Enjoy Your Evening
8:00 P.M.: Take a class
Woodworking. Bluegrass guitar. The tea ceremony. It doesn't matter. Cultivating new skills fosters what psychologists call a sense of mastery, the unshakable conviction that you can do something. "Mastery is boosted when you take on a new challenge and are successful at learning something that's satisfying," says Margie Lachman, PhD, chair of the psychology department at Brandeis University. "It also gives you new skills and fresh ways of looking at things, plus confidence to try new things in everyday life."
In other words, the mastery you gain from learning how to carve a dovetail joint or play a sweet chord progression carries over to learning how to cook with tempeh or learning how to perform a proper biceps curl. In fact, Lachman says, adopting good health behaviors generates a sense of our ability to adopt more, setting in motion a self-reinforcing pattern of healthy habits.
10:30 P.M.: Snuggle up with your mate. Doesn't appeal? Ask yourself why you're in the relationship
Marriage is famously beneficial for men's health. For women, it's more complicated. A 2003 study in Health Psychology found that middle-aged women in "low satisfaction" relationships had a more atherogenic risk profile (higher blood pressure, elevated blood cholesterol, and higher fasting glucose level) than women in satisfying relationships, putting them at greater risk for heart disease.
11:00 P.M.: Sleep well
Sleep makes everything sing. It helps the body repair itself, replenishes the nervous system, sharpens concentration and memory, boosts energy and the ability to carry out physical tasks, regulates immunity, reduces the risk of weight gain, diminishes stress, and improves mood. Though getting enough sleep becomes more of a challenge in midlife, it is worth the extra effort.
More from Your Over-40 Health Guide
Originally published in MORE magazine, May 2008.
