3 Ways to Beat Your Age

By Nicci Micco, November/December 2007

Tips on staying young from Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. and Michael F. Roizen, M.D.

READER'S COMMENT:

"Do you realize that our body is "age-ing, cancer-ing, and disease-ing" every minute of every day, due to oxidative stress and free radical damage. Oxidative stress is a big deal contributing to our ailing health conditions and premature...

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A poor diet and couch-potato tendencies are two ways to accelerate aging—but they’re not the only behaviors that can make you old beyond your years. In YOU: Staying Young: The Owner’s Manual for Extending Your Warranty (Free Press), just out, Mehmet C. Oz, M.D., and Michael F. Roizen, M.D., discuss other “major agers” and ways to combat them. Here are three tips from the book to get you started.

1. Squelch stress.

They say: “Stress isn’t just something you write off as a need for spa treatments; it’s a major biological driver of aging.”

Why? When stress hormones stay elevated for long periods, they can harm the immune system, increase risk of damage to arteries and set up a situation in which the body tends to hang on to body fat.

Try: Meditating, leaning on supportive friends, planning ahead, getting a pet.