How to Age Well
Everything you need to know on how to age well
None of us is getting any younger.
Take it from someone who’s been around a while:
You don’t want to reach the age of senior discounts with regrets about the things you didn’t do to prepare your body and mind.
Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do, no matter your age.
In this article, we’ll cover the best practices on how to age well —preserving longevity, quality of life, and health span. These include:
– A brief list of things you should avoid.
– A more detailed list of actions you can take to maximize your time.
– The most impactful ways to combine a healthy life with a happy one.
Some are easy, some require more effort, and many are common sense. All are supported by research, some of which dates back decades.
But before we dive into all that, let’s start with something more fundamental.
Why do we get old?
Despite centuries of medical breakthroughs, everyone who’s been lucky enough to reach old age either has died or will die. There’s a reason no one’s found a loophole.
“Virtually all of our genes, and all of our vital systems, play a role in aging,” says Charles Brenner, PhD, chair of the Department of Diabetes and Cancer Metabolism at City of Hope National Medical Center.
Since there’s no single gene responsible for aging, there will never be a single pill, potion, or practice to stop the process, let alone reverse it. No amount of money can change this.
“The anti-aging industry has been full of grifters for thousands of years,” Brenner says. “Overpromisers and underperformers.”
The modern roots of this industry date back to 1990, when a study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed promising results from administering human growth hormone (hGH) to older men.
It was a small study—just 12 men received hGH, with nine comparable participants as a control group. However, the results “were sensationalized by the press in a number of exaggerated reports,” according to biologist Richard F. Walker, PhD. This sparked an anti-aging “gold rush,” which was commercialized from the start.
Today, the stakes are even higher, with tech billionaires investing enormous sums in life-extension startups. Yet the fundamental problem remains the same, as Brenner points out.
In terms of lifespan, humans have already exceeded their evolutionary “warranty.”
What this means is that humans evolved to meet five basic priorities:
1. Avoid predation.
2. Acquire food.
3. Attract a mate.
4. Reproduce.
5. Ensure offspring survive to reproduce.
Had we stopped there, we would be like most other animals, living only as long as we could reproduce, then expiring.
However, over 300,000 generations since hominids diverged from the great apes, our life expectancy has doubled. This increase allowed some ancient ancestors to become active grandparents, providing a significant evolutionary advantage.
In the past two centuries, life expectancy doubled again due to improvements in sanitation, nutrition, medicine, hygiene, and public safety. Despite these advancements, there remains a hard limit on maximum lifespan.
This limit exists because aging begins at birth and never stops. Once we pass our growth stage, our bodies gradually become less capable of repairing tissues and maintaining vital functions.
How to age well: Two key systems primarily drive the aging process.
**Metabolism**
Your metabolic rate decreases by about 0.7 percent per year once you reach your sixties and beyond. By the time you reach 95, your daily energy expenditure will be about 20 percent lower than it was in your late 50s. This finding comes from an international consortium of scientists who analyzed four decades of metabolic data from thousands of participants of all ages.
The issue isn’t just muscle loss in elderly people; their remaining lean mass also burns fewer calories, including energy-demanding organs like the brain and liver. A slower metabolism increases the likelihood of storing fat in muscles, the liver, the heart, and other places where it doesn’t belong. For instance, intramuscular fat is associated with lower strength and mobility, as well as elevated blood sugar and higher insulin resistance.
**Cognition**
As you age, various cognitive abilities decline:
– Memory accuracy decreases, and it takes longer to retrieve memories.
– Learning new words and recalling known words becomes more difficult.
– Mastering new skills and using existing skills in complex sequences becomes harder.
The combination of physical and cognitive decline makes it more challenging to perform familiar tasks and adapt to changing circumstances.
While the aging process is inevitable, there are many strategies to slow it down.
**How to Age Well: 4 Evidence-Based Strategies**
Experts’ lists of healthy aging strategies usually include two main parts: what to avoid and what to do. Interestingly, your first line of defense against physical and mental decline often lies in what you don’t do.
“What you don’t do is at least as important as what you do,” says Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD, Director of Performance Nutrition for PN.
Here are some life-shortening behaviors to avoid:
– Overeating
– Smoking
– Drinking to excess
– Using non-prescription drugs excessively
– Excessive unprotected sun exposure
– Inactivity
These behaviors, along with infectious diseases and environmental pollutants, are what biochemist Charles Brenner calls “metabolic insults.” They stress your metabolism and make it harder for your body to repair itself.
On the proactive side, experts recommend aspirational targets like:
– Get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio per week, and do some form of resistance exercise twice a week.
