No one dreams of aging ungracefully. After all, you don’t spend your life trying to increase your number of wrinkles, dying your hair grey before its time, or trying to add on those few extra pounds that seem to come with advancing years, yet they seem to happen almost automatically. Or do they?

Unless you practice certain behaviors that repel these common signs of aging, you’re going to draw them closer to you like water to a sponge. What are these behaviors that will keep you young as long as possible?

A Regular Exercise Regimen

Getting regular physical activity helps you age with poise in a number of ways. First, it keeps your heart healthy which allows you to live life to the fullest. You will be able to engage in various activities that you enjoy well into your senior years like golf, mountain climbing, or simply playing with your grandchildren, without worrying about increasing your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Whether you spend your days in front of a computer or can’t move around much in your daily life, your sedentary schedule may be impacting you more than you realize. Or, perhaps you understand that your inactivity during your workday is causing you to not look or feel your best, yet you don’t know what to do about it.

Either way, you do have options that will help you improve your fitness levels despite being desk or office bound.  But first, you need to understand why making changes to your sedentary job is important and needs to happen right away.

The Health Consequences of a Sedentary Job

According to the National Center on Health, Physical Activity, and Disability, living a sedentary lifestyle is detrimental to your health. For instance, they report that physically inactive people have a 40% higher risk of developing cancer in the colon or breasts and a 50% higher rate of dementia. Being sedentary also increases the rate at which you lose muscle and bone strength, as well as raises the possibility that you’ll suffer from depression.

(This is Part 3 in our three-part series: How 3 Ancient Alternative Methods Can Help You Lose Weight. CLICK HERE to read Part 1, Acupuncture. CLICK HERE to read Part 2, Can Hypnosis Help You Lose Weight?)

Meditation is part of our earliest recorded history. Long ago, it was used mostly in conjunction with religious practices. Some say that meditation is the oldest form of mental, spiritual and physical health and wellness practice in existence.

The earliest known root of meditation is with the Hindus in India who used forms of meditation to discern the true nature of Brahman. Buddha reached “enlightenment” while he was meditating under a Bodhi Tree. Those that followed Buddha, however, did not believe that mediation was a way to understand a higher being but rather a way of sensing ones connection to all things. Forms of meditation are present in all major religions.

How would you feel if you knew that your actions were likely putting your children’s health at risk? Certainly, this isn’t your intention, but your thoughts, attitudes and behaviors regarding nutrition and physical activity are handed down to your children just as easily as your genes.

When you make choices consistent with healthy living, your little ones are much more likely to do the same. And, that’s the goal – you don’t want them struggling with food and weight issues, perhaps like you did, when they become adults and start making decisions without your input.

It’s easy enough to point your finger elsewhere and blame your children’s weight issues on sugary cereals, unhealthy food commercials aimed at children and fast food places that promote eating greasy, high calorie food to kids but it’s time to get real and take some responsibility. Yes, all of these factors may contribute to the issue but the bottom line is that you, as a parent, play the starring role in determining your children’s health outcome.