Next time you feel like you’re about to lose it, switch off your computer monitor and take a look out the window.
New research shows it might be just that simple. Looking at a landscape in the middle of a stressful situation helps calm your heart rate. Continue reading
Feeling overwhelmed? A quick liaison with lavender may help keep things under control.
Seems a scant 5 minutes of exposure to mild lavender aromas helps curb the release of cortisol — a key stress hormone that can prematurely age you by triggering inflammation.
Bonus Scents
In a recent study of Japanese co-eds, sniffing lavender not only lowered cortisol levels but also may have enhanced antioxidant activity in their bodies — a double blow to the aging process.
5 More Ways to Relax and Live Longer
Every little bit of stress busting helps your health. So in addition to lavender baths and aromatherapy kits, help kiss your stress goodbye with these tips:
* Think it away. This in-the-moment technique will do it.
* Set your iPod to your “slow tunes” playlist.
* Try these calm-you-down-quick foods.
* Set aside some time to get your worrying done. Here’s why.
Managing chronic disease can diminish its effect on your RealAge.realage
A hobby is more than a way to pass the time. It may be a way to get more of it.
Know which hobby has probably added years to the longest-lived people in the world? It’s gardening. Okinawans — whose men typically live to age 78, women to age 86 — have a long tradition of working with soil.
Flex Your Green Thumb
The benefits of gardening reach body and soul, according to Dan Buettner and his book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. “It’s a source of daily physical activity that exercises the body with a wide range of motion and helps reduce stress,” he writes. So, as the ground thaws and the seed catalogues start arriving, make a pact to plan — and plant — a plot this year. Continue reading