Photo: jupiterimages

In the past we've told you about how calorie restriction, hiking and weight lifting are good for your health and fitness. These lifestyle choices along with other healthy habits, may also be good for keeping your outward appearances -- and internal organs -- looking young. Discover 25 things -- you may already be doing -- to keep your body as youthful as can be.

Once, I was at my son's school during recess and noticed that (other than a few exceptions) it was mostly boys playing kickball and girls sitting in small groups around the jungle gym chatting and playing cats cradle. At the time, I didn't think much of it, but I was reminded of it the day when I read an article about how young and old females aren't as active as males.

Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University followed 10 and 11-year-old children during recess and found that boys tend to engage in more active play than girls. On the flip side of the coin, another study found that women over age 70 are less likely to be active than men.

It's important for everyone to be active. But it's certainly important for girls (during the formative years when their bones are growing) and older women (who need to maintain bone density) to be physically active.

Source

Have you taken time to meditate during this busy holiday season? Chances are, your answer's going to be a big ole' heck no. Who has time to sit still when there's Christmas presents to be bought and wrapped, cookies to be baked, family to entertain ...

But Oprah's personal medical professional, Doctor Oz, thinks you should take time to meditate on a regular basis. In fact, he believes that meditation is our own fountain of youth. How's that for promising? All you need is five minutes a day -- click here for Dr. Oz's meditation tips.

That's not to say you need only to meditate to stay youthful -- eating well and exercising is still important. His list of anti-aging foods includes blueberries, broccoli, sweet potatoes and tomatoes.

(via Fit Celeb)

Source

Here, experts explain what happens to the body as it gets older and highlight what workouts work best for each age, beginning at two years of age -- because just as you're never too old to break a sweat, it's also never too soon to exercising.

Source

When you're in your 20s--especially your early 20s--you feel invincible. You can eat what you want, live on tequila and go without sleep for days at a time and you'll still look fresh-faced. Well, in the short term, at least. The long term is a different story. As far as your health and looks go, what you do at any age in your life will affect you later in life.

Take sun tanning, for instance. It will age your skin, fast, because tanning equals wrinkles. No two ways about it. Wearing heavy earrings? How does lobe surgery sound? Wearing high heels too often can irreversibly damage the tendons in your legs, and toting a heavy purse around on one shoulder can lead to shoulder damage that may force you to carry around a backpack. Sexy, huh?

What you do in your 20s matters. Read this article for more proof.

Source

I'm on the plane flying home from the Prilosec OTC Roundtable Discussion with the gorgeous actress, Cheryl Ladd and nutrition expert, Elizabeth Somer, R.D in New York City. They/we discussed the benefits that both a healthy lifestyle and positive attitude can have on today's Baby Boomers. I was happy to see two bright women, both 57 years old, who were able to close in on 60 without being or looking "old". While preserving their appearances and health, they still embrace and enjoy the gifts that come with aging.

Both Cheryl and Elizabeth personify the woman I hope to be when I am of similar age. Not only because they are gorgeous women who have defied the years physically though. Their healthy eating choices, chronic exercise habits, and joyous perspectives on life offer proof that with decent effort one can earn a long, productive, enjoyable life.

Source

It's not about the bike, said Lance Armstrong in his book about his fight with cancer. In the fight against breast cancer, though, it is about the bike. It's a bit about chocolate too. And let me tell you, after a 220-mile bike ride from Hershey, Pa. to New York City, riders are going a deserve a bite of the sweet treat this starting city is famous for.

The Hershey's Tour de Pink bike ride, benefiting the Young Survival Coalition -- a non-profit network dedicated to the issues unique to young women and breast cancer -- aims to spread hope and awareness while promoting a healthy lifestyle. Four days of riding from October 3-6 is all it takes. If you can't make it to the big event, you can virtually tackle your miles at home.

The Virtual Ride challenges riders to pedal 220 miles from now until October 6. Start logging the miles you cover on quick rides through your neighborhood or on your stationary-bike excursions. Participate as an individual or form a team. It doesn't matter, as long as you register and ride. Raise a minimum $250 and you'll receive an official Hershey's Tour de Pink jersey. One-hundred percent of the money raised will go to the YSC.

Source

My breasts are dense. I know this because I hear it every time someone examines me, squashes my boobs into a mammogram machine, slides a gooey ultrasound wand up and down and all around my ta tas, or makes me dangle my girls through the slings of an MRI machine. Dense. So dense. Unbelievably dense.

Young women have dense breasts. That's just how it goes. And that's exactly why we youngsters -- meaning any of us under the age of 40 -- must take control of our own breast care. Mammograms are not the best for us -- that's why the imaging test isn't recommended for women under 40. They're not effective because they often don't pick up masses wound up in dense tissue. A mammogram missed my breast cancer a few years back. Ultrasound picked it up, though -- thankfully. But my first line of defense -- and the method that turned up my pea-sized hard tumor -- is self examination. That means once each month, girls, you must check your breasts. Here's how.

Schedule your do-it-yourself boob massage for one week following your menstrual cycle -- fewer hormonal tissue changes this way -- and do this: Recline your body or stand in the shower like I did that fateful day I found my pea. Put your right arm up over your head. Use the fingertips on your left hand to feel your right breast in its entirety. Then switch arms and hands and take care of your left breast. Note what you feel and remember it. Because when you check again a month later, you'll try to detect changes. If you find any, get yourself to the doctor. Because you are young, you may be dismissed -- I was -- but you just stand tall and firm and sure of yourself and demand that you be referred to a specialist, someone who will combine a mammogram with ultrasound, and maybe MRI too. Let your gut guide you. If it tells you something is wrong, it probably is. Pursue your health, my friends. Because no one else will.