– Get seven to eight hours of sleep each night.
– Maintain a “healthy” body weight, defined as a body-mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9.
However, few people meet all these targets. According to a 2016 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 6.3 percent of Americans follow all these guidelines.
Instead of focusing on what’s not achieved (93.7 percent), consider which practices and behaviors will have the most impact on your own health. Prioritize these “big rocks”—the habits and actions you value most and will commit to maintaining.
### How To Age Well – Healthy Aging Strategy #1: Move More and Preserve Muscle
Research dating back to the last century shows that increasing physical activity levels can lower the risk of dying from any cause by 15 to 40 percent .
Here’s an illustrative study:
Starting in the late 1970s, the British Regional Heart Study followed thousands of middle-aged men. By 2016, about half had passed away . Those who increased their activity levels were 24 percent less likely to die from any cause compared to those who were less active. Even participants who maintained modest activity levels were 17 percent less likely to die than the low-activity group.
Moreover, pushing oneself to improve cardiovascular fitness yields even greater benefits. Moving from the lowest fitness level to a higher one significantly reduces the risk of dying from any cause in subsequent years . The protective benefit of cardio fitness is linear, meaning the higher your fitness level, the lower your risk of dying during any specific time frame.
#### How to age well- Healthy Aging Strategy #2: You Don’t Need to Lose Weight to Reap the Benefits of Fitness
If you’re among the two-thirds of Americans with a BMI of 25 or above, exercise and diet can help mitigate weight-related disease risks. Studies indicate that increasing your maximum aerobic capacity (VO2 max) is consistently linked to lower all-cause mortality among overweight and obese individuals, even without weight loss .
Muscular strength and muscle mass also correlate with a lower mortality risk. Resistance training, particularly when combined with cardio exercise, is beneficial for increasing strength and size, which contributes to longevity .
Additionally, walking speed is a powerful predictor of longevity, as it reflects a combination of muscular strength, cardio fitness, balance, and mobility .
To summarize, you can simplify all these findings into one essential action:
“Move every day,” advises Stuart Phillips, PhD, director of McMaster University’s Physical Activity Centre of Excellence. The specifics of the activity matter less than the consistency of daily movement.
### How to age well- Healthy Aging Strategy #3: Prioritize High-Quality Sleep
People who consistently sleep less than seven or more than eight hours a night, or who have irregular sleep schedules, face a higher risk for numerous health issues—obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and increased mortality rates.
The most effective way to improve sleep quality is to establish a regular sleep routine. Going to bed and waking up at consistent times, ideally before midnight, can significantly enhance your sleep.
One impactful strategy for better sleep is to develop a nightly bedtime ritual. Similar to how Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, your body can learn to wind down with a customized pre-sleep routine.
About 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime, stop engaging in stimulating activities (work, intense exercise, doomscrolling) and switch to relaxing ones, such as reading, taking a bath or shower, doing a mini yoga session, or watching a favorite show. Dim the lights and consider lowering the thermostat slightly.
If you tend to ruminate, try doing a “brain dump” before bed. Spend a few minutes writing down anything that’s on your mind—emails to send, calls to make, project ideas, creative thoughts, or things you wish you’d said. Getting these thoughts out of your head and onto paper can help clear your mind for sleep.
### How to Age Well – Healthy Aging Strategy #4: Deepen Your Human Connections
Another crucial element for a long, healthy life is something beyond the reach of exercise, nutrition, sleep, wealth, fame, or professional success. It’s something tech innovators can’t buy, pharmaceutical companies can’t replicate, and longevity promoters can’t sell: good relationships.
The Harvard Study of Adult Development, which began in 1938 and continues today with the descendants of its original participants—Harvard undergraduates (including future U.S. president John F. Kennedy) and teenage boys from underprivileged backgrounds—has shown that good relationships are the ultimate life hack.
Robert Waldinger, MD, the study’s fourth director, succinctly stated in his 2015 TED talk: “Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.”
Participants who were most satisfied with their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80.
A 2016 study led by Waldinger found that octogenarians who felt securely attached to their spouses—believing they could rely on them during tough times—performed better on memory tests compared to those who felt less connected.
“Think about relationships as something akin to physical fitness,” said Marc Schulz, PhD, associate director of the Harvard study, in a recent podcast interview. Relationships require not only time and energy but also periodic reflection on what is and isn’t working for both parties. This applies to all significant relationships—family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and life partners.
In other words, if you want a longer life, it helps to build a fulfilling life.
