Tips on Quitting Smoking for Anti-Aging Benefits

It is no secret that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health. There have been warnings from the Surgeon General’s office for decades now warning us of the health consequences of smoking. Cancer and lung disease, among other things, are some of the negative effects of smoking, and they can be clearly seen printed on the packs of cigarettes that are available at stores nationwide.

What is not as widely spoken about, however, is the negative effects that smoking can have on our appearance. Not only does the nicotine from cigarettes stain our teeth yellow, but the fact that smoking actually causes our blood vessels to constrict and decrease blood flow can contribute to wrinkles and other issues further on down the line.

Not only is smoking dangerous for our health, but it is also dangerous for our appearance. It can make us smell unappealing to others, reduce our circulation, contribute to the fast development of wrinkles, make our teeth look bad, and cause diseases like heart disease, lung disease, osteoporosis, eye diseases, diabetes and other varied respiratory problems.

There is also the issue that smoking can make our muscles fatigue more easily, so getting the exercise that is recommended to improve our circulation and maintain muscle mass as we grow older is far more difficult if we have a nicotine addiction. There are so many health concerns related to smoking that it is difficult to justify continuing!

However, quitting smoking is easier said than done, but there are a few tricks that we can use to help ourselves to stay on track. First, remember that you don’t actually need to smoke. Quitting smoking is difficult because we can talk ourselves into the mindset that we need a cigarette. But truthfully, it is just physical addiction talking, along with a difficulty in dealing with stressors in our daily lives. Finding other ways to cope with stress can be very effective in helping us to quit smoking once and for all.

Another thing that helps is to find distractions. It only takes a few weeks of not smoking before you physically kick the habit. You can try and utilize your time by doing things that are enjoyable and personal to you so that when you suffer from irritability, you are not taking things out on others. Things such as taking walks, being active, reading, writing, or playing games can be great ways to keep your mind occupied while trying to quit smoking.

One final but very helpful tip is to have something handy to keep your hands busy or to put in your mouth when you are craving the physical sensation of a cigarette. By this we’re not talking about vaping or electronic cigarettes. Rather, try something a little different. Mints, healthy candies, or even stress balls can work wonders! It is also helpful for some to use straws with a little piece of cotton inside to emulate smoking without actually smoking.

Whatever the case, try to implement these tips today to help you to live your healthiest life and avoid speeding up the sings of aging once and for all!

Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight to Prevent Premature Aging

It is no secret that when we are eating a poor diet, that there are going to be negative health effects. However, something that most people don’t think about is how these choices in diet might affect us in the future. When we gain weight and load our bodies up with unhealthy, processed foods that are full of sodium, fat, and sugar, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

A poor diet can set us up for health issues down the line, but one thing it also does that many people might not consider is give us the appearance of being older than we actually are. While it is very important to avoid the health consequences of unhealthy dieting, it is also something worth considering. If we want to appear younger and maintain our vitality in our every day lives, excess weight gain will only old us back.

It’s extremely important that we are able to feel comfortable, confident, and happy in our bodies. And there is no shame in having a little bit of extra body weight. However, it becomes an issue when our body weight is a reflection of a poor diet that is going to age us prematurely and give us health issues in the future. It is also important not to over-do it with sugar. Sugar doesn’t just make it easy to pack on the pounds – it can also be bed for your oral health an it can actually cause wrinkles and decrease the collagen in our skin, which helps it to stay elastic. With poor collagen production, our skin has a tendency to speed up in its aged appearance and can lack elasticity, which can cause breaks in the skin, wrinkles, and other blemishes like stretch marks.

Sugar, like other foods such as red meat, fried eggs, and other dairy products like cheeses, butter, etc.,  is also related to Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). This means that these foods can also contribute to poor collagen production and a lack of elasticity in the skin, which can cause us to appear much older than we really are.

Overall, living a healthy lifestyle is important for many reasons and in many ways. Do everything you can to be conscious of the things that you are putting into your body so that you are able to know with confidence that you are doing everything possible to prevent aging prematurely in your own life and avoid diseases that are completely preventable, but not always reversible!

Keeping this in mind, taking an active role in consuming healthy foods and avoiding excess sugar is a great way to prevent premature aging and prepare yourself for a long and happy life, starting now!

