Men's Health Tune-up

Want to look better, feel younger, and run circles around those kids at the gym? Try our guy’s guide to optimizing health and vitality at any age

- Jacob Teitelbaum

Age is subjective, and largely in the mind—really! There are two competing ideas about aging that men encounter as they get beyond their 40s:

The good news is: You get to choose which idea you will embrace. Yes, it may seem that nature built planned obsolescence into our DNA. But a few simple tricks can bypass this programming. After all, many of us have owned cars that we kept going beyond the 100,000-mile mark. And our bodies really aren’t that different. All it takes it regular maintenance and the occasional tune-up.

So what are the key areas you need to address for your tune-up?

Let’s take a look at each of these areas individually and discuss and how to optimize them.

SLEEP

Until 130 years ago, the average American got about 9 hours of sleep per night. Then Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. Today, we’re down to an average 6¾ hours per night, which is like a 25 percent sleep “pay cut” for our bodies.

Making time to sleep is just part of the solution. You also need to manage stress and irritations, so you can relax.