6 Ways To Reverse Your Age, Live Longer, and Get Insanely Healthy
Please note that this blog is for entertainment purposes only. The information contained here and within this website is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition. Always check with your doctor before beginning a new exercise, diet, or wellness protocol. The following suggestions may not be appropriate for certain medical conditions, those taking medications, children, or pregnant/lactating women. Always work with a qualified coach or health care practitioner!
Health and happiness sometimes requires DISCOMFORT.
6 Ways to Reverse Your Age, Live Longer, and Get Insanely Healthy
It’s noon. I’ve been up since 4:00 AM working and training clients in my in-home gym. I follow that up with my own high-intensity weight and cardio workout. Then I sit in a 150-degree-Farenheight box (my infrared sauna) for 20 minutes. After that it’s a barefoot run and a plunge into my icy-cold pond.
My reward for this seemingly extreme discomfort: a hot shower and my first meal of the day.
Oh, yeah…and a longer, happier, healthier, and more vibrant life.
Reverse your age and maximize your human potential…by getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
Modern humans are always comfortable. The thermostat is set at 70 and we rarely spend more than a few minutes too far below or above that temperature. Hunger is a thing of the past, and rare is the time that we are not eating or ever experience real hunger. Even moving our bodies is a thing of the past. We use remote controls, ride-on suitcases and elevators, order food from DoorDash, and clean our homes with Roombas to accomplish anything that would seem to require and undesirable amount of physical movement.
Being comfortable is fine. It’s great. But constant comfort has a dark side.
“Human biology needs stress — not the sort of stress that damages muscle or gets us eaten by a bear — but the sort of environmental and physical oscillations that invigorates our nervous systems, setting off a cascade of physiological responses…” ~Scott Carney, The Telegraph
Mild exposures to external stress activates key enzymes, metabolites, genes, and cellular clean up processes that can help us live longer, and are even shown to reverse ageing. It’s called hormesis and it is defined as: the exposure to mild levels of harmful factors that precondition a cell or an organism in that it stimulates the activation of stress resistance mechanisms, thus fostering the cellular capacity of maintenance and repair.
In the right doses, exposure to the following 6 hormetic stressors is enough to shock the body triggering physiological and hormonal reactions that evolved millions of years ago to cope with a wide range of potential threats that ultimately cultivate resilience, both in body and mind. And the best news? All but one of the following suggestions are FREE.
Carefully managed doses of stress cause us to bloom.
6 Ways to reverse your age, live longer, and get insanely healthy
1. Get hungry. Imagine being forced into hard labor 15 hours per day, seven days per week, with no weekends or vacations. Ever. That’s what we seem to expect our bodies to do when we eat from sunup to sundown, giving our digestive systems and cells little chance to rest and reset. The magic of cellular housekeeping – DNA repair and cell regeneration – happens when we are unfed.
Of all the ways you can promote cellular regeneration, DNA repair, health, and longevity, fasting tops the list. Yes, it can be uncomfortable. But it’s not that bad once you understand the benefits and realize that even modest forms of fasting are beneficial.
To start, simply make sure your body gets at least 12 hours food-free. That means not consuming anything except water from, say, 7 PM to 7 AM. Not so bad, right? You are sleeping for a good portion of that time anyway. Are longer fasts beneficial? Yes. But you should work with a qualified fitness or health professional to determine what is safe for you based on your wellness goals.
2. Get out of breath. Remember when you were a kid and you’d run hell bent for leather during a game of tag to escape the one who was “it”? You’d run so hard your lungs would burn and your chest would heave. When was the last time you exerted that much physical effort?
Losing your breath for short spurts – and I mean really losing your breath – is uncomfortable, but also an incredible way to boost fitness, heart health, reverse your age and live longer. In fact, many studies indicate it’s even more beneficial than steady-state longer-duration cardio!
Most people call it interval training and it’s really simple. Choose any activity that will get your heart rate up quickly: sprinting, climbing stairs, fast cycling, high-resistance rowing, jump rope, kettlebell swings, lifting heavy weights, etc., and go as hard as you can for 30 to 60 seconds. Follow that up with easy active recovery (i.e. walking) for two to three minutes. Repeat 4 to 8 times. Do this once or twice a week and you’ll experience massive health benefits!
