Youngevity’s Guide to Living Younger, Longer

Posted: November 25, 2024 | By: Shanon Peckham

We champion the benefits of nutrition all the time, but eating right and taking your supplements is only one piece of the complex puzzle that is human health. There’s no magic cure-all ingredient that can help you live younger, longer, but there are some areas of health you can focus on for supporting optimal longevity.

Cognition

Have you heard of “brain rot”? It’s a favorite phrase on social media apps like TikTok and is used to describe how too much screen time or social media use can be bad for your brain.¹ Though it’s used as slang, the science behind the term is very much grounded in reality! Too much screen time can not only negatively impact your mental health, but it can damage your ability to learn, impair your memory, put you at higher risk of early neurodegeneration, and may even reduce the volume of your brain.^2,3,4 Any activity that reduces your mental activity and isolates you also puts you at higher risk for conditions like Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Parkinson’s as well.^5,6,7

The best way to counteract these effects for better cognitive longevity is to limit your screen time to less than two hours a day and engage in activities that challenge your brain.³ We know screens can be addictive,⁸ so a good place to start would be tracking your screen time. You may not realize how much time you spend on your phone – a half hour scrolling here and there adds up quickly! Some of the best activities you can engage in that support optimal cognitive function are games, learning a new skill or language, painting or drawing, and meditation.^9,10 All of these are easy to do with limited or no screen time. Plus, you’ll find the less time you spend scrolling or watching television, you’ll start to feel like you have time and mental energy back for all kinds of other hobbies and time with your favorite people!

Get ahead of cognitive decline early with new healthy lifestyle habits and holistic health support:

3.0 Rise & Restore™ – 3.0 Rise™ helps you fuel your day with essential nutrients, natural caffeine, and nootropics, while 3.0 Restore™ helps you recover at night with pre-and-probiotics, amino acids, detoxifying nutrients, and more.

SMART Stiks™ – Nootropics, amino acids, botanicals, and natural caffeine give you a boost on the go!

Synaptiv™ – A proprietary blend of nutrients that support mental clarity, memory, and help combat stress.

Ultimate Memory FX™ – Provides vitamins, herbs, and additional beneficial nutrients your body needs to support healthy brain function for many years to come.

Sleep

As fun as they are, late-night scrolling and revenge bedtime procrastination are working against your longevity goals. The blue light from your phone, not to mention other chemical reactions that occur when you see something that excites or worries you, is messing with your circadian rhythm (the system that regulates your sleep cycle) and keeping you awake too late. Even if you’re not on your phone for that last hour before bed, you’re setting yourself up for a difficult relationship with sleep if you’re not focused on winding down for sleep in a healthy way. “15 more minutes” can quickly turn into an hour or more of something too stimulating and many sleep-deficient nights, setting you up for a cycle of bad mood and poor sleep.¹¹

The good news is, you should be able to tell if you’re getting poor-quality sleep, or not enough. It’s hard to get out of bed, you’ve got dry, red eyes, and you just feel slow. It turns out our bodies are actually hard at work fixing up our systems for a new day overnight. Studies show a good night’s sleep strengthens your immune system, improves reaction times, supports a healthy memory, boosts energy, and can even brighten your mood!¹² All of these are so important for overall health and longevity. Likewise, not getting enough quality sleep has been shown to speed up the aging process by damaging your body at the cellular level and increasing your brain’s actual age.^13,14

While some sleep issues are actually related to how old you are,¹³ there are a bunch of ways you can help your body get the rest it needs regardless of age. Check out our Beyond Sleep System, Sleep Quiz, and FAQ; don’t forget to visit our blog for more on how you can fix your sleep routine!

