Wellness Tips

Why Is It Harder To Lose Weight As You Get Older?

We hear people talk about it all the time: “I can’t eat like I used to,” and “I could eat anything when I was younger and nothing would stick to me!” But why is this often the case? How is it that someone can maintain a steady weight throughout their teens early twenties, but at some point a switch flips and that becomes much harder? Who flips the switch? Can it be flipped back? Let’s examine this issue and talk about some potential solutions to the matter of weight loss.

What Does Age Have To Do With It?

When we get older, our hormones change. These chemicals in our body are vital to maintaining muscle mass and keeping energy up throughout the day. As these hormones change, so do our bodies. We get tired more easily and it’s harder to build and maintain muscle. Having more tone muscle is connected with a higher metabolic rate, which burns through the energy we put into our bodies in the form of food. There are other factors as well beyond the chemistry of our own bodies though.

Old Habits Hit Hard

When we’re younger, we have more time for activities and have more energy. It’s possible to spend the day running around, participate in sports, or something similar. Our bodies are not just more efficient at burning calories, but we actually make use of them. We take in high calorie foods like processed snacks and sugary drinks to power our lifestyles, and it becomes a habit.

These habits form alongside exercise and can take its place because they have similar chemical effects on the brain. Both activities release endorphins, and one is definitely easier than the other.Eventually, most people’s lives don’t require the same caloric intake, but the habits have already formed.

We’re So Busy

Even if we’re not running around for exercise, we’re definitely not sitting around doing nothing. For many people, their schedule involves getting up, running to work, getting home, trying to relax and go to bed at a reasonable time, then go to bed and start the process over. There’s not much time for meal preparation, so we grab things that are easy to eat on the go. These kinds of food are the same kind of snacks we need to try to avoid as much as possible when working to control our weight.

What Can Be Done?

Looking at weight gain as an inevitability that cannot be changed can create a lack of motivation to do something about it. The idea that a switch has flipped and it’s suddenly more difficult to maintain weight isn’t entirely accurate. Instead of a light switch, think of it as as series of sliders that can be adjusted, like a dimmer switch or DJ faderboard. No one factor makes us gain weight on its own. It’s a cumulative contribution of many things over a period of time.

Slider #1: Cooking For Yourself

One of the first things that should be done when trying to take control of your diet, is learning to cook for yourself. Knowing what you’re eating on a regular basis and controlling it from start to finish reduces the amount of hidden calories your taking in. This is because when you’re eating out, portions may be larger and loaded with salt and/or sugar to make it taste especially good. When eating at home, it’s been found that you actually consume fewer calories, eat a more balanced diet, and have a more nutritionally fulfilling meal.

Slider #2: Add Variety To Your Grab-n-Go Snacks

Grabbing food as you run out the door is an activity many people can relate to. Often, those prepackaged snacks make for the easiest takeaway foods, but it doesn’t have to be. Apples, bananas, various fruits, nuts, there are plenty of options to just snatch something on the run. The next time you’re looking to stock up on some of your rushing around snacks, try to substitute it for a healthier option.

Slider #3: Get Some Sleep

There is evidence to suggest that if you don’t get enough sleep, your body won’t process food properly, and your weight can reflect that. It can even increase your risk of Type 2 Diabetes. While you sleep, your body is recuperating from the previous day. It’s processing the foods you’ve eaten, repairing wear and tear, and storing excess energy in ways that make it easy to access later on. Putting time aside to get adequate sleep is crucial to ensuring that your body is doing everything it can to process and allocate the food and energy you put into it.

Slider #4: Schedule Some Time

Part of the difficulty associated with starting new habits and breaking old ones is finding the time to make it happen. Put time aside to put together several snacks that you can grab throughout the week. Putting some cut up apples, nuts, or other healthy snacks in a container that you can grab on your busy schedule doesn’t take much time to do, but making that short time commitment can go a long way. This goes for exercise, sleep, and general relaxation as well.

Slider #5: Talk To A Professional

Weight and why we gain it/lose it over our lives is a tricky topic to try to navigate on your own. We do have a harder time maintaining weight as we get older, but your doctor might have a recommendation for a way forward. Because the issue at hand is closely linked with hormone balances, it’s worth scheduling a consultation with a hormone specialist to see what kinds of recommendations and treatments they offer.