Young women, dense as they can be, get breast cancer. I did. You might too. So get to work on saving your life. Now.

For more about young women and breast cancer, visit the Young Survival Coalition here.

Prevention. There's nothing like it. And what great news it is that girls as young as 12 can already start protecting themselves against breast cancer.

Just like middle-aged women are encouraged to work out to lower their risk of developing this disease, new research concludes that exercise during the teen years can prevent breast cancer in later years.

So here's the scoop: Women who were physically active as teens and young adults were 23 percent less likely to develop pre-menopausal breast cancer than women who grew up sedentary. Having the biggest impact was regular exercise between the ages of 12 to 22. And the women with the lowest risk reported running or exercising vigorously three or more hours per week. Although post-menopausal breast cancer was not studied, it's likely exercise helps all the same.

Time to get your daughters off the couch!

Source

When it comes to cancer, the general rule is this: If you're under 40, you're risk of developing it is minimal. But there's a certain type of cancer that you're more likely to develop if you're under 35--Malignant melanoma. Yep, skin cancer.

According to this article from the Daily Mail, people under 35 who use tanning beds are 75% more likely to develop skin cancer than everyone else. 75%! Those are some frightening odds. Don't get me wrong -- tanning any time in life is dangerous, but it appears that young skin is more vulnerable to the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. And you know what else? Tanning kills. So if you're still heading to the tanning salon, I just have one question for you: Are you nuts?

In the past 20 years, cancer incidence in young adults has doubled. The grand total: 70,000 diagnosis each year. Ouch. How about some salt for that wound: Cancer survival rates in young adults have not improved over the past 30 years, mostly due to delayed diagnosis. Want more?

The medical community at large is grossly uneducated about how to effectively communicate, treat, and follow-up with young adults. And the number one social issue faced by young cancer survivors is isolation. In a nutshell, young adults are a critically underserved population whose needs (fertility, education, sexuality, peer support, financial aid, insurance, employment) are so different than the needs of other age groups.

How do I know all of this? Because I just grabbed these facts and figures from young adult cancer survivor Matthew Zachary's website I'm Too Young For This -- or i[2]y -- which happens to offer the latest and greatest information for the under-40 population grappling with cancer health issues. It's a place Zachary hopes sticks around for a very long time.

For seventeen months now, Zachary has been hosting this place where young adults can mix and mingle and improve their quality of life. In order to keep his machine going strong, he needs some help. Some financial help.

If you are willing and able to support this growing organization with a tax deductible donation, check out The Stupid Cancer Fund at http://fund.i2y.com. If you can't donate, then I hope you'll still check out i[2]y -- for yourself, a friend, a loved one, or an acquaintance. Anyone young, and touched by cancer, and wishing to be heard.

Source

Surveys say 21-to 35-year-olds prefer wine to beer. They just don't know much about the wine they prefer and have no strong loyalties to any specific brands. A good thing for advertisers who can tempt just about any palate.

Enter viral advertising, a technique that uses existing social networks to create brand awareness and sales. Forget billboards, TV, and print ads. This approach uses video clips, video games, e-mail blasts, and advertising at music events and other gatherings.

Sacre Bleu, a 45,000-bottle-a-year elite operation, is jumping at the chance to win over young drinkers with this method. Websites, podcasts, and MySpace pages will hopefully hook this population. Another selling point: Sacre Bleu wine is as natural as it can be -- with no added sugar or acids.

So wine isn't all that bad. It's healthy in fact if consumed moderately. But I tend to think advertisers wish for more than moderate sales. What do you think? A healthy endeavor or not?

Source

We'd all like to know that we're going to make it to our retirement and still have a few good years in us to finally enjoy some time off. But the sad reality is that many of us won't make it to those golden years, or won't have the health to enjoy it, and in many cases, this is mostly preventable. As diet guru Julia Havey points out, there are five things that could very well keep you from enjoying you old age:

1. You smoke. Haven't you heard the news? It will kill you, man.
   
2. You don't walk enough. True, cars and elevators are great inventions, but they're also making you a little rounder in the waistline. If you have a couple of minutes to spare (come on, who doesn't?), walk.
   
3. You eat too much saturated fat. Saturated fat is only healthy in moderate amounts. Use with caution.
   
4. You eat too much trans fat. Unlike saturated fats, trans fats are never healthy, no matter what the amount. Rid them from your diet.
   
5. You don't eat enough fruits and veggies. 5-10 a day, that's all it takes.

Source

I always had good skin. The kind of skin people complimented. And, really, who bothers to compliment skin? And then I turned 30 and all those years of good skin and doing nothing to deserve it came back to bite me. All of a sudden a wrinkle appeared in between my eyes where I have the unfortunate habit of furrowing my brow. And my pores? Well, let's just say if they got any bigger small families might be able to camp in them. So I was pretty happy to see Prevention's list of 100 Ways to Look Younger.

Check out the gallery for some of my favorite tips:

Source

Let's face it: we're a nation of people who are obsessed with aging. Or, more specifically, aging well. We'd all like to hope that we'll look and feel fresh-faced and youthful when we're edging up on our golden years, and we'll go to any length to ensure that happens. Finding the secret to aging well would be a dream come true -- or have we found it already?

According to this article from MSNBC, the secret to fighting off aging can be found in your gym -- in the weight room! You don't have to be a uber-buff body builder-type, either. Building and maintaining muscle keeps not only our bodies strong and youthful but our immune systems too.

Of course, there's more to equation--eating well and getting lots of sleep play a major role too--but it's nice to know there is something we can do to help ourselves age well naturally.

Source