.png)
Your Blueprint to Healthy Aging: 7 Strategies for a Longer, Healthier Life
- Becky Livingston
- Jun 8
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 10
Do you want to live a life that’s as healthy as it is long? Yep, me too.
FACT: Everyone ages
The good news is that we have far more control over our health and longevity than we
realize. Researchers call them modifiable risk factors, because they can be changed by
our lifestyle choices.
What is Healthy Aging and How does it Relate to Longevity?
Healthy Aging, aka healthspan is characterized by three things: a low risk of disease,
high mental & physical functioning, and engagement with life.
Longevity aka lifespan is the number of years we live on the planet (with no guarantee
of a good state of health). In the past few decades, our longevity has shot up by as
much as 30 years, thanks largely to medical research. But there’s a flip side too. With
increased longevity more and more people are bewildered by how to live a healthy and
meaningful life, especially after they retire.
Clearly, it’s our healthspan we want to maximise. We want more years of healthy living,
free of chronic disease and disability, and, if you’re like me, fewer of the other kind
where we might require more care and have a poorer quality of life.
Obviously, the two are interconnected but to create a life that’s as deep and
meaningful as it is long is a challenge for many of the people, mostly women, that I work with as a travel and life coach. They arrive at midlife asking themselves BIG questions.What do I want my future years to look like? How can prioritize my health and well-being as I grow older.
So, what can we do to boost our healthspan?
How do we do that exactly, step by step, beyond the usual advice of “exercise often and
eat healthy foods”?
Here are seven ideas to guide you, with actionable steps you can implement.
1. Check Your Outlook
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?
Our identities are shaped by how we feel about them.
“So much depends on the frame of vision -- the window through which you look,” says
poet John O’Donohue.
Our identities are shaped by how we feel about them.
Meditation teacher, Light Watkins’ advice is to,” Act your spirit, not your age. Your age
may try to prohibit you from dancing like that…or starting over…or trying something
new. But your spirit would never do such a thing.”
Action:
If you struggle with seeing aging as only a downward spiral, try looking at alternative
ways to describe how your age influences your point of view. Try asking yourself, “How
does my age enlighten me?” How does my age empower me?” You might be surprised
by what you notice.
2. Rejuvenate Your Brain
If we open ourselves up to new experiences, we keep our minds agile and engaged,
and our lives dynamic. Travel does this in spades. It tests our flexibility AND our mindset more than anything else can. Why? Because travel stimulates our brain through constant exposure to new experiences.
Dopamine is the anticipation hormone. It shows up any time there’s a chance of
pleasure, or progress (or pizza). So, even just planning a trip will trigger change in the
brain! When we anticipate challenge - it actually GROWS the brain: a fabulous longevity
booster.
Planning the details—like packing, getting to and from the airport or city, making
reservations, and budgeting—uses executive functions in the frontal lobes.
New experiences stimulate our visual scanning and spatial navigation skills,
engaging the parietal lobes.
By creating new memories and stories and sharing them with friends and family,
it stimulates the temporal lobes (responsible for memory and language).
Dr. Michael Merzenich, known as "the father of brain plasticity ", stresses the importance of getting outside our comfort zone and embracing the unfamiliar.
“Even a change of scenery wakes up your brain and takes it off autopilot.”
There’s a weighty body of research that shows that people who travel to new places,
who keep learning languages and who continue to experience new things into old age,
are far less likely to develop cognitive decay.
In 2019, the year after my book was published, I realized I needed a new mental
challenge. I figured if I could write a book then surely, I could learn a language.
So, at 61 I did just that. Started to learn French. And I’ve been studying online and in
France, ever since. Six years later I still struggle to keep up in French conversation, but
I keep at it because I know how good it is to challenge my brain!)
Action:
If traveling far away from home feels like it’s too big a step, start by taking small trips
around your city or county. Try using public transit, find a café and start up a
conversation with a stranger,
3. Watch Your Language
The words you speak become the house you live in
~ Hafiz
I’m sure you’ve heard the tired agist expressions, “I’m having a senior moment”, “I’m too old for that now”, or “She looks good for her age.” Sadly, it’s often older people (and
Hallmark) who are the worst culprits. Older people perpetuate the stigma. It’s this
internalized ageism that’s most pernicious, and disastrous for healthy aging.