Like it or not, aging can cause a variety of changes to your body. The health and appearance of your skin is one of the most important things to focus on as you age. This is especially true after menopause, when a lack of youthful hormones can cause such unspeakable skin afflictions as atrophic withering, slackness, wrinkling, and progressive dryness and scaliness.

Postmenopausal skin can also become increasingly fragile, making it prone to bruising and tearing. Add to that the potential years of sun damage and intrinsic aging, and you have a long list of reasons why proper skin care is all the more important as we get older. Let’s take a look at why this is, and exactly what you can do to help keep yourself glowing with youthful energy.

Why Does Our Skin Change After Menopause?

Okay, so you understand that aging definitely takes a toll on skin, but why is that exactly? And furthermore, why is there such a particular drop in skin quality following menopause? Well, it turns out that there is actually a number of both chemical and biological reasons.

• Reason 1: Decreased Skin Cell Renewal
  As we age, the top layer of skin, known as the epidermis, begins to flatten and thin. As a result, the skin cells of this layer have trouble renewing themselves as rapidly as they once did. This means that damaged skin can not heal itself at the same speed that it could in its younger years. Additionally, this epidermal cell layer becomes drier after menopause, resulting in scaly and rough skin.
• Reason 2: Reduction in Collagen
  Collagen is the main structural protein throughout most parts of the body including the skin. In the first five years after menopause, the second layer of skin (known as the dermis) loses 30% of its collagen. This affects the “tightness” of your skin as well as its ability to hold a firm shape.
• Reason 3: Water Abatement
  Also in the skin’s second layer, important water-binding chemicals called dermal glycosaminoglycans are decreased, resulting in postmenopausal retaining of water and giving your skin a gellatinous appearance.
• Reason 4: Oxidative Stress
  Oxidative damage to your skin greatly accelerates following menopause. This causes greater damage to skin structures like cells, collagen, and elastin that is beyond the normal amount caused by sun damage or natural aging.

Change Up Your Skin Care Routine to Keep Up After Menopause

So now that you understand exactly what menopause-associated processes are and how they can contribute to excessive skin aging, you’re probably wondering what you can do to stay ahead of the game. Below are a few suggestions for how you can change up your usual skin care routine to help lessen the effects of menopause on your skin’s look, feel, and overall health.

• Build Up Collagen Levels, Hyaluronic Acid Levels, and Cell Structure in Your Skin
  This is a particularly important step towards your goal of taught, bouncy skin. Be sure to look for products that contain professional formulations of retinoids like retinol, prescription tretinoin (a.k.a. Retin A), and high amounts of Vitamin C. Increased levels of hyaluronic acid (a healing agent), such as those found in glycolic acid products, can also help to build your skin’s strength.
• Rejuvenate Your Skin’s Outermost Stratum Corneum Layer
  Rebuilding the appearance of outer skin cells will brighten your skin and give you a more youthful “glowing” appearance. Using products that contain glycolic acid, retinoids, and BHAs like salicylic acid will go a long way in this regard.
• Hydrate Skin and Avoid Drying Products or Excessive Sun Exposure
  As discussed earlier, postmenopausal skin is particularly prone to dryness. Because of this, you should use only sensitive skin cleansers and deeply hydrating moisturizers. In addition, never forget to apply professional antioxidant products and broad spectrum sunscreen if you plan to be out in the sun for extended periods of time.

What Else Can I Do to Ensure Proper Skin Health Following Menopause?

We’re glad you asked! As a women entering the later stages of life, keeping up on an extensive skin care routine can be a real challenge. Especially as new information and products are continuously released. Quite frankly, it can be a lot to handle.

Another postmenopausal option that you can explore when it comes to skin care and overall youthful appearance is natural hormone replacement therapy. At Renewed Vitality, we offer safe, effective hormone imbalance treatment options for both women and men at all stages of life. To get more information about hormone therapy methods, don’t hesitate to contact the experts at Renewed Vitality today!

Diet is a major part of how our bodies operate. Food is the fuel that we put into the burner, and so it can largely dictate how our bodies grow and respond to the environment, and it can even affect hormone production. While there are several other factors regarding the production of testosterone, the food we eat plays a role. Let’s unpack the causes of lowered testosterone, and what can be done about it.

What Are The Causes Of Low Testosterone?

