Aging Gracefully – How Do You Do It?

I recently came across a great article from the Arizona Republic on Growing Old Gracefully. (For the record, I’ve always hated that term, probably because ‘graceful’ is not a term anyone would use to describe me and I can’t imagine getting more of it as I age)

They asked their readers to write in if others thought that they looked at least 10 years younger than their actual age. Almost 200 people responded and they picked 7 of them to profile. The criteria were that they looked younger naturally and not surgically.

The one thing they all had in common was that none of them smoked. No surprise there.

Some of them cited genetics as being a reason. In reality, genetics only plays about a 25-30% part of how long you’ll live.

As I read through the profiles, I noticed some other common themes – one in particular – attitude.

One lady thought she was immature or acted younger than her age. Another man said he “didn’t have a negative bone in his body”. Another said she started getting compliments about her age after she started trying new things. Another man said taking risks has helped him.

Several mentioned that they have maintained the same weight throughout their adulthood.

My conclusions from reading this:

• There is no “one thing” that helps with anti aging. It’s usually a combination of factors
• What works for some people doesn’t always work for everyone.

What about you? Are you aging gracefully? Have you found what works for you?