How to Stop Aging in Midlife | Stay Active, Healthy, and Independent as You Age

Hey, beautiful, bravehearts. I'm so glad that you're here. Today, we're gonna talk once again about how to reverse the aging process and really slow things down. You know, the future you is begging you to love her enough to learn some of these principles so that when you get there, you can enjoy life, still vibrant, still full of energy, still looking for what's next in life.

So let me start with a quick story. I recently was a faculty member at a writer's conference, a beautiful conference, all professionals there, amazing people, great conversations. But this conference was a little bit different than other writer conferences that I attend in that this one also had a sub-theme of healthy living. That's right. The director is a health nut, and so she made sure that there were many things involved in this conference that promoted good health. One of them, the menu is totally different from other conferences that I go to. At other conferences, we love our comfort foods. We've got the mashed potatoes, the gravy, and the chicken-fried steak. We've got dessert tables. But not at this one, not a dessert table to be found. Well, at one event there was, but otherwise, the whole week, nothing. And I'm telling you that the sugar addicted people were not okay. They were pacing like, Where is the sugar table? Where are the desserts? It was funny, but it was also revealing. Whether we like it or not, what we consume and how we move matters more than what we'd like to admit. So here's the truth that I wanna build into you today. Your future quality of life is being decided right now by how your body is, so listen to this: whether you love it or hate it, the number one way that you can slow the aging process is with physical activity. It's not optional. It is foundational, absolutely.

And research shows that the more people exercise regularly, the longer they're going to live. They don't only live longer, they live better. Isn't that important? The quality of life, more years without pain, more years of independence, more years without disability or dependence. And honestly, that's what I want. I hope that's what you want. You wanna live your life with fullness as long as you can, not just more birthdays. But more freedom in those years than in others. So here is a wake-up stat. I mean, when you hear this, it should cause you to pause just for a moment. A study found that people who walk 8,000 steps a day had a 51% lower risk of death. 51% compared to the people who only walked maybe 4,000 steps a day. And that's not extreme. That's not athletic level ability. You can move your body 8,000 steps a day. You can absolutely do it. That's just move your body more than you're currently moving it right now. And I think that's a really good goal. I think it's really a feasible goal for you to have. So movement is essential to your body.

I have one exercise instructor who says when we move a joint, it's like taking an oil can to it and oiling it. Moving is so good for our entire body. Here's the real issue: when we age, it's not just about our weight. You know, as women, we're constantly looking at our weight, and we wanna make sure that we can still fit into the jeans that we wore when we first got married and all those things, and other fantasies. But it isn't just about weight. The real issue is about the muscle. Because muscle equals mobility, muscle equals strength. Muscle loss means you've lost strength, and it's a statistic that we lose about three to 8% of muscle every year. But when you are post-menopausal, that number doubles. So you could be losing 16% of your muscle every year. And a loss of strength is a loss of independence. Ultimately, it is one of the biggest fears that many people have is what's going to happen to me? Who's gonna take care of me? Well, you can take care of yourself because you can stay focused, alert, strong, and mobile with God's ability and grace in your life. Yeah, it's possible. Claim that by faith right now, and believe that, and take that as yours. You gotta keep moving now, I wanna keep it real to you, especially those quadriceps, those quadriceps, those high muscles up in your legs right there, those muscles, you gotta keep them toned. You gotta keep 'em strong. You know why? Those are the muscles that help you sit down and get up out of a chair. Have you seen people who can't even get up out of a chair? Those are the muscles that help you climb stairs. Those are the muscles that help steady you and help you avoid falls. And when you have strong quadriceps in your legs, strong legs for equal independent living. So, exercise, then what are you doing specifically to exercise your quadriceps, your body's strong legs?