There can be a wide range of factors when it comes to lowered testosterone production. Over time, production can naturally wane and decrease, or it can be related to pituitary or adrenal gland issues. Diet can also play a part. Some foods provide the nutrients necessary for healthy testosterone production, while others can impede it. Here are some foods you should eat—and some you should avoid—when seeking to boost your testosterone levels.

Food To Boost

Diet doesn’t always return immediate results when it comes to hormone production. Think of it as a way to improve your internal environment so that your body can more easily produce testosterone. Eating foods rich in these nutrients that your body needs to produce testosterone is a better option than just taking supplements because of the overall effect of a healthy diet.

Vitamin D Low-Fat Milk

Vitamin D is a major resource the body needs when it comes to hormone production, specifically testosterone. Milk is an important component of any diet to develop and maintain strong bones and teeth, but with the added benefit of a vitamin D boost, you’re further increasing the benefits.

Zinc Rich Foods

Red meat, beans, and seeds are all excellent sources of zinc. This mineral is important in testosterone production, and when eaten in the right amounts, can provide benefits beyond simply boosting zinc levels. However, eating too much red meat has been linked to serious health risks like raised cholesterol and potential bowel cancer.

Fatty Fish & Fish Oil

Fatty fish—like salmon, sardines, and trout—are full of important omega-3 fatty acids. Fatty acids have been found to have a positive correlation towards improved testicular function, and therefore improved testosterone production. Other benefits include reducing risk factors for heart disease, improved eye health, and even combat depression and anxiety.

Eggs

More specifically, egg yolks. These are great sources of vitamin D as well as other nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and more. While you need to keep an eye on your intake if you have known cholesterol issues, most people can safely incorporate this nutrient rich food without much concern.

What To Avoid

Plastic-Wrapped or Canned Foods

According to a 2013 study, those who worked in environments with lots of BPA had lowered testosterone levels. While the average consumer isn’t exposed to nearly that level of BPA, one article found that a vast majority of men attending a fertility clinic had BPA in urine samples. While reducing your intake of foods prepackaged in this way may not make all of the difference, it can’t hurt, and encourages eating fresher foods.

Highly Processed Foods

Trans fats have been linked to decreased testicular function in men. These kinds of fats are most commonly found in highly processed foods that are also high in extra sugar and sodium. Whenever you look at something that might be an easy-to-grab snack or is extra convenient, take a look at the nutritional label to see what you’re putting into your body.

Alcohol

Before we get ahead of ourselves, this does not mean that alcohol should be avoided at all costs, but drinking in excess can have detrimental effects. In one study, it was found that it had a reversing behavior across genders; men who drank more had lower testosterone, and women who drank more had higher.

How Do You Plan For A Testosterone Rich Diet?

Whenever you set out to correct bodily function with diet, it’s important to discuss this with a hormone specialist or a professional nutritionist. Everyone’s bodies work differently, so talking to a professional about your concerns is the best way to get a baseline for yourself.

In the case of lowered testosterone, diet is a great place to start, but a doctor may have other recommendations. Exercise and hormone replacement therapies can also be incorporated alongside dietary changes to further improve testosterone production.

Aging can have all manner of side effects on our bodies. Muscles might lose tone, we might put on weight more easily, and our joints ache after less activity. The shine may not come as easily for day to day activity. Another part of our bodies changes as we age: the hair. 

It’s no secret that hair does different things as we get older. It can change colors, consistency, or just stop growing all together. Why though? What makes it so that our hair, which has been with us for decades, suddenly stop being the same top mop we’ve grown so accustomed to? Women tend to face a different set of struggles than men in this regard. 

Societal norms say it’s okay for men to go gray and lose hair, but women are still expected to handle the same obstacles. Let’s unpack some ways to adapt to the changing needs of hair as it ages.

Why does hair change with age?

As with many things in our bodies, our hair is largely dictated by our hormones. These chemicals tell our hair follicles to continue growing, or to produce more oil, and can even adjust the chemical composition of our hair. During significant hormonal shifts such as those during menopause, hair is one of the casualties.

When your hair follicles get different combinations of hormones it might go through all of the usual changes associated with aging. It might change and then lose its color, dry out, become brittle, and be more prone to breaking. This means that all of the work you put into your hair care routine has to start over. It’s still your hair, but you just have to treat it a little differently.

Drying Hair Treatments

When your hair is drying out, that’s largely due to your hair follicle not producing the same amount of oils that it once did. It is possible to find oils and shampoos that can replace this and protect strands of hair from the elements. In addition to adding something to your routine, it might be time to take something out. 

