Scientists have long understood that what truly lengthens your life and keeps your later years healthy are the basics we’ve known about for ages: Eat a healthy diet filled with vegetables, exercise regularly, invest in healthy relationships, reduce stress, and get enough sleep. Now a team of researchers has uncovered a potential key reason these actions are so beneficial: they influence our genes.
Let’s clear up one common misconception from the get-go: Self-care is not synonymous with self-indulgence or being selfish. Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, you can be well, you can do your job, you can help and care for others, and you can do all the things you need to and want to accomplish in a day.