Rattle Them Bones -Proactive Anti-aging

 

 

The mind has a wonderful way of aging. It mellows, matures and through experience develops a sense of wisdom. It learns to laugh, appreciate and anticipate.  The soul never ages. It just grows. It remains both playful and curious while observing and acknowledging the lessons of life. But the body is something different. Left to its own devise it weakens and deteriorates. We need to direct the body towards health and fitness so that we can experience quality of life. The number one predictor of a loss of independence is bone weakness. The bones are the skeletal frame of your body. But when we think about the bones we don’t think about the importance of the joints. The joints are what allow us to move. Joints are the connecting points between two bones. Some are small, some are large. Some move a lot and some move very little.

In our western culture we are beginning to lose some of the functioning of our larger joints such as the shoulders and the hips. As a result the smaller joints such as the elbows, wrists and ankles are taking on a larger load. So to maintain and improve our physical functioning we need to accentuate the movement of these larger joints. That is exactly what we do in Doctor Lynn’s Anti-Aging Yoga Dance. Today let’s work on building strength, flexibility and balance into the joints and the bones of our body

Just like the body the mind is the connecting point between actions and words. Some thoughts are small and some are large. Some thoughts move a lot and some move very little. As we move through life, body, mind and soul it is important to remember that quality of life means the ability to approach life with a sense of balance, flexibility, strength and peace.

Namaste

Doctor Lynn

http://www.facebook.com/DrLynnAnderson

Proactive Anti-Aging- The value of saying no

 

 

 

 

Projects mounting, responsibilities overwhelming and little time to relax are all precursors to a stress attack and stress is one of the major accelerators of aging. Taking on too much can cause physical and mental turmoil. We all do it. Sometimes at different levels, but the result is the same. For some of us the stress threshold is higher. But whatever your threshold overwhelming pressure will take its toll on your health. The best thing to do is learn to say, “No.” It’s simple. Just say it.

Last week with looming deadlines and new projects evolving I found myself confronted with the need to say, no, to my friends and my family, as well as extra work. It is a word I learned to use a few years ago when someone taught me the value of saying, no. I was constantly being thrust into stressful situations with people, who were shall we say, people with unhealthy attitudes about boundaries and social interactions. What my mentor taught me was that I did not have to do anything I didn’t want to do. I had the right to say, “no.” So now, no, easily rolls off my lips without guilt and I move onto the things that must get done, that I want to do and the things that make me want to say, “yes.” 

Both no and yes for me are two very wonderful proactive anti-aging words!

Doctor Lynn

http://www.facebook.com/DrLynnAnderson

It’s Grey Day – Proactive Anti-Aging

Your chance of going gray increases 10-20% every decade after 30 years. YIKES! That means under this disguise of blond I’m 30-60% grey! But why? Initially, hair is white. It gets its natural color from a type of pigment called melanin. The formation of melanin begins before birth. The natural color of our hair depends upon the distribution, type and amount of melanin in the middle layer of the hair shaft or cortex.

Ok so I start out with white hair and I will end up with white hair. Who put that plan into action? With the white and grey beginning to sprout I’m off to the hairdresser for a much needed toucher up. I wish I could go grey, but vanity will not allow me to give way to my fading melanin. Although I have seen some beautiful grey and white hair it does somehow date you. My girlfriends agree. We’re just not ready to be old, and grey hair somehow symbolizes being old.

It’s all about the hair. We spend hundreds of dollars to keep our locks looking stylish and sleek. Three hours in the hairdresser’s chair may be torture but it is time well spent. Then we spend hundreds of dollars on hair products to keep the hair soft and frizzy free.  It would be so much cheaper and time efficient to just let the hair do its natural thing and go back to the beginning; the white purity of a new life. If only the skin would also go back to the smoothness of a babies butt, I’d buy into the white hair. Oh how happy I would be. White hair and baby smooth skin…ok if I can get that deal I’ll give up the blond and go white. Now that’s real vanity!

Doctor Lynn

http://www,doctorlynn.com

Too Busy to Feel Old

 

 

 

One of the great secret to proactive anti-aging is to be so busy you don’t have the time to think about your aches and pains or your wrinkles and sags. You often hear about people retiring and being busier than when they worked full time. Of course there are those who simply slip into old age way before their time. Those are usually the complainers.

Keeping busy and continuing to be active is the greatest antidote to aging. Of course there will be modifications and compromises, but that is the nature of life. In yoga we call this the three A’s - awareness of the situation, adjustment to the situation and then adaptation.

First you need to assess or become aware. I do get tired some days and when I do I know I need to pull back and adjust my energy. I am adapting to a more moderate and slower pace. When I was younger I never took the time to relax. Now I know I need to pull back a bit and simply replenish my energy.

I’m better at setting priorities and those priorities are the things I enjoy doing. I’ve earned the right to choose not to push so hard to achieve and yet at the same time stay so busy that life is full and rewarding.

