Is aging a state of mind? There’s not much science to prove it, but a surprising number of the researchers and doctors we spoke to said that you’ll stay young if you think young. Among the benefits mentioned: A positive outlook will help you stick with an exercise program, take an interest in others and stay active longer.
A positive attitude is largely a matter of feeling you have control over your life, says Robin Barr, Ph.D., of the NIA’s Adult Psychological Development Program. He points to studies of men in nursing homes who stay healthier and live longer solely by virtue of, for example, being free to find their own way to the lunchroom rather than being taken there.
“In the end, aging is a way of thinking,” says Dr. Douglas. “In the past, we’ve thought that a person was old at age 65. It just isn’t the case at all.”
Your brain is not unlike your brawn. Exercise it and it’ll get bigger and stronger. There’s not much sense working to have the body of a 20-yerar-old if your mental capacity is slowly sliding toward senility.
Experts say mental challenges can sharpen your thinking. In one four-year study, healthy older people who stayed employed or did volunteer work or gardening had more blood flowing to their brains and did significantly better on IQ tests than their less active peers did. What’s more, research suggests that people whose minds stay sharp into old age also live longer.
To keep your mind stimulated, indulge in hobbies and puzzles that are different from what you do on the job; they’ll make your mind work in new ways (and have the added benefit of relaxing you). Socializing of any kind keeps the mind geared up for conversation. Reading a variety of newspapers gives you different perspectives on similar events.
You can also keep your mind fit by keeping your body fit. Long-term aerobic exercise has been shown to help keep older people mentally sharp, according to research at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. A study there found that men age 60 and older who had exercised regularly for five or more years scored significantly higher than nonexercisers of the same age on tests measuring mental quickness and recall.
Research continues to pour in showing that moderate drinking (one or two alcoholic drinks per day-no more) protects against heart disease. In fact, drinking men in one recent study had less risk of death from heart disease than men who never touch the stuff.
Alcohol boosts levels of HDL cholesterol (the good kind), “and there are surprisingly few things that’ll do that,” says Dr. Rossman. Still, doctors are cautious about prescribing alcohol as preventive medicine, since heavy drinking damages the heart, brain and liver. Can you draw the line at a drink or two a day? If not, well, you’re a big boy; you’re better off saying no.
The legions of sleep-deprived stumble to their desks every morning, dragging themselves through the day fired with coffee and sugar and … excuse me, what were we talking about?
“Lack of rest at any age is going to make you feel old,” says Michael Vitiello, associate director of the Sleep and Aging Research Program at the University of Washington is Seattle. Fatigue makes you physically slow and mentally dull. How much sleep as how good you feel during the day as a result,” says Vitiello. “If you always feel draggy in the morning or late afternoon, you probably need more time in bed.” To rest best, he advises turning in and getting up at the same times every day in order to keep your body clock in sync.
One minute you’re zooming purposefully out the door on your way to hammer an opponent at racquetball; then you stoop for your gym bag and boing, you’re instantly a crippled old man who can barely hobble to the nearest chair. “I’ve had back pain myself, and I can tell you that when you can barely move, and you can’t play sports or exercise, it profoundly changes your life and your whole sense of well-being,” says Alexis P. Shelekov, M.D., a spine surgeon at the Texas Back Institute in Dallas.
Most back troubles are minor problems caused by weak muscles, particularly the abdominals, which provide most of the spine’s support. To strengthen them, Dr. Shelekov recommends walking, in conjunction with curl-ups: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your hands on your thighs. Keeping your lower back pressed to the ground, lift your head, neck and shoulders. Hold for a count of two; return. Start with five per day, working up to three sets of ten. As your abdominals become stronger, try the curl-ups with your hands across your chest.
A hunched-over posture won’t cause any medical problems, but it will certainly make you look old before your time. Most posture problems result form bad habits or weak back muscles. Start by fixing the habit: To walk tall, keep your rear tucked in, pull in your chin, tighten your stomach muscles and keep your knees unlocked. Then, if your back muscles are weak or frequently feel stiff, join a health club and ask your health instructor for specific exercises to correct the problem.
For the long term, you also need to guard your bones against loss of calcium. Men lose this mineral more slowly than women do, but we do lose it, especially in the spine, says Richard Sprott, Ph.D., who heads the NIA’s Biology-of-Aging Program. Too little calcium can eventually make you slouch and can also lead to greater risk of crippling injury. To get enough, experts recommend eating calcium-rich foods such as skim milk, lowfat cheese, low-fat yogurt, broccoli, nuts and dried fruits. Also important is regular exercise, particularly weight training, which makes bones denser and stronger.
