us quickly. Not sleeping for at least seven to eight hours every night can deprive your body of the rest which it requires in order to function in a proper manner. Not just that, even if you sleep for the required number of hours but the quality of your sleep is not restful, then also it can be damaging to your health in the long run. Make sure to disconnect from all your digital devices at least an hour before bedtime to get a good night’s rest. - Not Taking Necessary Nutrients:
The food that we eat is like the fuel which helps to run the car. This food keeps our body running well. But if we do not give our body the nutrients that it requires through the means of this food, it will develop numerous health issues which can age us immensely within a short span of time. For example, if you want your heart to stay healthy for long, you should eat foods rich in Omega 3, but if you are not fond of seafood, you can try taking some Omega 3 Capsules as an alternative to that.
- You Do Not Give Yourself Enough Rest:
If you lead a stressful lifestyle where you do not get enough time to rest properly, you will find yourself ageing much faster than usual. Your body as well as your mind is not designed in a way that it can work throughout the day continuously without stopping. Also, while stress keeps us on our toes and gets us to complete our important tasks, perpetual stress can erode away our good health without even realizing it. You can develop cardiovascular conditions which may require medical attention in serious cases. - You Tend To Smoke A Lot:
How many times have we heard that smoking cuts our lifespan? And this notion is extremely true. If you are a regular smoker, your chances of developing serious diseases like cancer and hypertension increase exponentially. Needless to say, this can greatly decrease your life expectancy. Also, the toxins which are released from cigarettes can ruin your skin, making it age faster and look older and unhealthy.
While there is only so much we can do to slow down ageing, there are some things which are in our hands that can help us to do this. We hope that this article was able to help you to understand why you should give up some of these habits to live a longer and a much healthier life. Do share this article with your near and dear ones as well! We strongly believe that while ageing is completely natural, we should do everything in our power to avoid ageing prematurely by giving up some dangerous habits that we tend to do daily. This can add years to our life and add quality to our years.
