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I recently celebrated my 67th birthday, which gave me the usual pause for reflection. I like to think I’m aging well, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.
But change is hard and, at my age, it can also be quite discouraging.
This is one of the main reasons I enjoy creating (and testing) ideas featured on my podcast, Just One Thing, where I discuss a simple change you can easily make in your life that comes with some surprising benefits.
Here are five of my favorite settings from the new series. . .
Start Nordic walking
Nordic walking involves using many more muscle groups than normal walking, so it’s good for you.
Finland not only has some of the happiest people in the world (ranked first for the seventh year in a row in the recent World Happiness Report), but also some of the healthiest.
This could be partly because the Finns are pioneers of Nordic walking. This involves walking using poles to propel yourself forward and has many health benefits.
For example, in a 2019 study published in the journal Clinical Interventions in Aging, a group of people in their 60s were assigned to do three hours a week of Nordic walking or regular walking.
At the end of six months, the Nordic walkers were not only significantly stronger, but their stomachs had shrunk by an average of 6 cm, twice as much as the normal walking group. This is probably because Nordic walking involves the use of many more muscle groups.
I’ve just returned from walking around the Lake District, poles in hand, so I can attest that it’s good exercise. You can find Nordic walking groups to join online.
Add flax seeds to the diet.
One research found that those who had a flaxseed-enriched diet had significant drops in blood pressure.
I hadn’t previously been a big fan of flax seeds, but it turns out they’re a nutritional powerhouse, packed with fiber, protein, and alpha-linolenic acid, a fatty acid that’s good for heart health.
As a result, eating them can be an effective way to reduce high blood pressure, something I learned from Grant Pierce, a professor of physiology at the University of Manitoba in Canada.
For a 2013 study, he took 110 people with high blood pressure and assigned them to eat foods fortified with three tablespoons of ground flax seeds (muffins, cookies, cereal) or similar foods without flax seeds.
At the end of six months, the flaxseed group had significant drops in blood pressure—large enough, he said, to cut their risk of heart attack or stroke in half.
Professor Pierce told me that you don’t need to eat three tablespoons of flax seeds a day to see the benefits, but he recommends using them in baking or adding them to yogurt or smoothies, which is something I do now.
Help others
One study found that those who volunteer regularly tend to be significantly healthier and happier
We know that helping others can have benefits for those on the receiving end, but volunteering, such as participating in a community group, also benefits the volunteer.
This is because it gives you a purpose in life, which increases self-esteem. It also helps keep you physically and mentally active while releasing nurturing hormones such as oxytocin.
These, in turn, can help reduce stress and chronic inflammation.
And it helps you feel happy, as seen in a 2017 PLOS One study: based on data from 40,000 people, it was found that those who volunteer regularly tend to be significantly healthier and happier; the equivalent, the researchers said, of being five years younger.
I know firsthand how good volunteering can make you feel: two years ago, we volunteered to have a family of Ukrainians (a mother and her three children) live with us, and they have been a pleasure.
Play an instrument
Pianists and percussionists experienced significant improvements in their working memory
I’ve never been remotely musical (although I like to sing out loud), but it’s never too late to learn and there’s plenty of evidence that learning to play an instrument is good for the brain.
In a 2019 study published in the journal Frontiers, researchers at the University of Florida asked a group of older adults to play the piano, drums, or simply listen to music.
The instrument groups received lessons and were asked to practice about 30 minutes a day for four months. In the end, the pianists and percussionists experienced significant improvements in their working memory, that is, their ability to remember something and then use it.
This is something we normally lose with age.
I have decided to start learning how to play the keyboard, so I can practice using headphones so as not to disturb others.
Read poetry aloud
Reading poetry automatically slows your breathing and helps relieve stress.
Learning poems and then reciting them out loud was a seduction skill I tried, with limited results, as a teenager.
But according to Dietrich von Bonin, a prominent art therapist in Switzerland, he should have insisted because, although it is not a great seduction technique, it is an excellent way to reduce stress.
This is not just because of the power of words, but when you read a poem that has a rhythm (like Shakespeare’s sonnet, I’ll Liken You to a Summer’s Day), your breathing automatically slows down.
This, in turn, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows the heart, reduces stress and makes you feel calm. Try it, I’ve done it, you might even enjoy it.
Just One Thing, Thursdays at 9.45am on BBC Radio 4 or catch up on BBC Sounds.
Studies show that we eat more when we watch television. I once conducted an experiment where a guy ate over 1,000 calories worth of French fries, apparently without realizing it.
But research conducted by Ghent University in Belgium suggests that it’s not just because we’re distracted: when we eat in front of the TV we don’t enjoy the food as much as when we eat at the table and savor it, so we eat more. to compensate.
Large families are good for the brain
We have four children, which seems like a lot nowadays, and is certainly taller than the UK average of 1.7. But new research suggests that having so many children is actually good for our brains.
Researchers at Yale University analyzed brain scans of more than 37,000 people in the UK Biobank database (which collects health data on half a million people).
They found that people who had more children had a younger pattern of brain activity than those who had fewer or no children. Or, as they say, having more children leads to “long-term neuroprotection.”
Researchers believe it may be because our brains become stronger from the constant demands of raising children. Or maybe it’s because parents with many children tend to be more socially and physically active, which helps preserve the brain.
Whatever the reason, it’s good to know that all those sleepless nights were worth it.
Exercise turns you into a fat burning machine
I loved watching a TV series called Wife Swap, in which for two weeks a wife (or husband) swapped places with a very different family. This concept still has great curiosity value, and my attention was drawn to a study from the University of Aberdeen in which male athletes changed their exercise regimes because they were couch potatoes.
The athletes, who exercised nine and a half hours a week, were reduced to doing nothing for four weeks, while the couch potatoes were expected to do at least five hours of resistance training (such as cycling) a week . The results, published in Nature Communications last week, were spectacular. After two months, the athletes gained 1.1 kg (2.5 lb) and lost power and fitness, while the couch potatoes lost 2.6 kg (6 lb) and became fitter, stronger and had lower blood pressure, improved cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
What surprised the researchers most was the impact on the way participants’ bodies handled saturated fat, the type of meat and dairy.
Previously, athletes used saturated fat as fuel, while couch potatoes stored it as body fat. But after the experiment, they too became fat burning machines. Another good reason to get on that bike.