3. Get hot. Like deep-sweat-just-ate-anaheim-hot-peppers-on-a-95-degree-day hot. Heat exposure that causes profuse sweating is uncomfortable. It also stimulates the cardiovascular system, boosts the immune system, and can ease chronic muscle and joint pain.
The best way to do it: sit in an infrared sauna. Of the six ways to reverse your age, this is the only one that’s not free. Investment in an infrared sauna can cost thousands of dollars. You may be able to find a sauna to use at a spa or wellness facility near you. Cost usually runs $30 to $45 per visit.
4. Get cold. Like jump-through-a-hole-in-the-ice-in-an-Ohio-pond-in-January cold. That’s ideal. But you can also accomplish cold therapy via cold showers. Of all the things listed here, this one probably seems the most extreme and the most painful. But no other environmental stimulus induces as many changes in our biology as exposure to cold.
Cold triggers norepinephrine, a natural mood enhancer and pain reliever. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory, which is why athletes commonly use ice baths after tough sporting events. Further benefits include increases in metabolically active brown fat. Unlike the white fat we try to get rid of, brown fat is full of calorie-burning mitochondria!
No access to a cryotherapy unit or an icy pond? Turning your shower to the coldest setting works too. If you can get past the initial shock of the first minute or so and get control of your breathing, it gets easier. Start with 1 minute and work up to 15 or 20 minutes.
5. Get oxygenated. Let’s say you’re out on a walk and suddenly a large and very mean-looking dog steps out of the woods and snarls at you. What happens to your breathing? You likely experienced a quick and sharp intake, followed by extremely shallow and rapid breathing. This is a stress response that readies you for fight or flight. Trouble is, most of spend our entire day like this, breathing shallow and fast.
The research on deep breathing is solid: you can control your autonomic nervous system, your emotional responses, your heart rate, your blood pressure, body temperature, the metabolic processes that control your weight…and on and on. It’s crazy effective, and, once again….it’s FREE.
There are many types of deep breathing, but the kind I use isn’t the standard “relaxation breathing”. Remember, we’re talking about getting uncomfortable to cause positive physiological changes in our bodies. This type of deep breathing actually makes you feel out of breath and delivers a euphoria much like a drug high. Start by laying down. Pull in a breath so deep that it seems to fill your body from the bottom of your stomach to the top of your head. Release, but not quite all the way. Repeat for one minute. On the final deep breath, release and push as much air out of your lungs as possible, then hold your breath for as long as you can. Work up to 2 minutes of hypoxic breath-holding.
Warnings: never do this type of breathing while driving, operating machinery, or while in the water. It is possible to pass out and you need to fully focus on the breath technique to get the full benefit.
Photo by Svetlana Gumerova on Unsplash
6. Get grounded. Did you ever run around barefoot as a kid? This one may seem a bit woo-woo and far-fetched, but direct skin-to-Earth contact is extremely beneficial for health via transfer of electrons from the Earth to your body. Basically, the Earth is like a huge recharge station.
The technique is called grounding or earthing, and a growing body of research shows that there are numerous health benefits, including decreased inflammation, boosted immune system, faster wound healing, and recovery from PTSD and mental disorders.
Okay, so this one isn’t so uncomfortable…except for right now when the ground is cold and wet. But it’s so easy! All you have to do is go outside and walk around barefoot on grass, dirt, mud, sand, or any natural surface. Do it a few times a week…or like I do as I run barefoot back to my pond for an icy dip. 😉
Photo by Clint McKoy on Unsplash
Reverse your age, live longer, and get insanely healthy…WITH ME!
Think YOU can handle the discomfort? I will soon be offering Age-defying Retreats and Workshops! I am also happy to come and speak or conduct half-day or full-day workshops for your group! Please email me at kellybailey1980@gmail.com or fill out my contact form.
Special note: As of this time, no retreats are scheduled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. I hope to be able to organize something very soon!
Blog Author: Kelly Bailey, IIN certified holistic nutrition coach, and NPTI certified personal trainer
Learn more about the author here.