You think you’re not getting any younger? Wellness chief says think again
Michael Roizen, MD, Chief Wellness Officer for Cleveland Clinic, has racked up 63 calendar years, but his RealAge is more in the vicinity of 42.8.
This enviable discrepancy is due in large part to lifestyle choices that anyone can make. Dr. Roizen, an internist and anesthesiologist, maintains that people can subtract years from their chronological ages by substituting healthy habits for bad ones.
You can learn how on the RealAge website, where you also can take a quiz to find out your own real age. Dr. Roizen, who devised the quiz more than two decades ago, is the co-founder of RealAge Inc., a consumer-health media company independent of Cleveland Clinic, and continues as Chair of the RealAge Inc. Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. Roizen, Chairman of the Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic, co-wrote the best-selling You books, including YOU: The Owner’s Manual and YOU: Staying Young. He’s made numerous appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has his own satellite radio program.
For those who want to get younger every day, he offers this advice as a starting point:
- Take your vitamins
- Avoid saturated and trans fats
- Fill up on fiber
- Floss your teeth every day
- Quit smoking and avoid passive smoke
- Know your blood pressure
- Exercise daily
- Reduce your stress levels
- Wear your seatbelt
- Become a lifelong learner
- Laugh a lot
And make sure you get plenty of sleep. In You: Staying Young, he and his co-author, Mehmet C. Oz, MD, devote an entire chapter to the importance of sleep. “The truth is,” they write, “that most of us don’t get enough sleep, and that plays a significant role in our aging.”
If you have trouble falling asleep, the authors suggest making the following changes in your bedtime rituals to prepare your body for rest:
- Dim your lights several hours before bed to avoid the stimulation caused by artificial light pollution from TV, computers and indoor lighting
- Use meditation, prayer or deep breathing to help you slow down
- Surrender to sleep. “After all,” they write, “you go to the movies; you shouldn’t go to sleep. There is nothing you have to do to sleep – except let go of waking.”
You: Staying Young is published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc. The RealAge test and tips are available on RealAge.com.
To make a gift supporting the Wellness Institute or any area of Cleveland Clinic, visit our secure online giving site, or call Institutional Relations and Development at 216.444.1245 or toll-free at 800.223.2273, ext. 41245.
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