The Importance of Nuts, Beans, and Seeds in Preventing the Effects of Aging

Eating healthy, whole foods can be one of the greatest possible ways for us to stay healthy and maintain our bodies. A lot of us live on what is called the Standard American Diet, which consists of a lot of processed foods that are high in fats and sugars that accumulate in the body and can cause problems.

However, not all fats are bad fats! In fact, nuts and seeds are full of good fats and other minerals that can be incredibly healthy and beneficial for us. Sesame seeds for example are full of calcium and can provide other essential minerals for the body. Sesame seeds are full of fiber and also provide us with phosphorous, iron, and magnesium. They’re great for the bones, which is an incredibly important thing for us to focus on as we continue to grow older. Our bone health becomes harder to maintain the older we get, so making sure that you are getting these minerals in abundance will ensure that we are feeling much younger than our years as we continue to grow.

Nuts in general, whether peanuts, cashews, or brazil nuts, are high in protein and can also provide fiber just like sesame seeds. Not only that but nuts can help to improve heart health by lowering cholesterol. They can also help with our internal functions and maintaining a taut, youthful appearance, because they also contain elements that help to reduce inflammation. While it’s not a nut, per se, the spice turmeric is also incredible for reducing inflammation as well.

If you don’t enjoy eating nuts, or you have difficulty doing so, you can also get benefits from nut-based milks. Many of them are highly fortified with vitamins and minerals to make them extremely good for us, especially if we live on a primarily plant-based diet. Whether you are a vegetarian or not, however, there are great benefits to switching out the fatty cow milks with milks that are full of great nutrients that will also help us to support our bones and provide us with other nutrients.

Lentils and beans are also full of protein and they can help us to keep our immune systems healthy and fight disease. Like the other foods listed in this article they are also full of fiber and chemicals that can help us to detoxify our bodies in a natural and healthy way. Not only that, but they can help us to stay sharp and focused by providing natural amino acids into our bodies that will help us to concentrate and learn new things; something else that we can struggle with as we age.

If you want to stay youthful and healthy, considering the health benefits of your diet is crucial. Including nuts, seeds, and beans into your diet can be a great way to get the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy and happy, and to reduce the evidence of aging today!

Cooling Off When It's Too Hot Inside Your Home

Getting overheated can make you sick. It can also be dangerous if you overheat and don’t cool off. It can get too hot in your house in the event of a power outage. But sometimes, it can get too hot inside a home even when the electricity is on.

High temperatures outside can easily make it difficult for some air conditioning systems to handle the heat. But there are plenty of ways that you can cool off inside your home and some of these ways involve you using things you already have at home and don’t cost you anything.

When it’s hot inside, wet some thin sheets and put these in front of your open windows as well as in your outer doors. The dampness on the sheets help cool the air that’s circulating through your home.

If you’re finding that it’s too hot to sleep at night because your home is too hot, the damp sheet tip can also work for your bed linens. Just lightly dampen the sheets that you sleep on or cover up with and the light moisture will keep you cool.

Water is a natural cooler. Get in water by taking a cool bath or shower. You can also bring a kiddie pool indoors if the heat is dangerously hot inside your home. Keep your skin wet by applying cool, damp washcloths to your forehead, back of your neck and under your arms.

You can also spritz yourself with water from a spray bottle. If you don’t have one, flick water over yourself with your fingertips to cool off. When you have the water on your skin from whatever method that you use, get in front of an air conditioning vent, or an electric or battery operated fan.

The cool air on your damp skin can help cool you off as well as lower your body temperature. Set up fans throughout your home where they can keep a breeze going. Carry a battery operated hand fan with you so that you can keep a breeze directed at yourself.

You can also situate a fan so that it blows across a bucket or bowl of ice. This can cool you down and even cool off a small area such as a closed off room in your home. You can keep a room cool by shutting off all the other rooms you’re not using and remain as much as possible in one room.

It’s imperative that you stay hydrated. Drinking water can help cool you off. Make sure that you don’t wear clothing that traps heat. Wear loose clothing. It’s a known fact that heat rises.

So stay downstairs as much as possible and even sleep downstairs if your bedroom is on the second floor. Open up the windows to allow a breeze in at night if it’s safe for you to do so.

