How To Approach 40 Gracefully

How To Approach 40 Gracefully When you hit your 40s, health is more important than ever. Staying physically active and eating healthy foods will help to address many of the changes your body will be going through. If you haven’t already noticed things about the way your body is changing and reacts to certain foods, find the understanding that your body actually tells you what it needs and doesn’t need. The better you feel and the better you take care of yourself, the longer and more full a life you can live. In your 40s, take as many opportunities as you can to just live a little. As you get older, it gets harder to move around, so your 40s is when you should take full advantage of your mobility and freedom. You may find that your kids are old enough and your family is active enough to take trips, participate in fun activities, and go on more adventures. Remember, age is just a number. Keep the perspective that age is truly defined by how you feel, inside and out. Take care of the inside so it shows on the outside and learn How To Approach 40 Gracefully. When you are turning 40, don’t be scared. Embrace the next stage of your life and the wisdom and experiences you have gained so far. On the whole, people are now living longer, and there is no need to be in a rush. The only rush is to be healthy now. By finding a healthy mindset, physical routine, and nutritious foods to fuel your body, you can absolutely be 40 and fabulous. Any age can be fabulous; it only depends on how you choose to see it and create that lifestyle for yourself. It’s all about a state of mind.

What to Expect When turning 40, and as you grow older, it is important to be aware of the changes in your body and to realize how to maintain an optimum level of health. Check-ups and doctor visits may need to happen more often than you have been accustomed to up to this point in your life. You may already know to expect that your hair may start to thin with age, and this is due to perimenopause. In some women, they may start seeing hair thinning or hair loss as early as their 30s, but, thankfully, it is not an overnight change. It starts years before menopause and progresses gradually over time. Brain fog or having trouble remembering things can be a specific difficulty you might find in your 40s. According to Pauline Maki, PhD and president of the North American Menopause Society, "We have estrogen receptors in two brain areas that control memory, and when there's less estrogen, there are structural changes in those areas.” Thankfully, any forgetfulness you may experience is not permanent. Maki says that your brain actually “bounces back after menopause by adapting to and compensating for lower levels of estrogen in the body.” By age 40, you may find that your monthly cycle is not as predictable as it once was. "It would be nice if the ovaries gradually made less estrogen, but it's a very unpredictable pattern," says Jan Shifren, MD, the director of the Massachusetts General Hospital's Midlife Women's Health Center. Once perimenopause hits, the wildly different amounts of estrogen produced can cause your cycles to be more frequent, farther apart, make them heavier than you’re used to, or even bring months that skip your period all together. If you are bothered or worried about the irregularity, a doctor may be able to offer options that could help regulate it. Both women and men may notice that it is easier to gain weight as they age beyond 40 years. Consequently, it becomes pertinent for you to learn How To Approach 40 Gracefully.  The cause is the slowing of the body’s metabolic rate, which is the rate at which the body burns calories. This can be helped by optimizing your calorie intake with whole and nutrient-dense foods to fuel your body, as well as incorporating regular physical activity into your routine to promote a healthy body weight. You Might Be Interested In: Posture – How To Maintain This may help curb your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and bone and joint issues. Aging of the skin may also become more apparent once you hit your 40s. Common attributes are thinning, wrinkling, and sagging of the skin on the face, as well as increased pigmentation that may appear as sun spots or faint reddening. “Your cumulative exposure to the sun’s UV radiation and tobacco use have some of the greatest impacts on skin aging,” says Jenny Hu, a chief of Mohs and dermatologic surgery at Keck Medicine of USC. Continue to use sunscreens that have an SPF of 30 or greater and are considered “broad spectrum.” Here is one that doesn’t surprise you: hot flashes. Perimenopause usually begins for women in their 40s as their production of estrogen slows. Side effects of this may include hot flashes, changes in bladder control, and sleeping issues. Adopting a healthy lifestyle of proper nutrition, regular exercise and sleep, and stress reduction can help moderate symptoms. Some women may find relief in hormone therapy or medication.

Create Good Habits All the changes your body will encounter, even though they don’t all happen at once, may seem overwhelming. Remember that it is all part of a natural process, and that you are right where you are supposed to be. You aren’t hitting a plateau; you’re on pedestal. You should embrace this place where you feel the foundation of your life taking hold, or, if you haven’t done so already, set yourself up for the rest of your life by creating good habits. Your 40s is a time when you need to be the most active you can be. It is a time when you should continue, or begin, a physically active lifestyle. Your body is still more than capable of developing strong muscles through exercise at this stage, whereas you may find it more difficult to do so in your 50s. Learn How To Approach 40 Gracefully and Build the foundation now that you will need for your 50s and for your future. Get in the habit of implementing an annual, or at least regular, preventative health care plan. Consider immunizations, lab work to test cholesterol and glucose levels, pap smears and mammograms for women, and yearly testicular exams for men. Also, take the opportunity to get your finances in order. Check in on your retirement plan. Make sure you have an emergency fund just in case. Prioritize your sex life! Confront your vices! Work on maintaining a positive attitude through it all! Set good healthy body habits, a schedule, and a plan for years to come so that you can retain what you have built, sustain your routine over time, and also adapt it to be less rigorous over the years moving forward. The point is that even though you’re 40, you shouldn’t stop living. It’s not downhill from here. Some say people are “over the hill” by a certain age, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. You’re always climbing a hill because that is life, and there are always ups and downs to overcome along the way