Hair dryers are the go to for a quick and easy hair drying experience. If your hair is already drying out however, adding blasts of hot air is definitely not going to make things any better. This and other heat based methods of drying can actually reduce the effectiveness of oils and set you right back to square one.

Brittleness

Brittleness has a few different causes, but one that aging hair sees a lot of are the constant chemical changes being applied to restore a youthful appearance. Dyes, straighteners, and bleaches all result in damaged hair. When you no longer produce the oils your hair needs, these kinds of changes strip away the structure of the strands making it prone to breakage. It can be argued that this is less of a direct side effect of aging and more of a combination of factors, but we think that’s kind of splitting hairs.

The Gray Shift

Going gray is a natural part of growing older for most people. At the very least a majority of people see a lightening of hair color as they age. This is because the hair follicles produce less pigment. When compared with the other changes in hair, this is largely cosmetic. The color of the hair doesn’t necessarily determine the strength. 

Some people dye and treat their hair to maintain color, but as we mentioned above, this can actually further damage hair. Going gray is not the end of the world, but there are some preventative measures in the works. A gray hair prevention pill by L’Oreal looks to make it possible to keep from going gray, but embracing it as a natural part of living in your body is always a great alternative.

Thinning Coverage

When hair ages, it can also grow thinner. The follicles still produce hairs, but they don’t offer the same coverage as they used to. This can be a natural part of aging, but also potentially caused by vitamin deficiencies and thyroid hormone changes. By shifting diet or talking to a doctor, there may be a prescribed solution to this issue in the form of supplemental vitamins or hormone treatments. Otherwise, there are oils and products that can be used to give your hair a thicker appearance overall. Finding the best method comes down to individual taste and the kind of look you want to maintain.

Explore New Looks

Different kinds of hair look better in different styles. You may have styled your hair in one particular way for years, but now that it’s different, maybe it’s time to try something new. Longer hair has obviously been growing for longer and has been exposed to more of the elements.

Because of the factors mentioned earlier, this can lead to difficulty in maintaining a longer hair style. Cutting it shorter can give you a new look and reduce the stress on your follicles. It’s also less maintenance and makes it easier to style when there’s less of it!

Aging Hair Is Natural

Hair ages just like the rest of the body, and while everyone ages differently, everyone does age. Because of the hormonal origin of many of these changes, talking with a qualified professional can help identify the causes and even counter the effects. The experts at Renewed Vitality can help identify causes and establish treatment regiments if necessary. Reach out to set up your consultation today!

When it comes to eating healthy, life doesn’t make it easy. Between easy-to-grab snack options, fast food, casual dining, and the occasional indulgent restaurant meal, how does someone keep to a set weight loss regiment? On top of that, as our bodies age and process food differently, our diets may have to change out of necessity. 

When we’re younger, our bodies can typically process food more quickly and handle a greater variety of foods without slowing down. At a certain point however, our metabolisms switch into a slower gear and begin storing those calories more than burning them. At this point carefully looking at your dining out plans can go a long way towards avoiding picking up some extra pounds. 

