Your health should be a priority once you hit 40. What you once got away with, dieting, a lack of exercise, not enough vitamins & minerals, will lead to poor health, if not addressed now.
If you don’t want to feel and be, old before your years, you’ve first go to to know the changes that are happening to your body.
Here are some of the most common health shifts women experience:
- Metabolism: Slowing by 2% per decade.
- Muscle: Down by 6 to 7 pounds from 10 years ago.
- Bone: Decreases by about 1% a year since your mid-30s.
- Stress: Especially high because of worries about kids, parents, health, career, and finances.
- Depression: More likely now than later in life.
By knowing what these changes are, and then taking preventive steps, you’ll stay healthier, sharper, more energetic, and more fulfilled for years to come.
Not only that, but you’ll slow down the ageing process, find it easier for your clothes to fit, and be more productive. All that only leads to a happier, more fulfilled you.
Calcium and Vitamin D
Most of us are deficient in this, and this can lead to osteoporosis.
Both are essential for strong bones, but many experts feel current benchmarks are too low.
The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that women in their 40s +, get 1,000 mg of calcium and 400 to 800 IU of vitamin D every day from foods like fortified milk or salmon, along with supplements if needed. Some nutrition experts suggest getting up to 1,000 IU a day for optimal health.
Stress
A healthy, calm heart beats faster when you breathe in, slower when you breathe out. But stress inhibits this natural “heart rate variability,” triggering unhealthy changes bodywide, including increased blood pressure, less energy to the brain and faster cell death. Stress is the 60% cause of most health problems in women over 40. On top of that, stress makes you age faster.
Meditation, fresh air, a good book, speaking to someone, lifting weights, interval training, being part of a community outside of your home, are all brilliant ways to keep stress at bay.
Exercise
Strength-training for 6 months can increase your resting metabolism, so you’ll burn more calories even when you’re sitting down. Finding it more difficult to lose weight as the years go by? This is easily fixed with the right type of training, brining your metabolism back up to where it should be.
Strength-training also helps strengthen your bones, maintain balance, and avoid injury—important for protecting your skeleton both now and when you’re older.
Strengthening your bones as you get older is so important, as with age in women comes a decrease in oestrogen, a hormone that helps with calcium production.
On top of that, strength training can help prevent and manage Type-2 diabetes.
Nutrition tips
My TOP 3 nutritional tips are as follows:
- Eat 5-6 small meals daily. This ensures that you never get too hungry and overeat. As well, your body knows that there is a steady supply of food coming in. This will help boost your metabolism, which helps burn body fat.
- Include protein with every meal. This will help to stabilize blood sugar and help to control your appetite.
- Lower your intake of starchy carbs, and eat more fibrous carbs. Steer clear of refined sugar. Eat lots of vegetables. Eat breads and pastas in moderation.
Protein
Getting foods with all the amino acids needed to form complete proteins at least twice a day boosts levels of mood-lifting neurotransmitters in the brain, which can help relieve symptoms of depression and poor memory Aim for 4 ounces of protein at each meal.
Good sources include fish, eggs, and quinoa. But don’t totally skip carbs: They boost mood by increasing production of serotonin in the brain.
Get essential check-ups
Look after yourself, and you’ll be so better equipped to look after everyone else. Take time out for yourself, yes, just you, where you’re not thinking, or worrying, about everyone else.
Take action rather than re-act to situations, and remember that the things we worry about most, very rarely happen.
You’re amazing, celebrate it.
Jessica
