For a Healthy 2016, Slow Down

Looking for a Buzz

Natural levels of the stress hormone cortisol peak at about 30 minutes after waking, and caffeine boosts cortisol, so waiting a few hours later — till your levels naturally dip — to have your first cup of coffee will give you a lift when your body needs it. But don't skip your caffeine. A small study of older adults, ages 61 to 77, published in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience found that the equivalent of two cups of brewed coffee improved both cognitive and perceptual motor skills, helping people more easily navigate a crowd or stay focused on a task.

Your Slow-Down Strategy: Mix 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of a powdered fiber supplement into an 8-ounce glass of ice water first thing, instead of having coffee. A psyllium-husk-fiber supplement, such as Metamucil or generic psyllium-husk powder, can help lower cholesterol and steady blood sugar — especially important if you are diabetic or prediabetic — while aiding digestion and curbing appetite.

Also, plan your afternoon caffeine for around 2:30 p.m., when you'll experience another cortisol dip.

Moving Muscles

Strength training is crucial to healthy aging. It keeps muscles, bones and joints strong, as well as improves balance and helps prevent osteoporosis.

While working quickly in the gym has its benefits, "negative training" — taking longer on the "easy" part of the exercise instead of when pushing or pulling — may be best, says Ellington Darden, a leading expert in negative training and the author of The Body Fat Breakthrough. "It works the entire joint structure, which results in more strength, stability and range of motion," he notes.

Your Slow-Down Strategy: Take twice as long lowering weight as you do raising it. For example, if you are performing a squat, take four seconds to lower your body down and two seconds to push it up. Apply the principle when using weight machines or dumbbells, or doing body-weight exercises.

Getting Heated

The best way to defuse anger? Don't let it get going in the first place.

That's a challenge, biologically speaking: When angry, your body pumps out stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, which further fuel your rage. If you're an over-60 male, decreasing testosterone can affect mood, working to make you angrier faster.

Your Slow-Down Strategy: Call a time-out, then hit reset by going for a walk, listening to soft music or taking a few deep breaths before reengaging, says Elinor Robin, a mediation expert based in Boca Raton, Florida. "If everybody is willing to slow down, we can trick our basic biology, and then we have a better outcome in the end," she says.

Tweaked by a Tweet

The speed of communications is great if you have a flat tire, but speed kills when you respond first and ask questions later. And if you're not familiar with exactly who can see your posts, tweets and texts, you may end up writing a knee-jerk reply to one confidant, only to discover you've accidentally shared it with the world.

These snarky replies — or innocent ones that can be misinterpreted — can poison relationships in ways that are tough to overcome.

"We're in the midst of a real epidemic of high emotions online. This is true with email, texts, Twitter, Facebook — everywhere," says researcher Ryan Martin, an associate professor and chair of the psychology department at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. "When you can't take into account tone of voice or facial expression, you're more likely to misunderstand."

Your Slow-Down Strategy: Reacting too quickly to a perceived slight is an impulse-control problem, Martin says. Instead of replying, simply close the offending message and revisit it later. You may find that you misread the original message or overreacted to the content. "Even waiting five minutes is better than one minute," Martin says.

The Write Way to Slow Down

We all have our own way of challenging the tyranny of time.

But one thing proven to help you slow down is writing down your thoughts and feelings. In longhand. On paper.

"The beauty of writing is that it allows you to capture your creative thoughts," says Richard Quis, coauthor of Thinking Anew: Harnessing the Power of Belief.

But it's not just writing; it's taking time to think and process recent life events. The ritual is an effective way for you to analyze situations creatively and to stay centered during difficult times.