I divide my book Aging Gracefully into three parts: Baby Steps, Teen Steps, and Adult Steps. There is a fourth which will remain a secret until the end. Baby Steps are free, cheap, and easy attitudes and behaviors that require only intentional changes to your daily routine. Teen Steps require more effort and cost a small amount of money. I have been homeless for 78 months out of the last 11 years, so I gained a lot of Teen Steps knowledge. Adult Steps involve focused changes in behaviors, attitudes, and increased costs. I am only now in a financial space that allows me to pursue knowledge concerning Adult Steps, and I am still experimenting on myself. I am fortunate to have fellow self-experimenters like Dave Asprey, Tim Ferriss, Ben Greenfield, and Alex Fergus to guide me along Adulthood. I suggest all of them to you.
Since this is a non-comprehensive list, I’ll make it short and sweet and start with Baby Steps:
Walk continuously for at least 20 minutes every day, weather permitting. The longer, the better. I walk for at least 2 hours daily. The weather be damned!
Inhale through your nose with the tip of your tongue pressed gently against the area of your hard palate where it meets your upper incisors. This creates nitric oxide as the air travels over your tongue. NO is a potent vasodilator, and even opens up the small air sacs in your lungs called alveoli, allowing more oxygen into your bloodstream. It is a small but significant change.
Walk tall. Follow the sage advice of the Taoists: lift your head and tuck in your chin while keeping your eyes up and forward.
Swing your arms as far as you can without drawing stares! Frozen shoulder is a very real thing.
