That’s what we all want! To stay young forever, but is it possible to stay young forever?
Sagar Tewatia – Mumbai Uncensored, 19th April 2022
Well! If it’s about your age, then it’s not possible because we cannot stop the time, but yes, if it’s about mental and physical health, then it is possible.
While many in their 50s and 60s accept that the young days have gone, 56-year-old Milind Soman, an actor, a supermodel and fitness enthusiast, is proving them wrong.
Another is Late Mann Kaur, who won the gold medal at World Masters Athletics Championships when she was 102-year-old.
Still not enough?
What about 71-year-old Actor Sharat Saxena who has a bicep size of almost 19 inches and can lift more weight than a 25 years old boy?
Studies recommend regular exercise is more useful than any drug yet invented to prevent conditions facing older people, such as muscle loss.
To get the full benefits, this way of behaviour should be applied down in a person’s teens and early 20s.
What can we learn from old athletes?
Studying expert athletes – sports people aged 35 and over – gives us an idea of “what is physically possible as we age”.
Analysing each age group’s world record performance times shows that physical capacity diminishes the older you get – but doesn’t fall off rapidly until after 70.
It is appropriate to assume these top athletes have a healthy lifestyle in general; as well as working out regularly, they follow a healthy and balanced diet and don’t smoke or drink heavily.
So their results can help us decide how much of this decline is due to the ageing process.
Can exercise reverse the ageing process?
The more lavish health of older exercisers compared to their inactive peers can lead people to believe physical activity can reverse or slow down the ageing process.
But the reality is that these active older people are as they should be.
In our past, we were hunter-gatherers, and our bodies were designed to be physically active.
So, if an active 80-year-old has comparative physiology to an inactive 50-year-old, the younger individual appears older than they should be, not the other way around.
We often confuse the effects of inactivity with the ageing process itself and believe specific diseases result from getting older.
Our modern sedentary lifestyles have speeded up our underlying age-related decline. It contributes to the onset of diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Quality of life
Not only does exercise help prevent the beginning of many diseases, but it can also help cure or alleviate others, improving our quality of life.
Recent studies of recreational cyclists aged 55-79 suggest they can do everyday tasks very easily and efficiently because nearly all body parts are in remarkably good condition.
Takeaway
We should adopt a healthy lifestyle in our 20s or as soon as we realise to slow down the ageing process, and it’s not just about ageing; it’s about living a healthier life and staying away from diseases.
Live like a 20-year-old in your 70s.