Avoid anything strenuous during the day, such as exercising or doing any household chores. Instead, switch anything that has the possibility of making you sweat to the night hours.

Don’t heat up your home by using your stove or oven. Choose to eat meals that you don’t have to cook instead. Unplug any appliance that generates heat, such as a computer. If it’s a light source, it’s producing heat - so keep your lights off except when it gets too dark to see in your home.

Why Water is So Important and Can Help Us Stay Youthful

Hydration, hydration, hydration!

There is nothing more important for our bodies than to stay as hydrated as possible! All of us have a deep requirement for hydration on a daily basis. We can only live a few days without water, and most of us still live in perpetual dehydration. It has become far too easy to replace the nourishing and pure elements of water with other liquids that contain sugars and caffeine that can actually deteriorate our cells or dehydrate us even more.

When we aren’t getting enough water in our bodies then it can cause us to develop dry skin and other issues. it can even make it more difficult for us to concentrate and it can cause problems with blood circulation. If we don’t get enough water, it can cause the blood to thicken and, when we are dehydrated, it can even lead to heart palpitations and other complications. The blood in our veins begins to grow thicker without enough water in our system to help it move properly, so it is more important than one might think to maintain our hydration!

Water helps with many other things as well. When we are properly hydrated, we are able to digest our foods better and absorb the vital nutrients in them that we need to thrive and keep our bodies as active and youthful as possible. Water is also a vital aspect in making sure that the toxins that enter our bodies are able to be expelled properly. When we are hydrated well enough, we can eliminate the waste and the other free radicals that can cause us health issues that will increase our rate of aging beyond what is natural.

A lot of people avoid liquids, and as we age we begin to feel less of a drive to drink. We simply just don’t focus on our thirst as much as we once did. But that doesn’t make it less important. Instead, we should try our best to make a focused effort on increasing our liquid intake, particularly water. If we wait to drink until we are feeling thirsty, then we are way more likely to get dehydrated. Instead, make it a point to keep on drinking. Set a goal for yourself to drink at least 8, 8 ounce glasses of water daily. That equates to roughly four bottles of water every day. If you do this then you can be certain that you’re going to be able to keep your body hydrated and working in the best possible order.

Not only that but your skin will thank you! It will help you to get rid of the toxins that can cause blemishes and other issues over time, so there is no reason not to do it! Hydration is important in more ways than one, so pick up a water bottle and make sure that you’re staying hydrated today!

How Embracing Yourself and Reducing Stress Can Help You to Slow Down Aging

Have you ever heard a well-meaning person tell you to stop frowning or making a face because it will cause wrinkles? Well, there is some truth to that, though there are other aspects that can be just as important to consider. Why exactly are you frowning and making faces that someone is concerned will cause wrinkles? The answer to that is more than likely “stress.”

All of us encounter stress on a regular basis. It is important to know how to cope with our stressors and reduce them as much as possible. Stress is a slow killer, and it isn’t just in the wrinkles. When we go through stressful and traumatic experiences, it can cause negative impacts on our bodies. We can be impacted to the point that we are even prone to developing grey hairs. Extreme fear and stress can have huge impacts.

When we are living with constant stress, it can actually begin to change our DNA in a way that shortens telomeres, which is a complicated way of saying that we are speeding up our cellular aging. It makes our inner structures more fragile and our ability to produce strong and vital DNA strands. Instead, they are more vulnerable and they have a tendency to get old and die at a lot higher of a rate.

Stressing out is a major issue that goes beyond grey hairs and stress wrinkles. It’s so important to think about the things that cause us stress so that we can begin addressing them. We are often feeling pressure to be perfect; to look and present ourselves a certain way and we can easily begin to focus on things that are imperfect about ourselves and cause ourselves even more stress than is necessary.

Embracing who you are and where you are at is so important. You are the person who most needs to be in your own corner. You should not be making your own life harder on yourself if you can help it. Instead of fixating on your faults and your flaws, think about the things that you are good at and the things that make you happy. Instead of feeling like a failure when you aren’t where you want to be, instead, see every opportunity to grow and get better at something that was once challenging to you.

None of us are perfect and life can be overwhelming and hectic. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is to slow down and get things figured out for ourselves. We need to be able to embrace our journeys and be okay with where we are at and know that every single day we are doing whatever is in our power to do better and keep trying.

