Many people are pursuing longevity, so how can we live longer? This is closely related to people's daily living habits. Traditional Chinese medicine points out that diet, exercise, and desires all affect the length of one's lifespan. The following introduces seven habits for a long life.
1. Less meat, more beans
We have many "meat-eaters" around us who enjoy hamburgers, roasted meat, roasted duck, braised pork, and other meat dishes at every meal. According to the "Dietary Balance Pyramid," it is best for each person to consume only 75 grams of lean meat per day, which is about the size of a deck of playing cards.
- Physical laborers and men can eat more red meat.
- Mental laborers, women, and elderly people with declining physical functions should eat more white meat.
- People suffering from obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure should eat less meat and more bean products.
Beans are called "meat grown in the ground," especially various bean products made from soybeans such as tofu, tofu silk, dried tofu, and tofu skin, which are good sources of protein.
2. Less salt, more vinegar
Salt not only steals calcium from your body but also lowers normal blood pressure. When cooking at home, besides using less salt, you should also control the intake of soy sauce, ketchup, chili sauce, curry, and other seasonings. Be careful of hidden salt, such as in restaurant dishes like braised and stewed dishes, potato chips, canned food, and fast convenience foods, which all contain a lot of salt. Vinegar, on the other hand, is a health-preserving seasoning in the kitchen. Try adding a little when stir-frying dishes; use rice vinegar to pickle vegetables to lower cholesterol, use aged vinegar with noodles to aid digestion, and add vinegar when cooking fish or bone soup to help absorb calcium.
3. Eat less, chew more
To pay attention to your mouth, try these tips: Start eating when you feel a bit hungry, and eat at fixed times. Take smaller portions or use shallow plates and transparent tableware. Spend at least 20 minutes eating because after starting to eat, it takes 20 minutes for the brain to receive the signal of eating. Generally, chewing each bite of food 15...20 times helps with digestion, prevents weight gain, and alleviates tension and anxiety. You can use a small spoon instead of chopsticks or alternate between spoons and chopsticks while eating, making it impossible to eat quickly and ensuring each bite is chewed thoroughly.
4. Wear less, bathe more
When mentioning wearing less, it brings to mind "keeping warm in spring and tolerating cold in autumn." In fact, tolerating cold in autumn does not mean enduring freezing temperatures but refers to gradually adding clothes. Appropriate coolness stimulation helps promote body metabolism and adaptability to low temperatures. When the outdoor morning and evening temperatures drop to around 10 degrees Celsius, the practice of "tolerating cold in autumn" should end. Taking a hot bath can relieve fatigue and help sleep. Most importantly, doing some "small actions" during bathing, such as massaging the abdomen in a clockwise direction with your palm and showering the abdomen, can prevent constipation. Rubbing your face in the water flow accelerates blood circulation and relieves fatigue. Showering in the morning wakes up the body and mind, while soaking in a bathtub one to two hours before bedtime is ideal. The water temperature should be between 40~50 degrees Celsius, slightly higher than body temperature.
5. Take less medicine, exercise more
No matter how generous you usually are, you should be "stingy" when taking medicine. For minor illnesses like colds, it's better to tough it out without taking medicine randomly. Elderly people should follow the principle of "increasing age means reducing dosage." For people over 60 years old, their medication dosage should be three-quarters of the adult dosage, and they should not increase it themselves. At the same time, they should take no more than four kinds of medicine. If you don't develop an exercise habit, taking medicine is like wasting it. The latest research shows that as long as you persist in exercising for 15 minutes every day, you can extend your life by an average of three years, such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, etc., all of which can be considered the best "medicine."
6. Use less car, walk more
A study shows that more and more people own cars, and about 25% of them have already lost the habit of walking. Research finds that people who drive everywhere get sick twice as long as those who like to walk. Modern people use being busy with work as an excuse to avoid exercise, but in fact, performing 30 minutes of aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking) every day makes the immune system work more efficiently.
7. Worry less, laugh more
Valuing status too much, always thinking about money, dealing with real estate, letting go of dignity, unable to let go of face, doting on children... anxiety is written all over everyone's face. Why not try changing your expression? Four-year-old children laugh once every four minutes, and adults should also laugh at least once an hour. Laughing not only increases lung capacity but also helps you lose weight and gives your heart a break. Laughing heartily for 15 minutes can burn 40 calories. If you do this every day, you can lose at least 1.8 kilograms of weight each year. Anyone may lose control of their emotions sometimes, so it's a good idea to prepare a "mood first aid kit," such as watching a movie, running a few laps, having snacks somewhere, spending time with children, sharing smiles with others while waiting in line, allowing laughter to shine like sunlight and "warm" the heart.