Ageing is a normal process that all of us go through. While advances in healthcare and nutrition have lengthened our life expectancy, we have also started to work longer and retire later. Because of this, ageing signs and age-related illnesses have started to concern us more than before. Ageing signs occur inside our body before it starts to show on the outside. While you cannot stop ageing from happening, you can learn to recognize the signs of poor ageing and reverse them with natural methods.

Types of Ageing

Ageing is a combination of physiological changes in your body caused by our biology and influenced by environmental factors and we are exposed to. Environmental factors can influence the way you age.

Biological Ageing

Also known as cellular ageing, the cell can replicate its self about 50 times before it can no longer be copied accurately. The more the cells are damaged by environmental factors and free radicals, the faster they need to duplicate and replace themselves. (Stibich, 2020a) This is also known as the Telomere Theory of Ageing.

 Accumulative Damage

This is a “wear and tear” ageing caused by external factors such as exposure to UV radiation, unhealthy food, pollution, and exposure to toxins. These external factors can eventually damage the DNA in the cells due to too much inflammation. When there is too much inflammation in the body, it can prevent it from repairing its self properly, leading to accelerated ageing.

 Hormonal Ageing

Another theory is hormones play a big role in our ageing process. (Stibich, 2020b) The influence of hormones on the changes in your body is evident throughout your life: from puberty to pregnancy to menopause, hormones influence the health of your bones, muscles, skin, sex drive and many more bodily processes.

Signs You Are Ageing Poorly

Constant Fatigue

If you are always feeling tired and lethargic may be a sign of poor ageing, specifically, hormonal ageing. Look out for chronic fatigue signs and sleepiness in the daytime. Hot flashes during perimenopause, that is the years before menopause takes place, can cause sleep to be disturbed. You may not be able to get a good night’s rest due to sleep apnea, which interrupts your breathing during your sleep.

Joint Pain and Body Aches

If you start to experience pain in your joints, aches in your body and a general reduction in flexibility these are tell-tale signs of ageing. Pain is often linked to inflammation and swelling. Pain in the joints is often caused by the degeneration of your cartilage. Pain in the other parts of your body might be due to inflammation of your connective tissues, known as fascia. This pain coupled with a decrease in range of motion is often a symptom of unhealthy fascia.

Chronic Inflammation

While chronic inflammation increases with age, some of the signs are easily dismissed. If you noticed your food sensitivities and digestive problems such as inflammatory bowel disease start to increase, this is a sign of inflammation in your body. Your skin can also show signs of chronic inflammation by manifesting adult acne, rosacea, and even constant redness of the face. It is not possible to prevent inflammation. But not managing it can lead to poor ageing and accelerated ageing.

Brain Fog

You may feel spaced out, mentally slow, lack mental clarity and even have memory problems, these are symptoms you are suffering from brain fog. Brain fog is often caused by oxidative stress, hormonal imbalances, thyroid imbalances and sleep apnea.

Unexplained Weight Gain

Putting on weight is normal as you age, but putting on weight than usual without changes to your food intake are signs of ageing poorly. You may not be sleeping enough, exercising enough, eating a diet that contains many inflammatory foods.

Natural Ways to Age Better

Develop Good Sleep Hygiene

Many of the poor ageing signs link back to poor sleep quality. Poor sleep is also linked to shorter lifespans. Improve sleep hygiene and gets around 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night, not only for you see improvements in the ageing signs you may even live longer. Using certain essential oils can help to improve the quality of your sleep. Meditrina QiActiv® Essential Oil contains lavender that relaxes your mind and body for a better night’s rest.

Natural Hormone Therapy

Your hormones control many bodily functions. Reduce estrogen can lead to increased chronic inflammation and lower levels of melatonin can affect the quality of your sleep. Unless you are ill, go for natural methods of balancing hormones instead of medicated hormone therapy. Applying Meditrina Ageless Herbal Cream and evening primrose oil are some methods of natural hormone therapy you can include in your daily self-care routine.

 Eat Well – More Anti-inflammatory Food

As chronic inflammation can speed up DNA damage,  eating a better diet is a natural way to slow down ageing. Fill your diet with more anti-inflammatory food such as olive oil, dark green leafy vegetables, antioxidant-rich food such as berries, and high-quality meats and seafood. Reduce inflammatory causing food such as white sugar, sweetened drinks, deep-fried food and processed meat. Improve gut health by eating probiotic food such as a mixture of kimchi, miso and other fermented food.

Stay Active

Exercising is a great way to keep your body physically and metabolically younger. Exercise 30 minutes daily. Your active lifestyle routine should include exercises that are great for your heart health such as swimming, running and brisk walking. HIIT exercises are great compound exercises that work on your cardiovascular health, mobility and muscle strength. If you prefer low impact exercises, yoga, Qi Gong and Tai Chi are some of the activities you can check out. If you find that creating a workout is difficult try to include socializing as part of the activity. You can look for friends to exercise together, play some sports, or even engage in group activities with people you don't know. Keep your active lifestyle fun and you will stick to it longer.