When we give in to the stress and don’t learn to identify what our stressors are and ways to accept our situations, we are harming ourselves. Instead, embrace who you are and just breathe!

The Best Fruits to Eat for Anti-Aging Benefits

There are many reasons to eat fruits, and anti-aging might be one of the most important. There are so many benefits to consuming the vitamins and minerals that are naturally present in fruits that it’s hard to imagine why so many people begin to shy away from natural fruits as an option for snacking. However, utilizing these delicious little snacks can have long lasting effects that will keep our bodies functioning well for a long time, and looking great to boot!

Blueberries for example are full of vitamins and antioxidants that help us to get rid of the bad things that get into our bodies and keep our blood circulating in a clean and healthy way. They’re also incredibly good for preventing sun damage because they keep our bodies free of the toxins that we consume and can be exposed to via common issues like pollution and even stress. They’re also great for reducing wrinkles because of the levels of vitamin D that can be found in them. Another fruit that can work in a similar way is pomegranate. The seeds act in a similar way as blueberries by providing antioxidants in the body that help us to get rid of toxins.

Pineapple is another great fruit to keep us young at heart and in body. Pineapples are great for the formation of collagen in our skin, which is a huge part of what keeps our skin healthy, strong, and elastic enough that it isn’t damaged as easily! Pomegranates can also help us to keep the collagen safe, while we’re on the topic. It can be so beneficial to get a variety of fruits and vegetables in our diet!

You might be surprised to learn that another fruit that helps us to form collagen is oranges. Oranges are also chock full of other healthy vitamins, like vitamin D, to not only help us keep our skin healthy and provide us with a natural glow, but it can also help us to stay healthy by giving our immune systems a kick into high gear!

While we’re on the topic of fruits that are great for the skin, we can’t leave out watermelon. Watermelon is one of the most hydrating of the fruits, so it’s easy to see why it could be very useful. However, that isn’t its only use! Watermelon produces lycopene, which can actually serve as a natural sunscreen for us. It can help to prevent damage from the sun and other skin blemishes because of its incredible properties!

Overall, these fruits can be incredibly useful in keeping us healthy and in making sure that our skin is being treated the best way possible. it helps us to keep our bodies free of toxins and the clean blood and nice flow is essential in anti-aging. Not only that, but we are given an opportunity to get healthy and eat delicious natural sugars as an excuse to keep ourselves as vibrant and youthful as possible! Sounds like a win!

Winter Preparations to Fortify Your Home for the Cold

Getting in front of a situation is always better than trying to react to adversity. By being prepared ahead of time, you can ensure that you have the supplies you need, not only to survive but to comfortably make it through the winter.

Start now to make preparations so that you can fortify your home against the cold. By doing that, not only can you cut down your heating costs, but you can have your home ready to withstand the colder temperatures in the event that the heat goes out.

Your home can have drafts that work against your heating system by allowing cold air in and letting the warm air escape. You want to make sure that you fix these drafts before the winter weather impacts your home.

The best way to fix drafts is by making sure you have good weather stripping. Check each of the outer doors and all the windows of your home. One of the main signs that you need weather stripping or to replace what you do have is to check to see if you feel a draft.

If you feel air around the frame of your doors or around the windows, then air is getting in. You might not be able to feel any air coming in, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not. You can hold a lit candle in front of each side, top and bottom of your window.

If the flame flickers, that’s a sign you have a draft. When glass panes on your windows or doors are foggy, that’s also a sign that they’re not properly sealed against the weather.

If your heating bills are suddenly higher than they have been before, that can be a sign that your home isn’t weather sealed. You can easily buy and put up weather stripping yourself to protect against drafts and help keep your home warm for the winter weather events.

You want to be able to safely use your fireplace in the winter. But you can’t just light a fire once winter hits without having prepared ahead of time. Before you light the first fire, you need to have your chimney inspected.

An inspection can prevent a fire by making sure that there’s no residue in the chimney. By cleaning out the residue if there is any, you can make sure that your home is safe from this danger.

Getting your chimney inspected and cleaned out can also help make sure that any obstructions are cleared away. Birds and even wasps sometimes build nests in chimneys.

