Any exercise can help you maintain vitality, but some have much broader and deeper psychological benefits that leave you feeling more refreshed and vibrant. Three major exercise types that may help you expand your workouts and turn back the clock.
1 – Stretch-Focused Exercises
Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and similar disciplines that prioritize calm and balance over physical exertion have a deeply relaxing effect. These exercises can often relieve stress significantly, leaving you feeling happier, stronger, and generally younger. Here's how:
Several of these systems' exercises benefit the body and mind this way by forcing you to deepen your breathing and make it more consistent. When you slow down a bit and take in plenty of oxygen you are helping to curb unhealthy, stressed breathing patterns that can subtly affect your physiology down to your blood pressure, chemical stressors, and even digestion.
Setting aside a regular time to relax also has immense psychological benefits, which can definitely add up to a younger-feeling you.
• Get started: Sign up for a yoga class and research the basic breathing and movement patterns to aim for. In the meantime, simple lunges done slowly and with your torso resting against your "square" leg may help loosen your legs, arms, and midsection.
2 – Swimming
The physics of swimming help you feel lighter and freer in a way that no other exercise can quite match, and this change of environment may help you feel calmer, freer, happier, and much more relaxed. Studies from the '80s found that no matter what your skill level, regular swimming offers significant benefits in terms of reducing stress, anxiety, tension, anger, and confusion – all physical and mental "hang-ups" we associate with the less positive aspects of age.
• Get started: Plan a visit to a local swimming pool during "free swim" hours and take some time to refresh yourself on the basics, sign up for a swimming class, or plan a visit to the ocean. In the meantime, taking a personal spa day or spending a few hours in the bath or Jacuzzi might help.
3 – Hiking
Ambition, desire for accomplishment, and feeling that the "sky's the limit" are not the exclusive domain of the young, but a good hike can often reawaken those feelings in a way that leaves you with a sense of youthful strength and optimism. Even a small hike can create a surprisingly strong feeling of exploration and accomplishment.
• Get started: Contact your local parks service for maps, information on guided hikes, and advice on which trails to start with. In the meantime, getting a decent pair of good hiking boots can help you get into a more "active" mindset.
1 – Stretch-Focused Exercises
Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and similar disciplines that prioritize calm and balance over physical exertion have a deeply relaxing effect. These exercises can often relieve stress significantly, leaving you feeling happier, stronger, and generally younger. Here's how:
Several of these systems' exercises benefit the body and mind this way by forcing you to deepen your breathing and make it more consistent. When you slow down a bit and take in plenty of oxygen you are helping to curb unhealthy, stressed breathing patterns that can subtly affect your physiology down to your blood pressure, chemical stressors, and even digestion.
Setting aside a regular time to relax also has immense psychological benefits, which can definitely add up to a younger-feeling you.
• Get started: Sign up for a yoga class and research the basic breathing and movement patterns to aim for. In the meantime, simple lunges done slowly and with your torso resting against your "square" leg may help loosen your legs, arms, and midsection.
2 – Swimming
The physics of swimming help you feel lighter and freer in a way that no other exercise can quite match, and this change of environment may help you feel calmer, freer, happier, and much more relaxed. Studies from the '80s found that no matter what your skill level, regular swimming offers significant benefits in terms of reducing stress, anxiety, tension, anger, and confusion – all physical and mental "hang-ups" we associate with the less positive aspects of age.
• Get started: Plan a visit to a local swimming pool during "free swim" hours and take some time to refresh yourself on the basics, sign up for a swimming class, or plan a visit to the ocean. In the meantime, taking a personal spa day or spending a few hours in the bath or Jacuzzi might help.
3 – Hiking
Ambition, desire for accomplishment, and feeling that the "sky's the limit" are not the exclusive domain of the young, but a good hike can often reawaken those feelings in a way that leaves you with a sense of youthful strength and optimism. Even a small hike can create a surprisingly strong feeling of exploration and accomplishment.
• Get started: Contact your local parks service for maps, information on guided hikes, and advice on which trails to start with. In the meantime, getting a decent pair of good hiking boots can help you get into a more "active" mindset.
