Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

You can run but you can't hide from aging

Contrary to popular belief and the latest celebrity magazine, aging is not a disease.

Elderly man in shape.
Elderly man in shape.Read moreiStock

CONTRARY to popular belief and the latest celebrity magazine, aging is not a disease. While many people think that they can outrun the aging process, I think a far better choice is to embrace it with grace and wisdom.

Aging, much like investing, benefits best from an early start. The earlier you begin planning how you age, the greater your potential for a good return on investment.

Obviously, it is most important to take advantage in your youth. Making the conscious decision to eat healthfully and exercise daily while you're young will give your fitness and health a good foundation for the future.

But, if you're skeptical about the benefits of investing early in how you age, here are six reasons why you want to start sooner, rather than later.

Youth is on your side. This is the time to take calculated fitness risks and receive the highest return on your fitness investment. This is the time to give it all you've got. So, get on the track team, play an organized sport or go for the Olympic gold. At this age, if something goes wrong, you're more likely to recover quickly.

Compound fitness interest. Compound exercise is sort of like compound interest, which is interest earned on interest. Daily exercise is like continuously reinvesting your fitness earnings, and you are exponentially increasing your return on investment. Smart exercise enthusiasts understand the benefits of investing early and often, and they are most often able to take full advantage of their personal fitness potential. To help you understand how time and compound exercise interest are related, here's an example:

Thirty-five-year-old Tina, never exercised, ate poorly throughout her adolescence and young adult life. Now she's prediabetic, struggling to lose 50 pounds, and is having a tough time committing to her new 30-minute walking exercise routine. To add insult to injury, because of years of neglect, she is weak, has a 35 percent body fat, and her metabolic rate is sluggish. Though not impossible to overcome, she nonetheless feels overwhelmed.

On the other hand, 35-year-old Kenya ran track and field beginning in her youth at age 7 and she continued throughout college. Though no longer training at the same intensity, fitness always remained a daily part of her lifestyle. At 35, Kenya has invested a consistent 28 years in her fitness, versus Tina's month. She has no health conditions, maintains 19 percent body fat and overall is in stellar condition.

In this example, Kenya's early and consistent fitness investments compounded as she aged.

Your eating habits will catch up to you. There's no escaping it, the fork eventually catches up to all. Developing disciplined eating habits from the start should be a goal. Ultimately, the goal should be not to eat ourselves into disease, disability or death. Over time, poor and impulsive eating will surely wreak havoc on your health, fitness and how you age.

Whatever you put in . . . The earlier you begin to invest in your health and fitness, the better you will age down the line. So, think moderation in all things and get plenty of restful sleep.

Take a good look around. Remember your high-school reunion and how poorly some of your friends have aged? Eventually, the late nights, drinking and drugging take their toll, and chickens come home to roost. While it's never too late, it's clearly better to start early.

Bumps in the Road. No, there are no magic bullets. And, no, exercise and proper nutrition cannot prevent diseases that you may be genetically predisposed to or that may come with aging. But, one thing is for sure: an early investment in your fitness and health will likely reduce your risks, and in the event of a serious condition, you'll be better prepared to face such adversity and be more likely to have a speedier recovery.