Middle age is a time of life where there's a lot going on. Many in midlife are simultaneously responsible for the care of both elderly parents and young children (part of the so-called "sandwich generation") while also facing the stresses of being mid-career and adjusting to the ways their bodies are changing. This can lead to a lot of stress and a lack of time for self-care, which can become normalized and eventually add up. In fact, the habits we pick up in middle age can have a direct effect on our long-term health and well-being.
In the spirit of longevity, HuffPost spoke to experts about the most common bad habits they see people develop in middle age — and what folks can do to turn things around.
Not Prioritizing Good, Restful Sleep
Dr. Ashley Cremona-Simmons, a board-certified family medicine physician and the founder of @DrCSEquityRX, told HuffPost that one of the most harmful things someone in middle age can do is lose sleep. In fact, she sees more patients complaining about the difficulty of getting a good night's sleep as they approach middle age. Cremona-Simmons said that patients should try to go to bed at the same time every night, aiming for 7-9 hours of sleep. There are a few lifestyle changes she recommends to help support that goal: patients should avoid caffeine after morning and turn off screens to wind down before bedtime. Habits like "bed rotting" can impact sleep too — and recommends that beds should only be used for shut-eye and intimacy.
Nutritional Setbacks
When life gets busy, it can often feel like there isn't time to pull together a nutritious meal. That's part of why adequate nutrition is one of the things that can easily fall off your radar in middle age, leading to less-than-great eating habits becoming the norm. Cremona-Simmons noted that maintaining a healthy weight can directly affect a patient's likelihood of chronic disease in old age. Though genetics and environmental factors come into play, she always recommends a healthy diet for middle-aged patients. After all, it's one element that they can control. She suggests focusing on eliminating processed foods as much as possible, focusing on a varied diet with a lot of plant sources, and to increase consumption of fiber. A diet heavy in plant sources and fermented foods helps maintain a proper gut biome.
Not Moving Enough Or Moving Inconsistently
The benefits of physical activity are well-known, Cremona-Simmons said, noting that increasing exercise has been shown to improve muscle mass, symptoms of anxiety and depression, lower fasting glucose levels and more. The CDC recommendation is for adults to aim for 150 minutes or more of moderate aerobic exercise and two days or more of strength training per week. After 65, they should also work on balance and mobility. Cremona-Simmons recommends starting with small goals, especially if they are relatively sedentary. For example, they can start with just increasing their daily steps, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or taking breaks to walk around their office building. Accountability is huge when maintaining a consistent workout routine. It's also important to try a range of movements, exercising different areas of the body.
Not Addressing Pain When It Comes Up
Di said one of the worst things a middle-aged patient can do is ignore pain. When specific movements become difficult or painful, it's not a sign to become less active but to seek out support. She says beginning to move in ways that are not painful requires the conscious effort of "learning proper movement patterns, improving coordination, being patient with yourself during movement and sometimes working with specialists who can help guide you."
Isolation And Loneliness
Though it may be harder to make new friends in middle age, it is still a prime time to form emotionally healthy relationships and build community. Old age becomes a bit of a catch-22 when it comes to a social life. It can feel increasingly difficult to make friends out in the wild and to find the time to see the people you already know and love, but supportive relationships also have an increasingly central role in well-being at this age. The treatment for isolation is simply finding community and connection. It can be as simple as striking up conversations with people outside or deeper, like building reliable social networks around things you care about.
Substance Abuse
Lloyd said addictive behaviors can have a detrimental effect on mental health. Overindulging in things like drugs, alcohol and even can cause patients to abandon the healthy and stable routines that actually benefit their mental and physical health. It doesn't help that things like alcohol just hit your body differently—with many people losing the enzyme that helps us metabolize alcohol (alcohol dehydrogenase) as we get older.
Developing A Negative Inner Voice
Most of us don't consider the way we talk to and about ourselves when we're thinking about health, but our outward behaviors are generally a manifestation of what's happening inside. And hopelessness begins when we are mean to ourselves, according to Burrows and Lloyd. Having a very negative outlook on life, a pessimistic and a very self-critical attitude, internally shaming, guilting, berating yourself, leads to depression and withdrawal, and even fear of connecting with others. Negative self-talk can be the result of trauma or family dynamics that were never addressed developmentally or in therapy, Lloyd notes. It results in poor interpersonal relationships, cycles of anger and, ultimately, a diminished quality of life. But Burrows and Lloyd say cultivating more positive attitudes is something that can be developed at any age. The prescription is laugh heartily, smile regularly, and say hello to the world.
