There is a close relationship between stress and aging. Contrary to what many people think, it is not only young individuals, at the peak of their professional lives, who can be affected by this ailment. Many elderly people are stressed and are not even aware of it.
Several paths can lead to stress in old age, and one of them is lifestyle. In life, we reap what we sow. We are solely responsible for the life we have, and if we want it to be healthy, long, and full of energy, we must act now!
Habits such as smoking and alcoholism; inadequate eating habits, such as diets high in saturated fats and sugars; and even everyday problems, such as family issues, work pressure, and marital crises, are just a few of the countless factors related to stress. Subjecting your body to these agents for an extended period will contribute to its deterioration.
It is not the years of life that age an individual, but rather the stress load to which they have been or are subjected, which acts relentlessly, “spending” their “energy capital.”
Many people think that energy can be replenished, but those who undergo harmful stress, even if they receive treatment and recover, will never be the same as before. While young, a small energy deficit seems to make no difference. Thus, the person does not realize it, begins to relapse into stressful situations, and the loss of energy starts to increase progressively. This leads to diseases and premature aging.
When talking about aging, whether premature or not, one must also talk about depression. Aging, in general, represents a decline in an individual’s productive capacity, and when this happens, the stimuli and life perspectives of that individual also decline, leading them to manifest symptoms such as lack of concentration and attention, memory loss, difficulty with logical reasoning, difficulty in assimilating new information, problems in empathizing with new people, and organizational difficulties, among others. In this scenario, typical of depression, the person suffers from the absence of stress.
Negative stress or distress can make an individual less intelligent, as the chemical reactions triggered by the body in response to stressors slowly destroy its brain structure, especially the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory (not by chance, one of the symptoms of stress is memory loss!). Thus, stress can also be associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
To restore the functionality of a body weakened by stress, everything must be carefully planned and applied. Some pathways for this include functional foods, homeopathy, and Eastern medicine, which aim to promote quality of life and enhance the sense of life (spirituality) in individuals, minimizing, for example, the demand for conventional medications.
Here are some effective tips for your health and quality of life:
• Stay physically active, exercising according to your physical conditions and under specialized guidance.
• Stay intellectually active by cultivating the habit of reading and writing.
• Adopt a healthy diet according to your needs.
• Invest in new friendships and nurture old ones.
• Maintain an occupation.
Today, quantity and quality of life go hand in hand. To live longer, one must live with quality, hence the need to rethink concepts, evaluate our view of the reality that surrounds us, and seek reintegration with that reality as a means of achieving a lasting and effective result.
DR. LAIR RIBEIRO
Cardiologist, speaker
www.lairribeiro.com.br
lrsintonia@terra.com.br