Even though statistics show that the human race is living longer, it is predominantly due to science and technology. Science, technology and an extended lifespan do not necessarily translate into healthy longevity. The key to healthy longevity is to be conscientious about your general health and self-regulate physical and emotional demands.

“To improve longevity, addressing issues such as inflammatory processes in the body and oxidative stress is crucial.”

Educating yourself about mental and physical health and incorporating healthy habits such as a Mediterranean diet is an ideal foundation to reduce the risk of premature ageing and achieve healthy longevity. Good choices, maintenance and a positive attitude are the perfect ingredients to add to your recipe for a happy and healthy life in your later years.

Food staples from Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Greece, Italy and France are primarily plant-based foods, fish and poultry. Mediterranean diets include limited dairy produce and lots of seasonal fruits and vegetables, beans, legumes and whole grains. The Mediterranean style of eating is often accompanied by a nice glass of red wine which is full of antioxidants helping to break down damaging free radicals in the body.

Medical Director for London based longevity clinic HUM2N, Dr Nirusa Kumaran recently explained that optimal gut health is critical for improving systemic health and longevity. She recommends eating less meat, more plant foods and oily fish.

Plants are especially important as they contain a range of polyphenols. These act asantioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties. It is well known that chronic inflammation can be responsible for a lot of age-related illnesses and shortened lifespan, so ensuring plant foods make up a good portion of your diet can go a long way to protecting against ill health.

Dr Kumaran told the Daily Mail online, “To improve longevity, addressing issues such as inflammatory processes in the body and oxidative stress is crucial.”

She added, “Eating plenty of plants boosts the diversity of the gut microbiome – the term for the trillions of bugs living inside of us.”

Understanding the physiological processes of the body allows you to manage, protect, nurture and preserve it. Nutrition is only one part of the healthy longevity big picture.

Protect your DNA

Protecting your body’s DNA is important because, as we age, the chromosomes in our body shorten making us more prone to sickness and disease. Lifestyle changes can boost valuable enzymes in the body, helping you to live longer in a healthier state.

Make 2024 the year that you implement changes to promote healthy longevity

A new year brings hope, and we all want better for ourselves. Sometimes, it feels impossible to achieve our health goals hoping to live a long and healthy life.

You can regulate the important aspects of your health by organising and maintaining ongoing demands physically and emotionally. Emotions and hormones affect our decision-making, and incorporating mind and body principles makes a great start to your healthy longevity journey.

Managing stress and anxiety and developing coping mechanisms and strategies can help you deal with the challenges in your life and enable you to make 2024 the year you take your health seriously and gain obvious benefits.

Apart from your diet and gut health, there is so much more you can do to slow down the ageing process and reduce the risk of premature ageing and disease.

Here are some of our top tips and steps to healthy longevity success.

• Find out about your family’s medical history. Are there potential hereditary health conditions or diseases that you should know about?
• Make sure you attend health screening appointments for things such as breast cancer or prostate cancer. Visiting the dentist and opticians is important because underlying illnesses or diseases can be detected in the mouth and eyes
• Educate yourself, and know what is or isn’t normal for the ageing body
• Check for signs of conditions or diseases. Have you noticed changes to your skin, have moles changed colour or texture? Do you feel any lumps in areas in your body that need looking at by a medical expert?
• Visit your doctor with any health concerns no matter how big or small
• Don’t overdo it. Listen to your body and stretch daily to reduce acid build-up in the muscles and improve flexibility
• Treat injuries straightaway. Knee pain and back pain are very common for the ageing body. Expert advice or treatment from a specialist like a physiotherapist can give great relief
• Manage illnesses, health conditions or diseases with advice from medical experts. Review medications and how your body is reacting to them as you age
• Monitor your mental health. Are mood swings or emotional outbursts linked to your diet or lifestyle?
• Minimise stress and anxiety and try counselling, support groups or a life coach if you are struggling to deal with mental health conditions such as depression, addiction or abuse
• Seek help if you are dealing with emotions that are becoming an issue connected to loss, frustration, unhappiness or guilt
• Try not to hold grudges or bottle things up
• Talk to people, share worries or concerns and find out about coping strategies that other people use. Their strategies may help you
• Are you struggling to deal with the cost of living crisis, gambling or in debt? Talking to energy suppliers or debt companies and explaining your situation could present new opportunities to help lessen the worry and stress
• Socialise with people. Isolation and loneliness are not good for your mental health. Communication, physical interaction and new activities will motivate you
• Enjoy relationships and intimacy, and spend time with family and friends
• Make time for preventative care, well-being and self-care including periods of relaxation. You could try beneficial activities such as massage, reiki, meditation, yoga, pilates or tai chi. Beauty treatments or anti-ageing treatments can improve confidence and mood
• Get a healthy home and work balance, and find the right job for you to minimise stress levels. Do you need more help around the home or are you struggling with the demands of parenting and need childcare? Help is available
• Have a flexible daily routine, make plans and implement good time management to get the best from your day and be productive
• Take a break from your normal routine and enjoy a day out or a holiday
• Don’t sit at your desk in front of your computer screen for long periods, take intermittent breaks and go for a walk
• Do physical activities such as walking, weight-bearing exercises, workouts, participating in sports or dancing for example
• Breathe in the fresh air. Don’t stay inside for long periods, if you have to, make sure there is ventilation
• Minimise exposure to pollutants or toxins and protect yourself from harmful UVAs
• Reduce alcohol consumption and give up smoking or recreational drugs. Sometimes, friends you hang out with have bad habits, don’t be tempted to slip into them
• Limit drinks that contain caffeine or other stimulants
• Get enough sleep. Create an ideal sleeping environment, take naps and reduce blue light stimulation before bedtime
• Stay hydrated and drink plenty of water
• Treat or manage food allergies and intolerances that you develop as you age. Keeping a food diary is a good start to identifying foods that are causing irritation
• Find out what nutrients your body is lacking and adapt your diet
• Eat less processed food that has high sugar, salt or saturated fat
• Eat a nutritional diet and use healthy cooking methods
• Incorporate intermittent fasting if it is safe for you to do so and practical for your lifestyle
• Take natural supplements to complement your dietary requirements

To give yourself more healthy years, we recommend our supplement Longevity Pro. It is a specialised nutritional support agent for life extension. It has 11 key anti-ageing ingredients.