I won’t tell you that there aren’t the days when the aches and the pains of aging catch up to me. Like a little tap on the shoulder aging reminds me that my body has been around for a while. So I pull back, put up my feet and thank aging for reminding me that there are many things in my life I don’t need to do anymore. Now I speed walk instead of run and somehow I am busier than I’ve ever been, I get more accomplished and the aches and the pains subside not with a complaint, but with awareness, adjustment and adaptation. After all survival of the fittest is not about the youngest and the strongest, but the one who can adapt to the situation with ease.    

Doctor Lynn

The Stairs in Front of You -Proactive Anti-Aging

 

 

I’m so busy that I hardly have time to focus on my aches and pains. Perhaps that is one of the secrets of proactive anti-aging? Staying busy, social and active keeps the body and the mind focused on what needs to get done instead of what can’t be done. Change your perspective and everything around you changes. Of course there are those days when my arthritis kicks up and my bunion aches. But I remind myself that life is full of aches and pains. Focus on them and life becomes a pain in the butt. Focus on moving beyond them and life moves with a sense of joy.

 Every day after I teach my Spin class I climb three flights of stairs. Some days it seems like a long climb after teaching such a rigorous class and some days I simply run up the stairs with a sense of pride that I can, still at my age, run flights of stairs.

How do I do it? I’ve been doing it for over thirty years. Exercise and moment is what keeps my spirits up, my body strong and my focus on what I can do and not what I can’t do. Aging by anyone’s’ standard is no fun. But with the right attitude, a healthy diet, exercise and some fun the stairs in front of you will seem like an easy climb.

Doctor Lynn

Feed Your Face – Proactive Anti-Aging

 

 

 

There is a wonderful fruit that ripens this time of year. Its name in Latin means “food of the gods.” It’s called the persimmon! What two vitamins are essential for healthy skin? Vitamin A and Vitamin C and guess what?  One Persimmons supply 55% of our daily vitamin A and 21% of our vitamin C. Persimmons are also an excellent source of manganese, a co-factor for the enzyme superoxide dismutase, for healthy mucous membranes and skin, as well as a known protectant against lung and mouth cancers.

Both vitamin A and vitamin C are excellent vitamins for protecting the skin from wrinkles, age spots and loss of collagen.

Persimmons are an excellent source of fiber, which helps keep the digestive system regular. B-complex vitamins are present to stabilize the metabolic system, along with copper and phosphorus which both serve to support cell functioning and tissue repair.

Low in calories and fats, persimmons contain all kinds of phytonutrients, flavonoids, and antioxidants, such as catechins (known to have antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as protecting small blood vessels from bleeding) and  gallocatechins and betulinic acid, a tumor inhibitor. Other powerful antioxidants found in persimmons include beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and cryptoxanthin. The zeaxanthin content absorbs into the eyes and helps filter light, protecting against night blindness.

Healthy skin, good digestion, antioxidants and cancer protection; I’d say persimmons are a good source of proactive ant-aging!

Every December I look forward to the persimmon harvest. My face glows with delight as I feed my face the food of the Gods!

 

Doctor Lynn

Http://www.doctorlynn.com

A La Natural’

 

 

 

The other day I saw a young black woman with beautiful braids. I remarked to her about how thick and beautiful her braids looked. She thanked me and then proceeded to tell me that her braids were extensions. Her hair actually was thin and unruly. She knew the braids were destroying her hair, but she just wasn’t ready to go a la natural’.

Later that day I saw an older woman with beautiful white hair pulled back into a ponytail. She looked elegant, refined and definitely older. Although her hair was its natural color she definitely had done a little “work” to her face. She was nicely dressed and of course her make-up was applied with care. I noted her hair and by the look of her face I knew she too was not ready to go completely a la natural’.

There are days when I think I would like to let my hair grow out, forget about the Botox, pack away the make-up. This would seem to me to be such a great sense of freedom.  It takes a lot of work to uphold a youthful image; especially in the face of aging. My hair is not a pretty combination of silver and white. It’s a mousy dark blond with a few strands of grey. It’s not that it’s getting thinner, but as we age our hair loses its volume due to shrinkage of the width of the shaft. Extensions might help, but they are expensive and I know they do more damage than help.

When you are young natural is so easy to do. As a young hippie I didn’t wear make-up, color my hair or worry about the lines on my face. At middle age I began to worry about all the fading, sagging and wrinkling my body was undertaking. I struggled to keep myself youthful. Now as I ‘m sliding down hill towards becoming a full-fledged senior I wonder when the day will come when I will succumb to a la natural’?  I’m not sure when that day will arrive, but for now I know I’m not ready.  So I’ll color, eat healthy and workout every day to keep the appearance of a slow progression towards maturity. That’s Proactive Anti-Aging!

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlynn.com