Action:
If you, or a friend or relative, use these subtle ageist expressions perhaps, without
judgment, explore alternate words that don’t rely on lazy clichés.
4. Develop a Growth Mindset
Do you consider yourself the most curious person you know?
Great! You’re already a healthy ager.
The United Nations (in conjunction with WHO) declared the Decade of Healthy Aging
2020-2030 with the goal: “To change how we think, feel and act towards age and aging.But in a world where the anti-aging products market is expected to reach $ 47.8 billion by 2027, it’ll be an uphill slog!
Q: Why is having a growth mindset so crucial to healthy aging?
A: Because our outlook about aging is more important than if a middle-aged person quit
smoking or started exercising!
Research from Yale University’s Becca Levy shows that having a positive mindset
around aging can add up to 7 ½ years to our lives! Sadly, as we grow older, it’s easier
than ever to become set in our ways but having a growth mindset puts us in the driver’s
seat of our life, empowering us to take the wheel.
Talk about an easy boost for healthy aging!
Action:
How can you shift your mindset from getting old to growing whole?
How could you become more curious in your day-to-day life? Start small. Engage your
senses.
Could you think of “repotting” yourself as you move through midlife and beyond? Same
seed, different soil.
5. Reduce to Revitalize
The second half of our lives is often defined by our search for purpose, spirituality,
wellness, and community. We want to make our lives wider and deeper. We want to
stuff these extra years with vitality.
But first we have to clear some space, right?
Yet, only by exploring what currently holds us back can we consider the new
possibilities that might arise in the future.
Action:
Ask yourself, “Is there a habit or mindset that’s holding me back? Old tapes I play over
and over in my head? Outdated ideas?
What no longer serves me going forward (habits, mindsets, identities, people)?
Then ask, “What DOES serve me”? When you figure that out, hold on to it. Just
thinking about those things can make you feel more vital and alive.
Get curious about your strengths and desires and see where they lead you.
6. Adopt a Beginner’s Mindset
Be willing to be a beginner every single morning
~ Meister Eckhart
To what extent are you able to…
Laugh at yourself?
Embrace your imperfections?
Try new ways of doing things?
Avoid being self-critical?
Emphasize growth over speed?
Say “not yet” vs “no”?
Action:
Think of times in your life when you’ve applied a beginner’s mind approach. What can
you apply that to now?
Imagine yourself at some future age (10 – 20 years on). What are you doing? Why does
it matter to you?
7. Find Your People
Loneliness is a careless stalker. It’s the epidemic of our times. In a world that’s so
virtually connected, many of us feel more disconnected than ever.
The antidote: Purposeful Action
Can you imagine a future you won’t see?
Engaging in something bigger than ourselves is VITAL for healthy aging.
Loneliness is a careless stalker. It’s the epidemic of our times.
Action:
How can you take your expertise or wisdom and apply it to something new?
Can you volunteer, to test the waters?
Can you join an art class, or a dance class, or even teach a skill or share a topic you
enjoy with others?
There are many organizations, such as University of the Third Age, in communities all
over the world that understand this healthy model of giving back to others. Modern Elder Academy, a midlife wisdom school with campuses in Baja and Santa Fe, provides
workshops to promote healthy living, longevity, and community to those in the second
half of their lives.
So, before signing off I urge you to think about how you can take steps to improve your
healthspan and then TAKE ACTION (because inertia is deadly).
As former race car driver Mario Andretti said, “If you wait, all that happens is you get
older”.
Life is fragile. For some, like my 23-year-old daughter, far too short.
Let’s not take regret the things we didn’t do, but instead ask, “If not now, when?”
Meet the expert:
Becky Livingston is a Certified Travel and Life coach and Founder of Vital Journeys at Any Age, and the author of the best-selling memoir The Suitcase & The Jar: Travels with a Daughter’s Ashes. Her work has been featured on CBC News, Journey Woman, Modern Loss, and The Vancouver Sun. She has presented on CBC Radio, at Whistler Writer’s Festival, Word Vancouver, the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, and at various international gatherings. Born and raised in England she now calls Canada home.
Dive Deeper Into Her Wealth of Knowledge:
Follow:
