It's not surprising that we feel less energetic and "older" as we age. We've given up swing sets and jungle gyms for the corporate jungle and our bodies feel it. Most of us don't get the exercise we once got running around the playground or riding our bicycles through the neighborhood, and our bodies show it. But another old adage, "Youth is wasted on the young," doesn't have to be true. You can feel and look younger at any age with a return to a basic fact of an active youth: exercise equals a healthy weight.
Active children are slender children, and as adults we need to emulate that strategy if we want to help our bodies return to a state of fitness. We can feel half our age by acting half our age or younger). Riding a bicycle, talking long, brisk walks, or lifting weights can help us look and feel younger.
Of course, simply acting like children isn't always enough to make us feel younger, but it goes a long way toward doing so. Why? Because children - at least the healthy ones - are active. They may not call it "exercise," but that's what it is. In addition to helping us feel younger, look better and probably live longer, regular exercise has the added benefit of weight loss. When we exercise regularly, the body's metabolism increases and we create lean muscle. Both mean that our body burns more calories more efficiently, so even without dieting we can lose weight and have greater energy.
More energy usually leads to more activity, and when we're active we feel younger and look better - and all because we took the time to "act like children." Part of the fun of feeling more energetic is that you no longer have to act your age. Your age might be the new thirty or the new fifty, even though the calendar might say "65" or older.
A bonus of acting like children at more advanced chronological ages is that we suddenly regain levels of energy we feared were lost forever - and the wisdom to put that energy to good use. Of course, it's not recommended that anyone revert to youthful irresponsibility, but it is recommended that we take the best parts of youth and reclaim them as our own. We can start to do that simply by beginning a healthy exercise program and losing the extra weight that years of a sedentary lifestyle has added to our figures. The thing to remember is that "real" age is not determined by a calendar - and that being over 50 (or 60 or 70) doesn't mean that it's time to hang up our roller blades and buy a walker.
With the right attitude and exercise, we can lose the weight the years have added and enjoy youthful activities for many years to come.
Owner of IsoBreathing Inc. and creator of IsoBreathing(R) Ellen has been teaching life style and fitness over 20 years and is a certified fitness practitioner and personal trainer. Find out about Isometric Exercise, Weight Loss Exercise or buy her Exercise DVD - visit http://www.isobreathing.com.