Here are some other sleep products to try:

Beyond Sleep Gummies™ – Get the quality of sleep you need to wake up feeling rested and restored with this effective blend of soothing botanicals. (less than 0.5 mg melatonin)

Sleep Eze™ – An herbal blend designed to help you support healthy, restful sleep. (2.5 mg melatonin)

Bio Nite – Melatonin, chamomile, and valerian combine to promote a healthy sleep cycle. (3 mg melatonin)

Movement

For various reasons, we’re all more likely to slow down and live more sedentary lives as we grow older. But the harms of a sedentary routine start long before retirement. Around a quarter of American adults sit for more than 8 hours a day,¹⁵ and with around 60% of us using computers for work,¹⁶ you can bet that number is even higher if you include leisure time off the clock.¹⁷ Outside of work and couch potato time, as much as 50% of Americans aren’t exercising at all,¹⁵ while up to 75% are falling short of the national physical activity guidelines.¹⁸ All this inactivity speeds up the body’s aging process,¹⁹ as well as muscle mass loss. Simply put, the less we use our muscles as we age, the less muscle we maintain(and the more we lose), causing physical weakness, cramps, balance issues, and other disabilities that will be increasingly dangerous and frustrating the older we get.²⁰These numbers are scary, considering how many health benefits we gain from movement.

Overall, studies have shown that the more you exercise, the better, especially for life expectancy. Regular exercise can help prevent chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. Even 15 minutes a day can reduce your risk of dying from almost everything by 14% and increase your life expectancy by three years!²¹

Thankfully, it’s not hard to build a little movement into your life. If it helps, think of daily exercise as an investment in your future – one where you can easily play with your grandkids, compete in your favorite sport, and live life without worrying about falls. The more you do it, the better you’ll feel, making it easier to keep the positive feedback loop going! Try using your 15-minute breaks at work to take a walk, or use your company’s on-site gym for a quick workout. Take the stairs instead of the escalator; do some yoga in between classes or join an exercise group. If you have mobility or balance issues, you can work with a family member/physical therapist or look up a handicap-friendly routine online to try. The point is, exercise is SO worth mustering the time and motivation for, especially when it comes to living younger, longer. Check out these beginner workouts for inspiration!

And grab these products for extra exercise, mobility, and heart support:

Ultimate EFA Plus™ – Provides an all-natural source of six omega fatty acids our bodies can’t produce on their own to support a healthy heart.

Youngevity CardioBeets™ – Formulated with organic, nutrient-rich red beets and a combination of synergizing ingredients to help support healthy cardiovascular endurance and performance.

Beyond Osteo FX™ – With extra calcium, trace minerals, and other nutrients, this product is specially formulated to help support optimal bone and joint health.

Mental Health

We tend to think mainly of physical wellness when talking about longevity, but emotional wellness plays a big part in how gracefully we age as well. Chronic stress puts strain on most systems in our bodies, causing damage or injuries, triggering new problems, and creating the ideal environment for chronic diseases.²² Studies have shown that ongoing distress can even shorten your lifespan and age you faster.^23,24 Likewise, better stress management, emotional regulation, and an optimistic mindset can increase your lifespan and keep you from aging too fast.^25,26

Poor mental health at any age can disrupt everything in your life, from your work and health to your relationships and hobbies. That’s why it’s so important to ensure you’re creating a good framework to manage chronic stress now, before it catches up with you. Future you will thank you! You’ll feel better, have less inner work to do down the road, and can help your kids, grandkids, and peers all feel their best too.

From our lifestyle to our diet, there are a lot of ways we can become more psychologically resilient. Our mental health is influenced by our gut health, so make sure you’re getting whole foods, pre-and-probiotics, and a nutrient-rich diet!^27,28 Regular exercise and Vitamin D are key for good mental health. You can also use meditation tools and coping techniques to get through times of heightened stress. At the end of the day, therapy and medication may work best for you. Regardless of how you choose to address your mental health, the sooner you start, the better for your longevity!

Here are some additional supplements that may help you on your healing journey:

Ultimate Microbiome™ – With a blend of time-tested prebiotics, probiotics, digestive enzymes, adaptogens, and more, this dietary supplement gives your gut everything it needs to thrive.

Ultimate D-Stress™ – Provides key nutrients known to be involved in a healthy stress response cycle.

Ultimate EFA™ – Our proprietary blend brings together five essential fatty acids from borage, flax, and fish oils for one potent, all-in-one supplement.