Yes, you’ve heard it. But if you’re serious about keeping those youthful good looks of yours, you’d better do it. Sun damage is responsible for most of what we think of as aging. Skin damage builds up invisibly for years before you actually see it. In Australia, where men spend lots of time outdoors, scientists find sun damage cause wrinkling as early as age 20.
“The sun damages your skin completely,” explains Karen Burke, M.D., of the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California. “It gradually destroys your skin’s inner elastic tissue and breaks down the connective tissue, all causing premature aging. As the outer layer of your skin thickens to protect the vital inner layers, your skin becomes leathery and old looking.”
There’s also new evidence that sunlight may play a role in the formation of gallstones. In a study, the risk of gallstones was 25 times greater for sunburn-prone subjects who sunbathed than for those who didn’t. According to one theory, ultraviolet light from the sun, which triggers the skin’s pigment system, may lead to an increase of pigments in the bile. This in turn could trigger gallstone formation.
No man is about to stay out of the sun altogether. But while you’re out there, protect yourself by wearing a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher, advises dermatologist Fredric Haberman, M.D., of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. “People think they need sunscreen only when they see the sun,” Dr. Haberman says. “That’s not true. You need it when it’s cloudy, too, because clouds don’t stop damaging ultraviolet rays.” As added protection, he recommends wearing a hat with a brim to block damage from reflected light.
If you’ve already got wrinkles, you can do some repair work with Retin-A cream. Studies continue to show that regular use of this prescription medicine can eliminate the fine lines around the eyes and soften coarse wrinkles on the upper portions of the face. Dermatologists are now combining Retin-A with alpha hydroxy acids to reduce the irritation and redness that some people experience when they begin to use the medication.
Physically, there’s no getting around the fact that there’s going to be some decrease in the pure animal drive you felt as a teenager. That’s partly because, as you leave your teen years, you begin to have more to think about than sex. There is also some slowing down of the basic equipment as the arteries that carry blood to the penis lose flexibility. A regular exercise program can help remedy this by clearing away fatty deposits on arterial walls.
And, while there’s no such thing as strength training for the penis, there is an exercise you can do to help keep your erections as firm as possible, says William Hartman, M.D., codirector of the Center for Marital and Sexual Studies in Long Beach, California. The exercise is often called a Kegel for men, and it works by strengthening the pelvic-floor muscles, the ones situated right beneath the base of the penis. First, find the right muscles: They’re the ones you use to stop urine flow. Squeeze the muscles tightly for three seconds. Then release. Start from a few and work up to 200 per day.
Just as important as keeping fit is continuing to have sex, not just for physical reasons, but for psychological ones as well. “Giving up on sex at any age can be symbolically giving up on all of life,” says E. Douglas Whitehead, M.D., a New York urologist specializing in treating impotence. “It can drain vitality out of your marriage, your work, your sense of physical well-being and many of the other satisfactions that the second half of life can bring.”
You can protect yourself against both heart disease and cancer by getting more of the powerhouse vitamins E and C and the nutrient beta-carotene. All three can reduce your levels of free radicals, damaged molecules that cause harmful changes in the body. One theory holds that the aging process itself is the cumulative result of wear and tear form free radicals.
Unlike many other nutrients, vitamins E and C and beta-carotene are safe to take in amounts higher than the Recommended Dietary Allowance. “Since the risk is nil, it’s safe to take more,” says Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at Tufts University. He suggests that optimal intakes for antioxidants may be in the range of 100 to 400 international units of vitamin E, 500 to 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C and 15 to 25 milligrams of beta-carotene every day.
We all want to cut a trim profile around the middle. A lean physique looks better, and more youthful, than a pear-shaped one. Lean men are also more active, more energetic and statistically less prone to chronic debilitating illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. To stay slim, however, men mistakenly tend to cut back on calories, when the real villain is lack of exercise and too much fat, says Eric Poehlman Ph.D., a researcher of aging at the University of Vermont’s Department of Medicine.
In fact, trying to keep weight off simply by cutting calories may not be a smart idea. By eating less, you risk cheating your body of important nutrients, says Dr. Poehlman. His formula for healthy weight loss is to exercise more as you reach middle age and to eat more calories as well. Just be sure they’re low-fat calories. As a rule of thumb, 60 to 70 percent of your diet should consist of foods high in complex carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta and beans.