Hi, my name is Candace Cabrera with Team GNC. On today’s episode of GNC’s Expert Series, we’re going to be exploring healthy aging for the minds and body. Everybody wants to age gracefully and there is a ton of information out there. It can feel really overwhelming. You’re not really sure if what you’re doing is actually benefiting you or if what you’re doing is just part of a fad. Today, we’re going to be exploring some of those top factors that help to influence the healthy aging process and we’ll break down what you should do and what you should skip.
The first trend we’re going to explore today is crazy workout trends. It seems like there’s always a new workout on the horizon that’s coming in, ready to be the next big thing. And those can be really fun and can provide some variety in your movement, but as we continue to age, it’s really nice to stay consistent and lean into functional fitness training. We all know that exercise is super important, but as we continue to age, we want to think about the type of exercise that we’re doing. That functional fitness style of training is really helpful in your activities of daily living that’ll have long lasting effects. There are so many different types of functional movements that you can work on. And one of my favorites is the farmer’s carry because it mimics movements that I do almost every day. So with the farmer’s carry, you’re going to hold something in either one hand or both hands and you’ll fight against the resistance of that weight to avoid leaning over. And what this does is helps to train your core, helps to work on your balance, helps the overall body’s strength and it’s one of those movements that I think everybody should be doing.
Deadlifting is one of the best things that you can do for functional movement. I have so many clients who have benefited from deadlifting and it has improved their back, their core and strengthened those legs and overall body really. So anytime you’re picking something heavy up off the ground, or let’s say you are a parent of a small child, and you pick your child out of the bathtub, you are essentially doing a deadlift. So it’s really important to learn how to hip hinge to perform deadlifts, because we do them every day in our activities of daily living. As we age, it’s really important to start to incorporate those functional movements in your gym workouts because they mimic what we do multiple times a day, every single day.
The next trend we’re going to be exploring is meditation. Stress effects your mental and physical capacity. When you’re operating at a constant chronic low level or high level state of stress, you’re essentially expending energy that you could be using elsewhere in your life, in your workouts, wherever. And meditation is one of those things that can help. When you work out, you will generally find that if you are present, you get a really workout. But if you’re stressed, you’re not really there in the moment so you don’t get the full benefits of the exercise because you’re thinking about other things and that energy is being expended elsewhere to those other things. So before you start your workout, you could do a little mini meditation. Sit down comfortably, take 10 deep breaths in and out. Just take a moment to be present. Use this time as your transition time between the day you had before your workout and your actual workout, and that transition time can help to bring you into the present moment so that you’re not stressing about anything and you’re just here right now.
Meditation can also be helpful for injury prevention because when you are fully present after meditating, during your workout, you are more dialed in to things like your alignment and your movement patterns. Additionally, supplementing with some nature based ingredients can help with mental acuity and memory. Ginkgo Biloba is an herb that helps to increase blood flow and helps support mental sharpness.
The next trend we’re going to be discussing are overly complicated skincare routines. Lots of people believe that you’ve got to have a wild and crazy skincare routine with many different pricey lotions and serums and toners and things like that. And while those may be helpful to your skin, it’s also important to consider what you put inside your body. A couple of those things include probiotics, which are helpful to balance your gut microbiome and collagen. Collagen is a protein that helps to hold the tissues together of things like skin, muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, blood vessels and the cornea. Unfortunately, the body’s production of collagen tends to decline through the aging process, which then results in some of those outward signs of aging. Things like brittle hair and nails, thinning skin and wrinkles. I personally am a big fan of grass-fed collagen. I like to use it in my coffee first thing in the morning. I think it tastes really good. And I’ve also noticed things like my nails, feeling much more strong. My hair grows a lot faster and feels thicker. And it’s just part of my morning routine now. So wild and crazy skincare routines, probably not where it’s at. You could use some of those products and they may be helpful for you, but it’s also really, really important to consider what you’re putting in your body and how that may be affecting your skin as you continue to age.
The next trend we’re going to talk about is crazy diets. For me personally, I consider food to be fuel for my body. As we continue to age, it’s important to consider what we’re putting in our body in terms of that fuel to help power us through our days. It can be really tempting to try all the different fads that are coming out in terms of crazy diets, but be really mindful because it’s important to consider balance variety and moderation. Those really tend to be the key to healthy aging as it relates to nutrition. Typically, when you’re following a diet that’s really, really strict, you may be limiting or restricting certain foods or in some cases, certain food groups altogether. For me personally, I like to approach nutrition as everything in moderation. So when I fill up my plate, I’d like to see three different colors or more. And that tells me that I’m getting a variety of different foods and a variety of different nutrients.
Next trend we’re going to be discussing is sleep. Sleep is one of those things that just really is helpful for improving your overall immune function. And when you sleep, that’s the time when your body recovers from the day before or from the workout before or whatever it is that you’ve got going on in your life. Many of us plateau in our workouts due to lack of good quality sleep. When you’re operating at that high level, go, go, go state and you’re not allowing your body the time it needs to recover but still asking it to perform at a high level can be really challenging and that’s why you may see those plateaus. Good quality, consistent sleep is really important for the healthy aging process because it allows your body the time it needs to recover so that you wake up feeling really good.
That does it everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in. I hope this helped to answer any questions you may have had about healthy aging for mind and body. Don’t forget to like this video, comment and subscribe for more.
