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Do This for 5 Minutes, Get 5
Years Younger
By Real Age
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Here's a pleasant little pastime that takes about 5 minutes to do each day but could make you up to 5 years younger if you're faithful to it: drinking tea.
In a Chinese study, the cells of enthusiastic tea drinkers showed about 5 fewer years' worth of wear and tear compared with the cells of people who
drank little tea.
Age Marker
The enthusiastic tea drinkers averaged 3 or more cups of green or oolong tea daily, while the group that showed more signs of cell aging averaged less
than a cup. The researchers looked specifically at the study participants' telomeres to see how much their cells had aged. Telomeres are the protective
end caps on your DNA strands. They get a smidge shorter every time cells divide, so the shorter these caps are, the older your cells are, too. And in the
study, the most avid tea drinkers had significantly longer telomeres than the people who drank less than a cup a day.
Turn Back the Clock
Researchers think it's the antioxidants in tea that help keep telomeres long. It's a beneficial chain reaction of sorts. Antioxidants fight diseases like
cancer, diabetes, and heart disease -- conditions that tend to damage cells. And when damaged, cells divide in order to repair injuries and the telomeres
-- a finite resource -- shrink. Interestingly, the tea study showed telomere benefits only in men, possibly because cell-protecting hormones unique to
women left less room for improvement. But there are plenty of other reasons for both men and women to drink tea. So bottoms up!
Looking for more ways to grow younger? Take 10 years off your RealAge with these simple tips.
1. Walk at least 30 minutes a day and eat at least nine handfuls of fruit and veggies.
2. Detox your cabinets – get rid of high calorie, low nutrition foods like chips, pretzels, etc.
3. Eat the same things for breakfast and lunch
4. Don’t get too hungry before eating
5. Fill up on what your heart loves:
Strawberries
Rye (and other whole-grain) bread
Avocado
Nuts
Dark Chocolate
6. Fill up on foods that are dense in flavor and nutrition….not in fat and calories.
7. Eat the right fats - especially omega-3s and monounsaturated fats
8. Eat the right foods to get a good night’s sleep:
Bananas
Chamomile tea
Warm milk
Honey
Potatoes
Oatmeal
Almonds
Flaxseed
Whole wheat bread
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