Techniques for Aging Healthily Quiz

Answer: Sleep under the light of the healthy moonlight's beams

Generally, people need about 8 hours of sleep a night; getting the proper amount keeps memory and learning ability sharper. It can also help prevent age-related weight gain since sleep deprivation slows down a person's metabolism, according to Edward Stepanski, a sleep researcher at Supportive Oncology Service. He also advises that it is better that your sleep is done in one block of time instead of in smaller chunks, waking up several times a night. Therefore, repeatedly pressing that snooze alarm is not recommended; it's better to simply set your alarm for the 20 or so minutes later so your sleeping time isn't as fragmented.

When it's time to go to sleep one should avoid having light in the bedroom whether moonlight or electric light. Light interferes with your body's melatonin production during sleep. Lying in bed watching TV risks you falling asleep with the TV on which causes you to wake up for microseconds many times during the night, ruining the quality of your sleep. Poor quality of sleep has been linked to developing cancer and other diseases.

Answer: insulin

According to Columbia University endocrinologist Nicholas Mezitis, at breakfast time your body might take only an hour to process your food, as opposed to the two hours it takes at lunch time and even longer at dinner time.

This means that, at breakfast, you'll be less likely to store up calories as fat. The insulin surge in your body at this time also enhances the energy you get from eat from eggs, oatmeal, or high-fiber cereals and fruit.

Answer: Vitamin D

Director of the Center for Circadian Medicine, Dr. Matthew Edlund, says that exposing yourself to the morning light has the strongest effect on Vitamin D production because photosensitivity in the brain is at its peak at dawn. Absorbing this vitamin decreases with age, so it's extra important to get it for its ability to keep bones strong.

You walk a bit of a tightrope however, because after age 40 the skin is more vulnerable to sun damage so try using sunscreen with at least SPF (Sun Protection Factor) 15, to combat wrinkles, brown spots, and cataracts. UV rays are stronger between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, so it would be a good time to reapply sunscreen then.

Answer: Caffeine

Because cells function in a fluid environment, it is important to stay hydrated, and especially important as you age because the thirst mechanism starts to decline. Dehydration makes the skin saggy and dull, and dries out the mucous membranes.

To assist you in hydrating, you might try switching from coffee to black tea or green tea which have less caffeine. Plus, the antioxidants in tea can help slow wrinkles from showing up by warding off free radicals, and may also help prevent cancer. A study by the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that women who drank two or more cups of tea a day had a 48% lower risk of ovarian cancer than women who did not drink tea. It's also better to avoid caffeine within six hours of going to bed, since it may delay your ability to fall asleep. As we age, we become more susceptible to the effects of caffeine according to Kenneth Wright, the director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado.

Answer: between 10 am and 4 pm

Even brief sun exposure every day adds over time. For women, despite menopausal changes sometimes causing dry skin, high stress can increase oil production, which might cause sunscreen to wear off. If that's the case, reapplication of sunscreen might be needed.

Collagen production isn't as efficient after we hit age 40, so maybe a prescription collagen-boosting cream may help stave off lines and wrinkles. If you do apply cream, it's better to do it at night, since sunlight might deactivate their effectiveness.

Answer: Calcium supplements

Calcium has an absorption rate of only 25% to 35%, while the other supplements listed have much higher rates at around 90%. Exercising before a meal can help suppress your appetite for a few hours and thus keep you from over-eating. That exercise can be as simple as taking the stairs up and down a few times, or going out for a walk before lunch.

Since your body absorbs only about 500 milligrams of calcium at a time, a good time to take that supplement is with a meal since it's absorbed better that way. Lunch may be a better meal to take the calcium as a morning coffee may mean that caffeine gets in the way of calcium absorption. More than 500 milligrams of calcium are simply excreted.

After lunchtime, a dip in energy often occurs, which can slow our metal acuity a bit for a few hours, so perhaps less taxing tasks can be addressed. On the other hand, a brief bit of exercise, just ten minutes of simply taking a walk can boost our alertness, not to mention reducing the risk of type-2 diabetes and obesity.

Answer: fast-twitch muscles

At around 2:00 PM, our body temperature heads toward its peak, and our ligaments, tendons, muscles and joints are warming up along with it. This means stretching exercises are more efficient, since our tissues are more pliable and at less risk of injury. Our body coordination and reaction time is also peaking. Since our balance starts to get less sure as we age, maybe this time of day is the time to attempt a chore that poses a bit more of a risk of falling. To enhance our coordination, this is a good time of day to exercise by practising standing on one foot, and then the other, thus stimulating our proprioceptive nerves that give us a sense of equilibrium and body positioning.

By 3:00 PM, we're pretty much at the optimal point of mental and physical ability. The fast-twitch muscles are the ones that respond best to resistance training, and they're the ones that also decline the most quickly as we age. So, it's a good idea to take a pair of 5-15 pound hand weights and do some basic exercises with them.

Answer: Mornings for short-term memory, afternoons for long-term memory

Short-term memory skills tend to be sharper in the morning, so it's a good time to take in information that you'll rely on later. You'll have better recall ability. Long-term memory is sharper if you try to memorize information in the afternoon, at about 4:00 PM. Memorizing a speech at this time, will be better stored in your memory.

A little bit later, at about 5:00 PM, your intellectual powers peak, and you can perform numerical types of tasks a little better. By evening, after you've had dinner, your long-term memory recall is still at a high, so it's a convenient time to consume the newspaper or whatever book you've been reading.

Answer: Kegels

Our body temperature is still rising by 6:00 PM, and our joints are warning up as are our muscles, becoming more flexible. We're able to produce more muscular force and our cardiovascular system is operating more efficiently at that time. You'll get the most out of exercise at around this time of day. For women, partly due to decreasing estrogen levels, pelvic floor muscles (muscles and connective tissues supporting the pelvic bladder, intestines, and uterus) tend to weaken with age.

It's a good idea for men and women to perform those Kegel exercises that strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. To do them, pretend you are trying to cut off urinating while in mid-stream. The muscles you feel that you're using are the pelvic floor muscles. Tighten those muscles and hold that for 3 to 5 seconds, then relax for 3 to 5 seconds. Repeat about 10 times, and do three sets a day.

Answer: Stored carbohydrates

Try to have dinner between 30 and 90 minutes after you've exercised. That way you will better take advantage of your increased levels of glycogen synthase, which is an enzyme that resupplies your muscles with stored carbohydrates (glycogen) so you'll be ready for exercise in the future.

It's a good idea to take the amount of calcium supplement with dinner that will get you up to your daily quota for adults, which is about 1000 to 1200 milligrams in total for the whole day. Limit your doses to only 500 at any one time.