1.	So What Do You Do? Coming to terms with the fact that we can’t eat like we used to is an important first step. When we’re at home, it’s possible to make conscious decisions about the foods we put on our plate. But we don’t always eat at home.  Keeping an eye on the foods we eat while we’re out can be a major source of extra calories and fat. Here are some helpful tips when dining out that can keep you from turning a small treat into a broken diet!
2.	Load Up The The Healthy Stuff When looking at menu options, lots of entrees come with a side option. Your first move should be to look at the vegetable options and see if there’s a way to turn those into larger portions. Most locations don’t have a problem with adding an extra portion of broccoli or something similar.  Additionally, many plates come with a garnish of veggies, so why not ask for more? Making sure your meal is made up of more of these kinds of foods ensures that you’re not filling up on food that’s not exactly within your diet parameters.
3.	Ask Questions! No one wants to be “that person” at a dining out experience, but go ahead and ask how the food is specifically prepared. Menus regularly prop up food using language that might not accurately describe how a food item has been cooked. Asking the question and confirming that the food has been grilled, steamed, or roasted can save you heartache later on.
4.	Savor The Flavor When you actually get to eating your meal, take your time. One of the problems with eating out is that you feel like you’re on the clock and need to eat more quickly. Because it takes time for our bodies to let us know how full we actually are, you could be overeating without realizing it.  Take your time and enjoy your food and the atmosphere of the place you’re eating. That next bite will be very much the same as the one you just had, so there’s no rush! Waiting for that signal from your stomach that you’ve had enough can keep you from eating yourself out of a diet.
5.	Avoid The Unlimited Options This goes without saying, but skip on the unlimited refills when you’re eating out. Those options are typically overpriced, and we’re encouraged to try to get the most for our money. If you find yourself without a choice, try loading up your plate with salad to prevent picking up too many unhealthy options at once.
6.	Ask For A Box Right Away When ordering, make a point to ask for half of your portion to be put in a box before it even gets to your table. If you don’t see it actually on your plate, you won’t expect to eat it right away. In addition, you’ll also have food for later!
7.	Read “Healthy” Options Critically Even if a plate says it’s low-carb or low-fat, that doesn’t necessarily make it healthy. In order to compensate for the reduced fat, many recipes add lots of salt, which can cause you to retain more water and result in other unhealthy factors.  This is a situation where writers may have technically told the truth, but are actually just omitting some information. “Sugar-free” doesn’t mean there’s no sugar. It usually means no high fructose corn syrup or simple sugar has been added, but sugar from other sources is still sugar. Don’t fall for the claims!

It’s About More Than One Meal

At the end of the day, one meal shouldn’t derail your diet overall. If you slip a bit once, that’s not a big deal, but it’s the continued pattern that can arise from slipping often. So think about how your occasional dining out experience can impact your diet. Does it fit with the rest of your meals? Is it sustainable along with your other food choices?

By following these simple pieces of advice and being mindful about your dining out decisions, it can be much easier to maintain a diet over a long period of time. Consistency is key, so by going over your expectations before going out, you can set yourself up for success. Continuing positive patterns of eating and activity can make all the difference in a weight loss plan. Even when you have a minor misstep, don’t be discouraged—stick with it!

Aging changes quite a few things about our bodies. Sometimes we gain weight, we have less energy, and our bodies don’t move like they used to. Mood and mental health can then be affected by these physical changes. This can have an impact on how we take care of ourselves and stand in the way of our health.

Knowing how to best approach these changes makes a huge difference in how they can affect your life. One way to combat the effects of aging is by engaging in exercise as it has been found to improve mood and mental health in aging adults. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of exercises specifically selected to meet those particular needs.

What Is Low Impact?

Low impact exercises generally refer to activities that put less harmful stress on the body. This refers to activities such as running. When you run, all of your weight is bouncing on your skeleton and joints, causing strain and potentially pain. Having that weight coming down on one hip joint, knee, or foot can lead to new pain or exacerbate existing joint problems.

Low impact exercises involve smoother motions where weight and stresses are transferred throughout the body more smoothly—avoiding that jolt of stress that can cause pain. Low impact is all about raising the heart rate and improving health without wearing on your joints.

Walking

We do it every day, and most people don’t consider it that much of a struggle to walk. If you’re looking for a good intro to low impact exercises, walking is a great option. For added difficulty, set your walk on an incline or with added weight like a backpack.

Cycling

Just like walking, cycling is a straightforward low impact exercise. Your body is in fluid motion and muscles are always working. It’s possible to either bike out and about or at home on a cycling machine.

Tai Chi

When it comes to smooth fluid motions, there’s really one activity that stands out as obvious. There are a variety of health benefits associated with Tai Chi, from improved balance and physical self-awareness, to improved mood and reduced stress. Unlike some other exercises, you don’t need any additional equipment to start practicing, and Youtube has plenty of videos for beginners looking to try their hand at this relaxing low impact exercise.

Yogo

Along the same vein of smooth motions and body control, yoga is a fantastic way to improve flexibility and balance. The awesome part about yoga is that you don’t need to be a master contortionist to get started (or even maintain the practice), and you can measure your improvements in easily identifiable ways. After a week or so of these stretches, you might notice you can reach down and touch lower on your legs or even get to your toes when you previously could not!

Swimming

Swimming is the ultimate low impact exercise. Your full weight is being supported in the water, meaning at no point is your body working to support it. Simply treating water is a fantastic way to increase your heart rate and improve cardiovascular health. Walking through water is even less impact than walking on dry land! You also get the added benefit of walking through the resistance of the water, meaning your exercise is even more effective. For an even more practical reason to try out this exercise, consider it a great excuse to hang out in the pool during the hot summer days!

