Five Low-Effort Habits To Help You Live A Long – And Healthy – Life

In early adulthood, it can be easy to dismiss our future, older selves. Most of us are too busy simply trying to get ahead and earn a living, let alone contemplating retirement. 

However, due to increasing life expectancy and declining fertility rates, Australia’s ageing population is growing. If we’re privileged enough to live a long life, we want to have bodies that feel healthy and mobile; bodies that can help us to experience more of the world. 

Here are five things you can do now to help your future self down the road because the small habits can really stack up. 

From a scientific perspective, ageing is the deterioration in cellular structure and function, independently of disease. As we age, we can see decreases in memory, cognitive function, reaction time and the elasticity of the skin and lungs. Our muscle fibres reduce in size and our cardiorespiratory fitness also declines. According to one study, our muscle mass decreases approximately 3–8% per decade after the age of 30. Over the years, this can result in an impaired capacity to go about our daily lives and maintain our independence.

We know that exercise helps us at any age but what type of fitness benefits our ageing bodies? One study notes that the progressive declines in our ageing bodies are associated with slower walking speed, difficulties rising from a seated position and balancing. This means that exercises such as weight training, walking, yoga and stretching can help to maintain muscle mass and tendon and ligament resilience.

So, getting in your steps and including stretching and weight training into your exercise schedule (particularly if you work at a desk all day) may help your body as you age.

As we grow older, our skin can lose elasticity and gain sun damage and age spots. While these are all a natural part of the ageing process, by getting into healthy and regimented skin care habits now, you can keep your skin supple and less prone to thinning out. 

High quality supplements such as the Swisse Beauty Collagen + Hyaluronic Acid Booster may help to keep your collagen levels and skin elasticity high. Pairing it with skin care that's full of hydrating, water-retaining ingredients such as the Hyaluronic 2% Vitamin B5 Glow Booster Serum also means your skin will stay moisturised.

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and is responsible for maintaining our skin’s elasticity and firmness while hyaluronic acid helps our skin retain water and hydration. 

By upping your collagen intake and creating a skin care routine that includes hyaluronic acid, you’re not just reducing the outward signs of ageing skin, but also helping it stay stronger for beauty both inside and out. 

As well as skin care and supplements, be sure to wear sun protection and seek shade when out and about to avoid sun damage and sensitivity. 

Ageing comes down to many factors that often can’t be helped, including environment and genetics. But an aspect of ageing that’s within our control is our diet. Some studies have shown that the Mediterranean-style diet (based on the traditional eating habits of people in countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea, such as Italy, Morocco, Spain, and Greece) has “shown a protective role against risk factors for age-related diseases”. 

The Mediterranean way of eating includes the consumption of unrefined cereals, fruit, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil; moderate consumption of dairy products and alcohol; as well as eating less meat. One research group demonstrated that high intake of grains, fish and olive oil was associated with a high bone mineral density and a low number of fractures. Eating legumes was also associated with decreased odds of having a fracture.

These are all important factors when you learn that in Australians aged 50 and over, osteoporosis was estimated to impact 23% of women and 6% of men.

Getting a rough night’s sleep may make us feel like we’ve aged twenty years but as it turns out, getting enough zzzs can also help our ageing brains and bodies down the track. 

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, getting too much or too little sleep is associated with an increased risk of several conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke. These conditions are more likely to affect older Australians, so getting on top of your sleep routine now can create good habits as we age.

Getting enough sleep can help with regulating appetite, metabolism and mood, as well as immune, hormonal and cardiovascular functioning. Seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep is recommended for most Australian adults.

The University of Sydney estimates that by 2050, more than one million Australians will be living with dementia, which is the gradual loss of someone’s memory, intellect and social skills. Currently, 401,300 people have dementia in Australia, with two-thirds of that group being women. 

Brain health is incredibly important to maintain our cognitive abilities and quality of life as we age. But how do we take care of our minds? A recent study found that cognitive decline in ageing can be slowed by a two-year intervention of combined aerobic exercise, specific cognitive training and social stimulation, (plus the adoption of the aforementioned Mediterranean diet). Cognitive training includes puzzles and crosswords, starting new hobbies, learning new languages and staying social. 

While it’s important to balance taking care of yourself with the odd late night out, it’s clear that being aware of and employing these habits now may reduce your risk of injury, illness and decline in quality of life as you age.