And here's something surprising. Muscle mass is actually a better predictor of longevity than weight or body mass. Index. Can you believe that the level of the muscle that you have? A predictor of your longevity. So how do you mitigate loss? Well, first of all, you know, make sure that you're doing some resistance training, weight training, using resistance bands two to three times a week is probably most effective. But just exercising, toning those muscles, keeping a small set of weights by your television instead of just sitting there, moving, doing something to combat the loss of muscle.

And the other thing we're gonna talk about a little bit today is the protein intake, because protein helps build your muscles, and you need about 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal. So the goal is 90 grams of protein a day.

So let's talk about this movement thing, because it's simple to do. It's also simple not to do. And sometimes I think we underestimate how powerful the simple things are, thinking that it really won't make that big of a difference, but it does make a big difference. It does make an impact. So let's make this practical because information without action is just noise. Okay? So here we go. Like one. Move 30 minutes, five days a week, 30 minutes, five days a week. You can walk for 30 minutes. You can swim, you can dance. You can get one of those little trampolines, and you can just kind of bounce on the trampoline. Anything that gets you moving, you can walk up and down some stairs for a little bit. Don't overcomplicate it. Just be consistent. What do you do on a consistent basis? At least five days a week, 30 minutes. Just walk if you start with 10, good for you. Yay. I'm proud of you. Move it up to 15. Baby steps matter. Small steps matter. And then I want you to add some strength.

Number two, add a little strength to that. Sit to stand. Do those, get in a chair, stand up, sit back down, and stand up again. Get those quadriceps fired up. Get 'em moving, standing on one foot to ensure that you keep your twitch muscles, twitch muscles in your ankles, and you can feel 'em in your leg strong and firing so that when you lose your balance, you have strength in one leg or can regain balance focusing on the, one of the biggest things that cause people's downfall in the elderly to eventually die is that they fall. They fall, they break a hip, they go to the hospital, they get an infection. They don't recover; they pass away. It's the beginning of the end, but not if you continue to work on your balance. So stand by a wall. Don't hurt yourself doing this if you haven't worked on your balance up till now, but just start practicing standing on one leg, and then maybe put some lightweights in your hands, or again, those resistance bands, practicing your balance, sitting to stand, to sitting back down, continuing to work. You can also do that while you watch your favorite show. Put your chair there. Stand up, sit down, whatever prevents you from falling, and it will keep you strong. Okay, practice that.

Number three, walk more in daily life. Just think about parking further away from the door than you currently park right now at the grocery store, or when you're going shopping, take the stairs. My husband and I do this whenever we are traveling, which we do travel quite often, actually. And if we're on. The room that's probably anywhere from the seventh floor down, maybe eight is probably the max. We will take the stairs. We walk down. We walk all the way up, and it really helps us. It helps us. We think of it as while we're vacationing, we're still moving and getting some exercise there. If you have a pet, specifically a dog. Walk your dog, get outside. We have two little dogs. We are actually grandparents to these little dogs. They're not ours, but we have a little dog stroller, 'cause these little dogs can't walk as far. But we walk until they tucker out. Then we pick 'em up, we put 'em in the dog stroller. We keep going on our walk, but we get moving. You can garden if you enjoy that raking, if you enjoy that, you don't need a gym to move. But if you want to get on your treadmill and. Have a favorite show. This sometimes works; I have a favorite show that the only time you get to watch it is when you're on the treadmill, and so you look forward to that exercise or that elliptical. You look forward to that because you're getting a little reward and a little treat at the same time that you're doing it.

