Conventional thinking wrongly mistakes chronological ageing for biological decrepitude. This error is understandable if you observe and participate in normal behaviour and lifestyle habits but, who wants to be normal anyway?
The human body is constantly in the process of re-creating, re-modeling and re-organising itself, the nature of this process, however, needs to be purposely directed.
If you want to test the upper limits of biological youthfulness it's worth condisering that some of the most effective things won't cost you anything except time and commitment. I can, however, sell you some pharmaceutical grade snake oil if you'd prefer.
Here's five for free!
1. DEVELOP TOTAL ATHLETICISM:
Strength training is commonly promoted for it’s capacity to turn back the biological clock. This is true but it’s only one tiny aspect of total athleticism. To fully express yourself as a human being requires not just linear strength but mobility, explosiveness, endurance, speed, balance and agility. It also requires the ability to play with these traits in an unstructured manner. If you’re only performing a handful of strength movements, you’re significantly missing out.
To fast track athleticism make mobility practice a part of your daily routine, incorporate some sprinting drills, including change of direction movements and learn some basic gymnastics. Don't shirk at doing these things because they feel too hard, inconvenient or complex, that’s exactly the point. Learning new and complex physical skills remodels the body, nervous system and brain completely and efficiently.
Importantly, it’s the learning process where the magic happens - mastery is more about refinement. If you want to stay young, lean and athletic indefinitely make sure you’re constantly finding new ways to be a beginner. After all, you’re either growing or you’re dying, there is no third option.
2. HYDRATION:
The fact that we die quite quickly without water should point to it’s natural importance. Still it’s funny to see how many people will spend money on exotic supplements and anti-ageing creams and yet neglect basic hydration. Try drinking a minimum 3l of filtered or natural spring water a day and you’ll be shocked at what a difference it makes. If you want extra credit start each day with a 500ml of filtered water, fresh squeezed lemon or lime with 1/4 tsp himalayan rock salt. This will do more to promote detoxification, fat loss, adrenal health and cellular hydration than you believe is possible.
3. HIGH-NUTRIENT FOODS:
Micronutrient deficiency correlates strongly with biological degradation. Consider that your body requires a naturally occurring mineral like magnesium for something like 300 biological processes all the time. What do you think happens when it's not available? Map out several years of deficeincy and contemplate the results.
Forget about your mystical Amazonian berries, the real anti-ageing superfoods are commonly available vegetables and fruits. These include dark leafy greens (magnesium is at the centre of the chlorophyll molecule), colourful vegetables, low sugar fruits and most especially cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. More than anything it seems these are the foods we’ve evolved to eat.
Amongst other things these foods play an integral role in DNA repair, hormone optimisation, disease prevention and detoxification. If you want to turn down oxidative stress, improve all basic health markers and maximise fat loss try eating a minimum of .5kg a day of these foods. More is better!
4. HIGH-QUALITY FATS:
For optimal cell integrity and hormonal health your body needs a good supply of high quality fats. As it stands the evidence for the anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory properties of omega 3 fatty acids is overwhelming. Conversely heavily processed vegetable oils and trans saturated fats will do the exact opposite.
The best places to get high quality omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are from wild caught cold-water fish and pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements. Balance these with the fats in extra virgin coconut oil, avocados, raw nuts and grass fed butter and you’re good to go.
5. MEDITATE:
The benefits of an effective meditation regime cannot be overstated. In fact if you were to do only one thing on this list I’d suggest this would be it. Putting all mystical speculation aside, brief daily meditation has been shown to powerfully reduce oxidative stress, repair DNA damage, reduce blood pressure, improve hormonal status, speed up healing, improve sleep and give your libido a massive boost. And that's just the tip of the ice berg.
Meditation doesn’t need to be complex - in fact the simpler the better - basic mantra or breath observation is fine. Just make sure to set aside a minimum of 20 minutes a day and do it. If you can’t fit in 20 minutes you should do it for 3 hours.
Need a quick start guide for whole body rejuvenation? Check out the 7-Day Mind Body Reset