5 Natural Ways to Boost Your Longevity and Live Longer
Have you ever met someone who seems much younger than their chronological age? What is it that allows these people to stay healthy and vital even as they get older?
For millennia, humans have sought to slow down and even reverse the process of aging. In the twenty-first century, many people turn to technologies and procedures that focus only on the appearance of aging — such as botox injections — rather than on the root causes of aging. However, many of the most powerful tools to reverse the effects of aging are the same today as they were thousands of years ago.
In Chinese Medicine, there are a few important principles that you can use to help reverse the effects of aging. In this blog, you’ll discover five ways you can use these principles to boost your vitality and promote longevity as you grow older.
1. Reduce Stress in Your Life
Everyone knows that stress doesn’t feel good to experience, but many people may not think about the toll it has on your mind and body. Over time, stress is an insidious force that erodes your energy, vitality, and overall well-being.
Being in a state of stress consumes a lot of energy. Just think about how your body is tense and your mind is on edge when you’re feeling stressed out! When your inner resources are directed towards stress, your body isn’t able to effectively carry out so many of the processes that are essential for long term health.
One way to reduce your stress levels is to avoid unnecessary external environments or stimuli that trigger a stress response in your body. However, there’s often a limit to how much you can modify your external environment.
Another way to reduce stress is to work with your own response to situations that you find stressful. After all, stress is an internal experience. Fortunately, there’s a lot more you can do to transform internal experiences compared to external situations.
To reduce stress, it’s important to do activities and practices that help shift your nervous system from a sympathetic state (fight or flight) to a parasympathetic state (rest and digest). When you’re able to shift your nervous system in this way, you feel an immediate release of stress and tension in your body.
There are many key steps you can take to help ensure that you spend more time in a parasympathetic nervous system state. These include getting enough sleep, meditation, and physical movement. Also, you can try to be aware of how your body responds in your moment-to-moment experiences throughout your day. When you feel stress arising, try taking a deep breath and letting go of any physical or mental tension you’re experiencing in your body.
Over time, living in a state of reduced stress allows your body to dedicate more of your internal resources to health, vitality, and longevity. This shift from stress to relaxation can also help reverse the effects of aging.
2. Keep Your Energy Flowing
There’s a saying in Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong: “The hinges of an active door don’t get rusty.”
When energy doesn’t move, it becomes stagnant and vital. Just think of a murky body of water that has been sitting without movement. Compare that to a fresh mountain stream that is flowing through hills and valleys. Generally, the water in the mountain stream will be much more clear and clean compared to the stagnant body of water.
The energy in your body works the same way. When it fails to move and circulate, it becomes stagnant, which can lead to a variety of different health ailments. In turn, this means your health span and lifespan can be reduced.
To avoid stagnation and keep your energy flowing, it’s important to engage your body in a variety of different movements each and every day. Keeping your energy flowing is an essential step when it comes to reversing the effects of aging and living a long and healthy life.
3. Cultivate Inspiration
Your mental and emotional states play a significant role in your health and longevity.
Just like stress can detract from your internal energy, positive emotions such as joy and inspiration can increase your internal energy. In turn, this can give you more internal resources and boost your health.
When you’re feeling uplifted and inspired, those experiences are naturally channeled into your body. This means that you can directly improve your physical vitality by working skillfully with your emotions.
To cultivate inspiration, it’s important to spend time doing activities that you enjoy. Art, music, exercise, traveling, or just spending time outside are a few great ways to cultivate inspiration.
Additionally, try spending time around people who make you feel inspired. When you surround yourself with individuals who feed your spirit, those positive experiences can affect your body in a deep and meaningful way. Your entire being is connected, so when your spirit thrives, your body will become more energized. This can dramatically impact your health and longevity.
4. Listen to Your Mind and Body
Even if you have great habits, it’s normal for ailments or imbalances to sometimes occur. When this happens, it’s essential that you listen carefully to your mind and body in order to give yourself what you need. If you don’t, many ailments can quickly progress and become much more challenging.
Part of listening to your mind and body means paying attention to clear signs of sickness or injury and getting appropriate treatment. However, it also means paying attention to the more subtle signs that something is out of balance.
In your day-to-day life, try to be sensitive to how you feel mentally, emotionally, and physically. This requires cultivating a certain level of attunement to your internal energy state. When something is off, take some time to yourself to return to your center.
Sometimes, you might need to let go of stress that has built up or overcome an emotional blockage. At other times, you may notice that your energy has become stagnant and need more aliveness within your body. If you can address many common imbalances while they’re still at the energetic level, you can avoid letting them grow into ailments that are more serious, thereby allowing you to experience a longer healthspan and lifespan.
5. Have a Consistent Daily Practice
Having an intellectual understanding of what you should do to reverse the effects of aging and live a longer life is a great first step. However, it’s also important that you have a consistent practice in place that supports those healthy habits.
Following a consistent daily practice is like having a pillar in your life that gives you strength. It allows you to establish a strong foundation that supports your physical, emotional, and spiritual health. In turn, it can really help you overcome many common pitfalls of aging so you can live a longer and healthier life.
There are many different daily routines that can support your health, but most of them have a few elements in common. First, a daily routine should help you let go of any old energy or stress that has built up. Life is full of challenges, and it’s important to let things go so they don’t weigh you down.
Additionally, your daily routine should activate and cultivate all parts of your being. Ideally, this includes your mind, body, and spirit. When you consistently cultivate healthy energy throughout your entire being, all parts of you are nourished, which is exactly what you need in order to stay healthy and vital as you grow older.
Qi Gong is a practice that integrates all five of these principles to help you experience health and longevity. If you’re interested in learning more and giving it a try for yourself, be sure to check out our Free Two-Week Qi Gong Trial.