Now let's talk about protein. Why protein matters. Again, protein builds muscle, and so you wanna make sure that you're getting at least, as I mentioned, 30 grams of protein per meal, so around 90 grams a day, so that your muscles can continue to grow because you can't build or maintain muscle without protein. That is the food that your muscles need to be strengthened. So sometimes we tend to get away from that amount of protein as we age. Maybe we don't like red meat as much, or we don't like chicken. We like our little salads, soup, or our little sandwiches, and we tend to start eating more carbs. I want you to think about flipping that and eating more protein, and if protein is challenging for you to get down. There are great resources in protein, such as Muscle Milk, 25 to 30 grams of protein, and it tastes delicious. I buy the chocolate cottage cheese, a lot of protein, and 20 grams of yogurt. There’s protein in yogurt. Don't add a lot of granola to it because then you're gonna be adding too many calories to that. But I'll put fresh walnuts in my yogurt and get a little bit, but I'm getting those benefits from the walnuts as well. Great resource there. So you have to eat protein. And as I just kind of wrap this up a little bit, I hope that I'm encouraging you to be thinking sincerely about these two things, but I want you to think about consistency over perfection because here's the truth that most people don't wanna hear.

Consistency matters. It matters more than genetics what you're willing to do on a regular basis, not intensity. Not perfectionism, consistency, doing something every day. Every day, five days a week, let's put it this way, I'll give you two days off. Give your body a rest day, and that's important as well. By the way, sleep, that's my favorite. Sleep is really important to maintaining and to aging gracefully and slowly. So here's a mind shift for you, because I know, as I said at the beginning, somewhere along the line, people said, well, after 50 it's. Just all downhill. And so you just allow yourself to go downhill. But I, I want you to interrupt that thought because it's not true, not by a long shot, especially by today's standards. Not at all. 70 is the new 50. 80 is the new 60.

My mom is 90 this year, and she's extremely energetic and lives a very full life. So yes, your body changes our metabolism. It's gonna slow down, and our energy shifts. It's okay even to take little cat naps; sometimes our muscles decline. I get it. But decline is not your destiny. You can influence how you age. You can, you can shift, and you can do it significantly. All right? You believe that? I hope so. Even if you've neglected your health, it's not too late to start. You can get started. Whole Life Health Matters Movement is number one. Eating protein is important, but it's not the only thing, and I wanna leave you with this quick.

Tips real quick. You need to make sure that you get routine health checkups. Prevention will give you longevity in life. Cancers, those kinds of things can be found through routine. Checkups. Checking your blood pressure, checking your cholesterol, making sure that you continue to check your heart occasionally, those kinds of things. Having a colonoscopy important. Making sure you're doing your mammograms important. Okay, and then remember to eat real, whole food. Stay away from the processed. Packaged food, that is something that will poison your body. It's filled with toxins, and it's not good. Reduce the amount of alcohol that you take. Hopefully, no one is smoking while listening to this. Get rid of that habit in Jesus' name. Set you free from that habit. And wanna tell you that sleeping well, as I just mentioned, is vitally important as well, and staying out of really stressful situations that continue to shoot out cortisol throughout your body. So, keeping low stress levels as possible, and that's where my faith in the Lord comes in. Because there are stressful things that happen, but I've learned to turn them over to God. I learned to communicate with him and pray to him and roll that stress and that anxiety over on the Lord and say, Lord, I can't carry this one, but you can. You can. I wanna live a vibrant, long life, and I can't add one single hour to my life by carrying the stress and worrying, so I'm giving it to you. And then finally, just small choices.

Small choices add up to lifestyle. They add up to your habits, what you do a little bit every day. We don't wake up one day and just all of a sudden we're old, we drift. It's a little bit at a time, where all of a sudden we realize, okay, some things have been changing here. What am I gonna do? So here's your challenge: small steps, movement, discipline, consistency, because the life you want later is built by the life you have, right?

Now this is your girl here, Dawn Damon, your Braveheart coach, and I'll invite you to my website, thebraveheartedwoman.com/resources, there. I have a list for you of Top-10 Age Defying Products that you can use because we can also do some things cosmetically as well as internally. It's a free gift, a checklist that I have for you there, but most importantly, keep your mind young and vibrant. I can help you do that. If you need a coach, there's a free strategy call available for you as well. Hit me up, and I'm gonna leave you like I always do, my beautiful, brave hearts. This is your time to find your brave and live your dreams!