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By Faye Hall
Older and healthier. How is it possible to be getting older yet feel the best you have ever been?
I am in my forties, like most of our client’s who come to us. I have reached a point in life when I realise more than ever how super important and vulnerable our health actually is, because our health allows us to live the lives we want.
Have you reached mid-life and found yourself, like me, more regularly reflecting on your health, your future, the meaning of life and what’s really important to you?
Do you sometimes look at your body and at first glance don’t quite recognise yourself anymore!? Or catch a glimpse of your face and notice a subtle new laughter line has appeared? It always surprises me when I glimpse in the mirror and see the shadow of my frown lines (train tracks as my nieces so politely call them) that now sit permanently on my forehead where there was once a smooth plump surface of skin across my forehead.
This my lovelies is the experience of transition, from the young you to an older, wiser and more experienced version of yourself.
Midlife reflections….
If like me you
- suddenly seem to really appreciate a really good sleep, over a late night party
- want to maintain regular exercise because you know you feel better for it
- are interested in how you can use food and lifestyle to get on top of your health and energy levels
then then you might enjoy this conversation and connecting with our tribe at WIM.
These are the issues that drive me to do things that help me to feel great everyday. I don’t mind the odd laughter line or grey hair but I do want to feel great in my body and young and sharp in my mind and be able to regulate my emotions so I can live the life I want.
Why, because when you get to a certain stage in your life you realise how precious it is and how quickly time passes and you just want to feel good so you can achieve your goals and enjoy what you have!
Maybe you have had some health issues or not, maybe you just notice the differences in energy levels between the 20 year old you and the person you are now. Maybe you have a belief that it’s normal to gain weight or gain a few aches and pains or unwanted symptoms. Whatever your situation, it is possible to improve and maximise your health potential so that you can make the most of your life through simple easy enjoyable whole health strategies.
Health Insurance
Well let me make an announcement, living a long healthy “QUALITY” life is a worthy and achievable goal.
How do you wake up in the morning? How does your body feel? Do you enjoy good health – that is not merely the absence of disease but actually feeling pretty good most of the time? Do you have the energy to live life as you wish, brain power to make decisions, positive emotions that you can enjoy, a healthy physical body that can take you through to the end of your life journey in comfort?
There is a big difference between chronological age and biological age and there is plenty you can do in your 30’s 40’s 50’s and beyond to ensure you make the best of your health and insure and future proof your body.
This is what we will be talking about over the coming weeks….if you’re not a newsletter subscriber as yet, we encourage you to subscribe now so that you can receive all of our top tips on weight loss, health gains, how to protect and make the best of your now and your future, slow the biological ageing process and enjoy all that the midlife decades have to offer!
Enjoyment Is Key
I was very lucky that at an early age I met a man who told me three key words about life which I have never forgotten “enjoyment is key”. My interpretation of that has been to live life to the full, it guided me towards really important life decisions about being a stay at home mum, then pursuing a career I love and being in the movement.
Over the years I have added to that and learnt (sometimes the hard way) that achieving enjoyment in and of life is also dependent on what you do over time. What you do right now has an impact not just in the moment but over time, space and across different areas of your life. As I have grown older I have learnt to get to know and listen to my future self. This is a key skill in health creation and health consciousness.
Your day starts the minute you go to bed, it is dependent on the quality of your sleep the night before, your muscle tone today is a result of the work you have put in over the past weeks training. The energy levels you enjoy and the weight you carry is a result of what and how you have eaten over the past weeks and months, even years. The way you process emotions and experience stress is the result of your whole life experience. The way you breathe, move, eat, think and feel all feed into your experience and quality of life… and…. all of these things are changeable!.
Connect With Your Future Self To Feel Good Now
So how do you connect with your future self?
Well it’s simply an imagined perspective.
Take a life issue, a negative thought, or a health decision. Choose something to work with, whatever is most relevant to you now, something you want to change or something you are feeling conflicted about.
Examples:
- I don’t like my skin
- What shall I eat?
- I can’t say no
- I have to work hard
Close your eyes, take your issue, now put it into the hands of your future self. Imagine the future you. This can be you in a week, a month a year, 5 years or even 10 years later.
In your mind’s eye step into the perspective of your future self and ask that person for their insights and their opinion on your issue.
Notice what comes up. Is there any new or different information or new feelings that come up?
By connecting with the voice of your future self it becomes much easier to make great decisions that enable you to feel good in the now.
Part of a health roadmap is to learn to get to know the voice of your future self.
A major part of what we do in our ‘Think Your Way to Health’ course is teach you how to train the voice in your head to be happy, positive and resourceful, not worrisome anxiety creating critical or guilt-driven.
I am a teacher, mother, wife and life enthusiast and believe gaining and maintaining health is the foundation of creating a happy purposeful life. That’s why I have spent my life pursuing education and work that allows me to help myself, and others, to feel good and be in the best health they can be.
When we are in good form physically, mentally, and spiritually we can show up as the best version of ourselves, we start to understand and live as who we really are.
Create Your Own Health
So if you feel like you are missing something and just want to be yourself again. Whether that starts at less weight or a bit more energy or a routine of lovely restful sleep. Or perhaps you’re having a renewed sense of how precious life is, then, there is plenty you can do to create your best health so you can maximise your “quality” time on this beautiful planet.
WIM is here to help you step by step learn how to create your health road map and ensure that while your chronological age will increase your biological ageing is slowed down enough for you to feel good and live well.
Ageing or the cycle of life is a simple accumulation of damage. For example, damage to DNA, proteins and lipids in our cells. Why are longevity and HEALTHY ageing so variable between people and populations?
Quite simply because it’s modifiable through diet, lifestyle and environmental factors.
Mechanisms That Feed Into the Ageing Process
When we identify these mechanisms and understand them we learn how to intervene with our choices and behaviours to slow progress and manage with healthy ageing. That’s time moving forward chronically but biology going forward at a slower pace. Have a passport age of 50, with a biomedical age of 30
- Epigenetic changes such as in methylation and acetylation
- Epigenetic changes that may affect telomerase (telomeres are regions of genes that protect chromosomes from damage)
- The influence of SIRTUIN genes
- Oxidative stress (balance between free radical damage and antioxidant repair in cells)
- Impact of excess insulin
- Hyperglycemia and the influences of AGES (Advanced Glycosylated End Products)
- Impact of chronic inflammation
Over the coming weeks, we will talk about some of these pathways and how you can influence them positively through diet and lifestyle. Our weight loss health gains course is all about applying the breaks on unhealthy ageing and reaching into your health and life enjoyment potential.
If you’re interested in maximising your health in midlife so you can find and fulfil your plans and purpose, then we encourage you to sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Instagram. By engaging with what we do, challenging your health beliefs, knowing you can always make a change whenever you want, and feeling supported by us your health guides, you can start to create your very own roadmap for health, a “way of being” healthy that’s just part of who you are and what you do!