Anything that causes a blockage in the chimney can be dangerous. Ahead of the winter weather, make sure that the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working. If you haven’t replaced your batteries before cold weather hits, then go ahead and do that. After you replace the batteries, perform an alarm test on each of the detectors that you have in your home.

The Old Wives’ Tales That Actually Work for Anti-Aging

A lot of people in the modern times are quick to dismiss old wive’s tales. They can be considered superstitious and outdated. However, there are times that these little anecdotes that have survived the centuries have done so for a reason! People who have tried some of these things will stand by them. So what wisdom do these old wive’s tales hold for those who want to focus on anti-aging and maintain a youthful appearance?

First of all, have you ever heard a grandmother or someone else mention that putting honey on your wounds is something that will help you to heal? Well, you had better listen up, because using honey on the skin, especially when it is damaged, is an incredibly powerful thing to do to promote healing and to lessen the possibility of scarring because of how helpful it is in hydrating the skin.

Not only that, but honey is naturally anti-microbial. This means that when you are injured, there are properties in honey that will easily help us to fight off infections and the bad bacterias that may end up doing harm to our bodies and making it take longer for our wounds to heal. Honey is also like a soothing balm when used on other skin irritations such as sunburns. If you heed any of the advice from old wive’s tales, make it this one!

Another really important old wive’s tale that is still relevant today is the phrase that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Apples (and some other fruits and vegetables) contain really important vitamins and fiber that help us to keep looking radiant! With the help of the fibers in an apple, we can cleanse our bodies of bad toxins in a healthy and natural way so that we might remain able to put our best feet forward and avoid premature aging and disease. Apples help us to keep our blood clean, which means that overall, our circulation is better and it will improve everything!

It can be easy to dismiss the old wive’s tales that we hear over the years. It is true, back in the time when many of these tales began to circulate, we didn’t have quite so many helpful advances in modern medicine or science. There weren’t real explanations for why  or how things worked. All we had was the assurance that it did. And some of these methods have worked well enough that we still hear them spouted on a regular basis.

So, it is safe to say that using the wisdom that our ancestors have laid out for us over the centuries can still help us in our daily lives. Listening to what they had to say can have untold benefits for us, because they did things for results, and they got those results! Get them for yourself by utilizing apples and honey today!

How to Embrace Anti-Aging by Sleeping More and Sleeping Right

Some people out there might laugh at the idea of refusing sleep when it becomes an option. We can lead such busy lives that it can cause us to have many disruptions in our sleep schedule. It can also sometimes make it very easy to just get into bed and fall asleep. However, it’s surprisingly rare for us to have regular sleep schedules. And that lack of consistency can cause many different issues. Heart disease and diabetes are just some of the complications that can occur when we are not sleeping consistently. If we aren’t sleeping well and sleeping long enough, then it harms the body and puts us at risk for further complications down the line.

It is also important that we know how to sleep properly. Many of us have our go-to positions that we choose to curl into before we fall asleep. However, it can be damaging to the body if you are not sleeping in a good position. If you find yourself sleeping consistently on your left side, it can cause issues with digestion. And if you find yourself sleeping on your side or your stomach in general, then it can actually affect your skin by causing wrinkles on your face where you are resting on the pillow.

It is recommended to get between seven to ten hours of sleep per night for optimum benefit. If you are getting consistently poor sleep and not getting enough sleep when you do manage to sleep, you may begin to experience the consequences of sleep deprivation in your own life, and this can cause major problems in the long run. For example, you may find yourself feeling grumpy, sure, but what we don’t see is the fact that we are also weakening our immune systems and we aren’t processing things with as much clarity as we would should we be able to get the proper amount of rest.

Irregular and unhealthy sleeping periods can even cause an issue with our metabolism. If you are gaining weight and you aren’t quite sure why, think about your sleeping patterns. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you sleeping well when you do get to sleep? Are you making sure that you have a good, comfortable mattress and an area where you will not be disrupted when you are getting the rest that you need?

A lack of sleep can cause heart disease, diabetes, bad balance, low sex drive, mood swings, high blood pressure, inability to concentrate, weaker immunity to common colds and illnesses, memory issues, and decreased cognitive function. When we ignore the importance of sleep, we decrease our quality of life. Wouldn’t you rather do everything possible to keep yourself from aging your body prematurely? Focus on getting the right kind of sleep and doing right by your body for the best anti-aging effects today!