Drinking white tea plus five micro-habits: the secret to longevity

"Longevity is something people have pursued since ancient times. With abundant material goods and advanced medicine today, people generally live longer. But even so, the pursuit of longevity has not changed, and people always hope they can live even longer. So how can you make yourself live longer?"

1. Slightly plump

Modern people mostly regard thinness as beauty, and fat people have become unwelcome. From a medical point of view, being too fat does indeed increase the risk of many diseases, but pursuing bony thinness excessively is also a misconception. Being slightly plump is the figure that is both good-looking and healthy, and people of any age should not diet excessively.

In daily life, many people dare not eat many foods because they fear developing chronic diseases or worsening their condition, and blindly control their intake. The result is often the opposite of what they want, leading to insufficient energy and protein intake and bringing risks such as iron-deficiency anemia, decreased immunity and increased susceptibility to disease.

How can you control your weight through diet?

People who are too thin can moderately gain weight through the following methods:

In addition to three meals a day, add 2 to 3 light meals;

Eat some higher-energy snacks such as milk and nuts;

Exercise moderately to stimulate appetite;

Adjust your mood and ensure sufficient sleep time.

Middle-aged and older people who are too obese should also lose weight, by:

Eating more low-energy foods such as fruits, vegetables and konjac;

Eating fewer high-energy foods such as candy and sugary drinks;

Drinking more porridge made from coarse grains such as mung beans and corn;

Moderately reducing intake of animal fats such as fatty meat and organ meats;

Exercising every day.

2. Slightly cool

Temperature is closely related to health, especially room temperature and food temperature. Research shows that the optimal ambient temperature is 18°C to 20°C. At this time the body feels slightly cool, but the body's immunity can be brought into fullest play, disease resistance is stronger and sleep quality is higher. For example, in China's famous longevity village, Bama Yao Autonomous County in Guangxi, the average annual temperature there is around 20°C.

It should be noted that people should not rely too much on external means to interfere with room temperature and ignore the body's own temperature regulation system. For example, in winter the room temperature is set too high, so that people can even wear short sleeves and eat popsicles; in summer the temperature is set too low, so that sleeping at night requires a cotton quilt, and so on. In winter, room temperature should preferably be 16°C to 20°C, and in summer it should be controlled at 24°C to 26°C.

3. Slightly hungry

Persistently eating to seven-tenths full over the long term can not only ensure nutritional intake but also help control weight and keep the mind clear. But for many people, maintaining a seven-tenths-full state is becoming harder and harder.

Seven-tenths full is a slightly hungry feeling of being neither full nor hungry, still wanting more food. The stomach does not feel full, enthusiasm for food has declined somewhat, and eating speed slows, but there is still the habitual desire to eat; however, if the food is taken away, you will soon forget about eating. Generally speaking, under conditions where meal times are relatively regular and fixed, if you eat to seven-tenths full at this meal, you will not feel obviously hungry before the next meal; otherwise it means you did not eat to seven-tenths full, and you can add a little more food.

▎The following three methods help you grasp the slightly hungry feeling:

First, eat with concentration, and do not chat or watch TV while eating;

Second, chew carefully and swallow slowly, feeling the changes in your enthusiasm for food and the gradually filling feeling in your stomach;

Third, eat fewer refined foods and more coarse foods. Foods such as coarse grains that need more chewing before swallowing can make people slow down eating and help them feel fullness, while refined, white, soft foods that are oily and low in fiber can make people eat too much without realizing it.

4. Slightly sweaty

How much you sweat during exercise is often used by people as a standard for judging exercise results. But for middle-aged and older people, being drenched in sweat is not the best exercise state, and may lead to collapse, falls, and trigger asthma, chest tightness, abdominal pain, etc. Therefore, middle-aged and older people should follow the principle of moderation, with slight sweating, slight fatigue and a feeling of whole-body comfort being appropriate.

Persist in outdoor activity for at least 30 minutes every day, preferably 1 hour;

Keep the maximum exercise heart rate within the range of "170 minus your own age";

Walking, swimming and practicing tai chi are all good choices;

Early morning is not the best time to exercise. The World Health Organization recommends that 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. are suitable for exercise.

5. Slightly foolish

Longevity is inseparable from an optimistic and open-minded attitude, and an open-minded attitude comes from the philosophy of life of being indifferent to fame and fortune and wisely feigning ignorance. As a centenarian said: "Seek neither fame nor profit, do not rush, do not get angry, and you can live to a great age." On the contrary, people who haggle over every ounce and take everything too seriously often induce multiple diseases through inner anger and depression, such as high blood pressure, gastric ulcers and neurasthenia, ultimately paying with their health.

To nourish life, one must first nourish the mind. In life, being a little foolish and a little carefree, being able to pick things up and put them down, and learning to be slightly foolish and self-mocking is true wisdom. Making more friends, cultivating hobbies, reading diligently and exercising more all help people's mental health.

6. Drink white tea

The destructive activity of free radicals is the chief culprit in human aging. The vast majority of women turn to cosmetics, but unfortunately, the factors of aging are more often produced inside the body. Modern research shows that among natural plants, tea has the strongest ability to scavenge free radicals.

Tea polyphenols have an inhibitory effect on various oxidase enzymes, can efficiently scavenge free radicals, and are the fastest-acting antioxidant pathway. At the same time, they can inhibit the production of free radicals and activate the human body's antioxidant enzyme system. Research shows that the antioxidant properties of tea polyphenols are clearly superior to vitamin E, with an anti-aging effect 18 times stronger than vitamin E, and they have a synergistic effect with vitamin C and E.

Because of its natural processing method, white tea has a significant anti-aging effect. Its content of antioxidant components is as much as 3 times higher than that of green tea, and it can more effectively neutralize free radicals. To this day it is still regarded as the strongest antioxidant plant in nature. The vitamin E in white tea is a natural antioxidant and has quite remarkable anti-aging effects. The main mechanism is that white tea contains more theanine and flavonoids, while its free radical content is low.

We can even drink several bowls of tea every day to scavenge free radicals in the body. 90% of the human body's free radicals originate from abnormal fermentation in the intestines.

Therefore, regularly drinking a cup of white tea and developing this good habit can almost completely scavenge all these free radicals. How simple it is!