Want to Live Longer

Being that I have been sitting aside a wonderful man in the hospital these past few days, I figured a blog about how to live longer is precious. It hurts to see my grandfather have to struggle with many obstacles, finding cancer after cancer pop up. He has been a strong man, but of course, I would much rather him not go through this. Never in my life have I saw him cry until today, and it hurts a lot. I love you grandpa, this is dedicated to you.

Although living longer may not be a current goal of yours, as you age, you will want to live longer. You want to live to watch your kids grow, watch your grandchildren get married off, raise their children. With that said, in addition to the medications that help to extend our lives a few years, there are other all natural ways that can help us add in a few years.

• The don’ts. Obviously don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t engage in such life threatening things which probably don’t need a lot of explaining. Having fun and letting loose here and there isn’t a bad thing, but my point is to not become such an addict that it’ll be problematic. When you decrease your connection with these activities, you’re helped out a friend as well because “monkey see, monkey do.”
• The dos. Eating healthy, exercising, drinking more water are the most obvious musts for a healthy life. A healthy life equates living longer. It is not easy to keep up with this good habit daily, but there are a few other ways to live longer which include:
• Be happy. I admit, my grandfather is the best at this, optimistic about everything. Although you may get caught up in life’s stress and want to ‘end your life’ you really don’t. We all know, ‘ending your life’ is just an excuse, but try skipping out on the negativity and be more happy, you’ll live longer. Just having a smile on your face will brighten your day as well as the person next to you. Give off a good vibe, it catches on. The next time you’re close to raging, think happy thoughts and force a ‘real smile’ this will make you happy in no time! It’ll save the argument that’s totally not worth it (we all experienced the ‘not worth it’ when calming down after a two hour argument).
• Less stress. You probably thought smoking, drinking and deadly diseases was the ultimate life threat, well it’s not. Stress is actually more threatening than smoking is—think about it, most people smoke because they’re stressed. The more stressed they are, the more they smoke. Have you heard of people who have cancer and survived because they were happy all the time? I have. Just because a problem appears does not mean it’s the end of your life. It all comes down to being happy and not worrying all the time.
• Meditate. Taking five to ten minutes out of your day to meditate in the morning and before you sleep allows you to better understand your inner self. Concentrating on your breathing in a quiet area helps to strengthen your immune system which reduces the likelihood of diseases. It also provides you with the inner peace that prevents wrong doings because you tackle daily tasks with a calmer, more thought-out mindset.
• Exercise your brain. Challenge yourself to keep your brain refreshed like using the opposite hand you normally use or playing a memory game. These exercises help you use more of your brain which leaves the body rejuvenated while preventing Alzheimer’s. Plus, using more of your brain is a better thing giving you an advantage in life.
• Take deep breaths. Take the time out of your day to concentrate on your breathing. By practicing regular breathing, your body will become stronger because you’re not only building your lungs, but helping with the blood flow in your system.
• Donate blood. This feeds off of my blog that was specifically geared towards men to give blood. Giving blood with circulate your system, remove all the toxic and harmful blood to your system while reproducing more blood. Getting into the habit of this will allow your body to easily reproduce blood if and when a serious injury occurs. That and you're doing a great thing, so you'll feel good about yourself after which is always an added plus!

I’m not asking you to engage in all these activities all at once. It takes time and practice to have this routine packed down, but I guarantee you, it will be worth it in the end.