Reaping The Benefits

There are a few reasons to do these exercises as we previously mentioned: physical, mental, and emotional health. Unlike heavy weight training or running where you can mark your success by checking your increased mileage and added weight on the dumbbell, low impact training requires something more internal.

Taking a look at your overall daily experience both in and out of your training is important. Some of these exercises allow for measuring of physical benefits—how far you might swim; can you touch your toes; length of a cycling session—but it’s hard to quantify the emotional benefits.

Try to notice how you feel before, during, and after an exercise. Even if you aren’t motivated before a workout, most people will testify that their mood has improved after the fact. Once you recognize this in your own experience with low impact exercises, that becomes a motivation in itself.

Doing regular personal check-ins about how you feel throughout the day, both before and after, can also put everything in perspective. Having a regular mental check-in regiment about your exercise routine can keep you sharp and improve/maintain overall functionality.

The Takeaway

Getting older doesn’t mean your body can’t continue to improve and maintain mobility and strength. By engaging in these simple and accessible low impact activities, you can hold off the more negative impacts associated with growing older.

Working with a professional to identify which exercises and practices might be most effective for you is always a good idea. The experts at Renewed Vitality are especially knowledgeable about these kinds of practices. Give us a call  to set up an evaluation and check in today!

Everyone has some notion about what it means  to grow older. These ideas aren’t always positive and can generate a certain level of anxiety around getting on in years. In many cases however, these tend to be myths and misconceptions about how our bodies change as we get older.

While there is some truth to every myth, getting older is always a subjective experience, unique to each person. Let’s take a look at some of the most prevalent thoughts regarding aging, and how they might not be entirely accurate for everyone.

Older People Can’t Adapt

This is a major myth. While it is true that some people don’t adapt to change in their older age, it’s also possible that those same people didn’t adapt to change when they were younger either! As we age, it’s entirely up to each person to decide how they will roll with changes to their everyday life. While it might be harder to adapt after years of living the same lifestyle, age isn’t the only factor.

Your Brain Isn’t As Sharp As It Used To Be

It’s a common trope that older people are mentally slowed or have bad memories. It’s a stereotype that doesn’t take into account each person’s unique experiences and qualities. Regular mental exercises and continuing to challenge yourself can keep memories and wits sharp even as we age. This is true at any age!

Older People Don’t Have Sex Lives

As we’ve discussed in previous articles, getting older doesn’t mean that your sex life disappears. It does change though! As hormone levels shift when we get older, we need to learn to adapt and figure out what works best for each of us. Physical changes might also have an impact on sexual relationships, but learning to adapt and live with changes is a normal part of getting older. In many cases, imbalances in hormone production can be addressed through hormone replacement therapy.

Getting Older Leads To Depression

Adults experiencing depression are usually dealing with the same causes as anyone else. Age is not a defining trait of someone with depression. Depression can be caused by any number of factors, with one of them being a hormone imbalance. These kinds of imbalances can be treated with proper diagnosis and hormone therapy.

Retirement Leads To Lack Of Productivity

Just because someone has left the workforce, does not mean that they no longer contribute to the community they live in. Many take the abundant free time to engage in activities they did not have time for prior to retirement. Some dedicate time to volunteer services, while others pursue hobbies and travel.

Once You Retire, You’re No Longer Creative

This goes hand in hand with the previous myth. Taking full advantage of the free time available is something most retired people look forward to. Taking on new challenges, exploring hidden talents, or cultivating a new skill are all possible at any age. There’s no reason creative pursuits have to stop as soon as you have the time to work on them!

You Become More Lonely As You Age

There’s no hard and fast rule saying that you have to stop being social as you get older. While mobility can be an impediment to staying socially active and going out to participate in activities, it varies from person to person. Just like with other points on this list of misconceptions, people tend to carry over lifestyles and habits from earlier in life. If someone spends time avoiding social activity their whole life, they’ll potentially keep up that trend in later years.

Dementia Is Inevitable

Dementia is a condition that affects less than 10% of those over 65. This myth is linked to the idea that older people’s minds start to go with age. Dementia is very different than simply becoming more forgetful or not as quick with a joke. In some cases, these symptoms are the result of medications or other medical conditions that can be addressed and treated separately from dementia.

