Longevity Experts Reveal The 6 Things They Personally Never Do

Aging is one of the many topics that many of us avoid talking about ― but even if you don’t acknowledge it, it doesn’t keep the process from happening.

“We’re all going to age, and we’re all going to die,” said Dr. Joshua Septimus, a primary care doctor at Houston Methodist Primary Care Group in Texas. While influencers on social media often tout anti-aging supplements and treatments, nothing actually keeps you from growing older, he said.

Instead, it’s important to put in the work and focus on the behaviors that can actually help you live a long, healthy life — not fads that don’t do much. It’s also important to focus on habits that will help you keep doing activities you love. For example, if you love traveling, you should try focusing on mobility so you can continue to move well throughout older adulthood.

“It’s not just adding years to your life, but adding life to your years,” said Dr. Aileen Pangilinan, a geriatrician at the UConn Center on Aging in Farmington, Connecticut.

So how do you increase your healthy years and keep doing the things you love? First, you avoid some common mistakes people make as they age. Below, doctors share what they avoid for the sake of healthy aging:

1. They never discount the importance of exercise.

“In geriatrics… there’s nothing that I prescribe more commonly than exercise,” Pangilinan said. “I’ve seen how much exercise has done to our older adults who have aged gracefully compared to those that have not… At this age, where you’re pulled in so many directions, you have to find time for yourself to exercise.”

Pangilinan specifically recommends prioritizing aerobic exercise.

“The goal is 150 minutes a week that is broken down to 30 minutes a day for five days a week,” she said. “And…