11 Things We Do Every Day To Not Die Young
Most we even enjoy. We said most.
by The Candidly Team
Up until we hit 35, most of our “health goals” were fairly short-sighted. And, we admit, usually in some way tied to our appearance.
Needless to say, we did not always make the best choices. Going SPF-free so our tan would “protect” us from burning the rest of the summer, for example. Treating two chicken alfredo Lean Cuisines like a perfectly healthy dinner option.
But now, we have two basic goals when it comes to our health:
1) Live as long as possible.
2) Feel remarkable doing it.
And to that end, we have new routines in place. Every single one of the activities we’re about to get into is something we do to live longer but is also something that makes us feel better in the immediate sense. More importantly, not one of these acts feels so hefty that we can’t realistically do it every single day.
So here’s what that “new” routine looks like:
1. We eat (pretty much the same) breakfast every day.
Benefits: Helps us meet our nutritional goals and feel less hungry later in the day.
Yes, there have been studies linking skipping breakfast to weight gain. One 2021 study also found that having an early breakfast (before 8:30am) could lower your blood sugar levels throughout the day. But our main reason for not just having an enormous coffee like we did in our 20s is to make sure we pack in some of the nutrients our mid-life bodies require - specifically protein. Getting enough protein in midlife has been associated with healthy aging and less weight gain. It also makes us feel fuller and therefore, less snacky later in the day.
Most days, we honestly just take fitness author Jennifer Cohen’s advice to just eat the same thing, because it takes all the thinking out of it and kicks off our day in the right direction. Ready to hear what our go-to breakfast is. Go HERE. Hint: it look like this when we’re done.
2. We lift heavy things.
Benefits: Promotes longevity, reduces risk of death from heart disease, boosts bone health and metabolism, protects your joints, builds muscle, helps regulate blood sugar
Strength training is critical for us in midlife. One study found that women who strength train 2-3 times a week were more likely to live longer. But building this kind of strength doesn’t just affect the quantity of our days but the quality of those days. During menopause, women lose a great deal of muscle mass, which takes a toll on our metabolism. Resistance training is a massive way to combat that.
We keep THESE on hand and shake things up by doing short bursts of YouTube and TikTok routines. Here’s an arm one we’re currently obsessed with.
3. We take ourselves on little walks.
Benefits: Reduces risk of death, boosts memory and brain health, Improves heart health, makes us get sick less often, boosts energy, builds endurance
We recently did a deep dive into brisk walking, and well, it might just be the fountain of youth in terms of health rewards.
Also sitting is a silent killer (we knoooow, you hate us when we say scary things like that), but the silver lining is that walking could be the antidote. So, with or without a pet by our side, we take ourselves on walks, multiple times a day. And it’s been nothing short of life-changing.
4. We transformed ourselves into “morning people.”
Benefits: More focused, improved mental health, lowered stress, better sleep
Some years back, there was all this hoopla about a study saying morning people live longer than night owls, but more recent research has suggested this has more to do with some of the unhealthy habits that accompany late night activity (you know, the big two - drinking and smoking).
Getting ourselves out of bed in the wee hours allows us to get a lot more done that’s good for us. That brisk walk? We do it in the morning. That speedy strength training routine, we mentioned? Before our shower while still in PJs. And of course, that pre-8:30am breakfast. And even if we don’t get all these healthful habits out of the way in the morning, we do other productive things that free up our later hours for exercise and walks and healthier homemade meals and relaxation and relationships (all things that promote longevity by the way). But also the stuff that makes life good.
5. We eat two salads a day.
Benefits: Improves heart health.
A recent study reported that eating two leafy green salads a day increased nitrates and artery flow in post-menopausal women for whom cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death. Another study showed that having a salad before a meal led to people eating fewer calories. But here’s the thing, a salad is delicious and relatively low effort and a vehicle for eating all of the other glorious veggies and fruit we write about all the time for having wild and ecclectic health benefits like THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS.
6. We force ourselves to stop doing shit around the house and relax.
Benefits: Lowers blood pressure, improves digestion
We could scare you with the studies showing how stress shortens our lifespan. And since our lives aren’t getting any less busy, we need to actively force ourselves to hit pause. It helps us to remember something called the four A’s of stress management:
Avoid: say no, at least sometimes, to things that pile your plate so high you experience overwhelm
Alter: Adjust your time so it makes more sense to you, creating timelines for certain stressful activities can help
Adapt: Let yourself be okay with things being different than you expect or feel pressure to achieve.'
Accept: Embrace uncertainty and imperfection. Not every task is going to get done exactly how you’d like it to right at this moment, and you can still be okay.
7. We’re sticklers about sun protection.
Benefits: Avoiding skin cancer and premature aging
We wear SPF, and we make sure we see the derm for our full skin check every year, because our parents were too busy letting us ride our bikes to the pool by ourselves to even know spf existed.
8. We choose a mocktail over a cocktail (most days anyway).
Benefits: Decreases risk of heart disease, liver disease, and cancer, keeps our skin looking younger
Alcohol is poison. Tis the truth. And new studies show that no amount is really considered “safe.” We try to reserve all our liquid reservoirs for water, because hydration is life, but when we want a bit of fun and to gracefully grip a chic cocktail glass we whip up one of THESE mocktails.
9. We keep our added sugars to under 25g a day.
Benefits: boosts heart health, helps regulate blood sugar, improves oral health, clearer, more youthful skin
We’re not telling you to not enjoy your life here, but everyone we know who has cut back on sugar has grown surprisingly used to it in ways that frankly inspire. And regardless, the American Heart Association recommends women have no more than 6 teaspoons (or 25 grams) of added sugar a day. Sugar also is associated with brain fog and increased dementia risk, and we need our brains sharp.
So most days, we watch our added sugar, mostly by eating more whole than processed foods. And most days, it’s not insufferable.
10. We say goodnight to our phones before going to bed.
Benefits: Improves the quality of your sleep which is linked to pretty much any positive health outcome in the universe
You’ve heard it before (and probably ignored it), but here’s the gist: blue light emitted by your cell phone screen restrains the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle. And because poor quality sleep does nothing short of devastating things to our health, we try very hard to keep the screens out of our bedrooms. Nothing wrong with good old-fashioned reading. As long as it’s not this website at 12:42am in bed. If it is, toss us out the door immediately. We won’t be mad.
11. We pencil in all our checkups.
Benefits: Living longer
Ok, we don’t do this literally every day, BUT there isn’t a day in our lives where we don’t have our regular health screenings scheduled. Colonoscopies, EKGs, skin checks, dental appointments multiple times a year, even dieticians (insurance can often covers them, you know?) If you’re lost, here’s a little beginner’s guide of some of the critical ones to book. But, of course, of course talk to your doctor about what tests and screenings will make you the most proactive with regard to your health.
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