With the tones of Freddie Mercury's voice singing 'Who Wants to Live Forever' ringing in my ears, my question is: 'how can I live forever?'
Although its accepted that we will never be alive forever, we all can do more about living our life to the full while we are here on earth—or living forever.
More...
Caught up in a hectic rat race, we forget the things we can do to combat ageing, even as we wait for artificial intelligence (AI) pharma to deliver our alive forever magic pills.
So, while we wait, what should we be doing?
1. Eat Healthily
Kick off the healthy eating habit by consuming fewer calories than you use.
Monitor your current practices with an app like MyFitnessPal for a few days. You'll be surprised at the foods you think are healthy that pack calories and also how many calories in total that you consume in a day.
As a simple start, eat less processed junk and more fresh, wholesome foods—three vegetables and two fruits a day.
Limit alcohol to the recommended maximums: women one drink a day and men two drinks a day.
Cut out or minimise added sugar - an addictive 'poison' that has managed to find its way into many unsuspecting products like peanut butter and scores of sauces.
Don't start some unsustainable diet. To start try the 90/10 eating plan - 90% healthy food with a 10% treat a day, whether that's a slice of cherry pie, a sundae, or a glass of wine at dinner.
2. Exercise
Here, there are many choices, but a combination of anaerobic ( weightlifting, sprinting, HIIT) and aerobic (walking, swimming, cycling, rowing, boxing, dancing) is the best. Together, this mix will prevent muscle loss in addition to having many other health benefits and helping you stay as young as possible as long as possible. Keeping off the pounds and improving your overall wellbeing.
For an ideal program, I would also add stretching - something easy to do every day. Initially, there may be difficult or impossible positions, but there is always some more straightforward options and just stretch as far as you can.
Move more! Use every opportunity during the day. Stand more and walk more - use opportunities like watching television to get some exercise. Set up your exercise bike or treadmill in front of the TV. If you're into technology, get a virtual reality (VR) headset, such as the Oculus Quest 2, and use it to help shed the flab and build stamina.
Exercise programs that involve the outdoors are certainly more attractive during summer than the cold winter months when it's easy to accumulate extra pounds of flab.
Be inspired by the Jim Rohn quote: 'If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse'.
3. Avoid Stress
Practices like meditation, mindfulness and yoga help reduce stress. Choose something that suits you. If traditional meditation is too woo-woo for you, then consider something like the no-fuss Australian meditation trend that many could learn a thing or two from.
4. Vitamin D
There are many pills available to supplement healthy living. But remember, they are called supplements for a reason. They will not replace basic healthy living.
There is no doubt that Vitamin D is critical for maintaining a healthy immune system. Available naturally from the sun, it's in short supply in many places, especially in winter.
Most research shows that taking vitamin D helps prevent respiratory infections. A respiratory disorder can be the flu, a cold, or an asthma attack triggered by a cold or other illness.
A recent study by the government of Ireland confirms what we have known for the pandemic's duration. That Vitamin D helps prevent respiratory infections and recommends 1000 IU per day for all adults. It also recommends handing out vitamin D supplements at Covid-19 testing centres—a case of better late than never.
And it's not just to combat Covid but also strengthens ageing bones.
5. Fasting
Fasting from time to time to clear out senescent cells.
6. NAD+ (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide)
Mounting evidence suggests that NAD+ levels decline with age, a condition that scientists now consider a major contributor to ageing. Lower NAD+ levels also trigger age-related conditions like cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.
Maintaining or replenishing NAD+ levels could theoretically be an effective anti-ageing strategy.
NR (Nicotinamide Riboside) is a form of Vitamin B that may be the most efficient route to form NAD+. NR is the raw material from which your body makes NAD+ through a series of chemical transformations.
So a solution to boost NAD+ is through supplementation with NR!
In newly published clinical research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, NR modestly improved body composition, the concentration of acetylcarnitine (a fatty acid transporter) in skeletal muscle and increased metabolic rate during sleep.
"Niagen® remains the most effective, consistently safe and regulatory approved NAD+ precursor on the market," says ChromaDex CEO Rob Fried. "
As the proven potential of NAD+ has grown, so too has the number of unproven claims and popularity of untested precursors on the market. One of these is NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide), which has not been shown in human clinical trials to safely and effectively increase NAD+ levels." The conclusion is that NMN may be overhyped and overpriced and may do more harm than good.
And as always, do your research before you start popping any pills!
Conclusion
Here are several actions you can take immediately to improve the quality of your day to day living and some may even keep you alive for longer.
There are no secrets but there is one guarantee - with no action there will be no results.