Any time you hear a phrase that lumps all members of a group together, you should be skeptical of it. The idea that all old people are the same is as ridiculous as the concept that all middle aged or younger people are the same. In most cases, it’s possible to maintain the same kind of life and level activity even as we get older. It’s all about how you approach your aging. With the right mindset and knowledge about how to adapt, aging doesn’t have to slow you down or completely flip your life!

No matter what your gender is, sex, and our relationship to it, changes over time. Attitudes, conversations, and the actual performance of the act vary with age and preference. Just because it changes however, doesn’t mean it can’t still be enjoyable for you and your partner. We’ve compiled a few simple tips on how to keep the magic alive in the bedroom (or wherever) throughout the years:

1.	Accept That Things Change This is point number one for a reason. Over the years, our bodies change and so does what works for each of us. Treating your body like it’s 20 when you’ve been using it for 60 years or more can have repercussions. Know your body and embrace those changes!

 

Communication Is Never Not Important When it comes to sex, communication is always a major part of the partnership. If you’ve never clearly and openly talked about sex with your partner, then maybe it’s time to start that ball rolling. Communicating expectations, desires, likes, and dislikes is key to adapting to the natural evolution that a sexual relationship goes through.

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Talk To Your Doctor Some changes related to sex are less about being in the mood, and more about your body behaving differently than it used to. If an open dialogue about sex with your partner is important, then it’s equally important to have conversations with your doctor or a medical professional as well. Some common issues adults run into as we get older involve blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and a host of others. Talking with your doctor about these factors and how they apply to you is always a good idea to get a solid baseline to plan from.

It’s Not Just About You Whenever there is a piece of advice here, remember that it applies to both you and your partner. Talking about your desires is important, but just as important is listening to the person you are with. Understand that if you have concerns or hangups about sexual intimacy and sexuality, your partner might as well. Try to create an open and free atmosphere that you both feel comfortable engaging in these discussions that are about both of you.

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Apply What You’ve Learned Life is all about learning and growing from applying that experience. Don’t ignore this, especially when it comes to sex! Rather than the trial and error that goes along with young age, you now have the confidence in your body’s capability. Being sure of what you want and what fits in with your body can be a major boost to self-confidence and a huge factor when it comes to your sex life.

 

Don’t Rush Things Make it about more than the act of sex—turn it into an evening. Set aside time to make the whole experience more romantic. Try to reinvigorate the time leading up to the act. Have intimate conversation, read suggestive poetry, engage in something together that you have not yet experienced but have an interest in. Bring you and your partner closer together to draw out that intimacy and pleasure.

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Don’t Stress So Much Stress isn’t a great thing to bring into sex at any age, but as we get older, stress can seriously hamper our ability to enjoy intimate experiences. Depending on your stress contributors, sometimes an honest conversation with your partner can help alleviate it. Many people attach a great deal of stress to sex in general. Take that well-earned confidence from over the years and realize that sex is nothing to stress about.

Sometimes It’s Chemistry It’s not just the joints and bones that change over the years. Hormones shift over time which can lead to decreased sex drive or a total shift in what sex can mean for a person. If your hormones are causing issues when it comes to sex, seeking out hormone treatments or supplements can yield results. Talking with experts in the field of hormone replacement therapy is a great starting point for determining what your needs might be.

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Experiment With The Formula Over time, anything we do can become routine. Even the most enjoyable tasks can fall into a regular rhythm. In order to break that sameness around sex, it’s time to shake things up. Trying new sexual positions, different kinds of sex, even where you have sex can spice up your sex life in unexpected ways. Being open to these changes necessitates conversation for everyone involved, so remember that communication!

 

Work On Yourself Outside Of Sex Your life out and about can also impact your sex life. If you live a sedentary lifestyle, your sex life can suffer. Increasing your physical activity, even when it’s just around the house can result in improvements all over including sex. Reducing the amount of alcohol you drink and quitting smoking are also both major steps you can take to greatly improve your quality of life in addition to helping out with your sex life.

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Embrace The Change

Sex is something that can be enjoyed even as you get older. It can improve your mood, bolster your health, and creates and strengthens interpersonal connections. Even when it’s different from what it used to be, it can still be a fantastic and intimate experience. Don’t let age change your ability to enjoy your life.