Live Younger Longer

Higher rates of depression and suicide 
And the research shows that it’s not
just because depression tends to spike in younger adults and be less
prevalent in older age. It also can’t be completely explained by the fact that
younger generations are more likely to talk about mental illness and seek
treatment.
Researchers don’t know why mental health is declining among younger
people. But some evidence points to contributing factors such as:
Internet use and online bullying. 
They’ve both been associated with
depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Less sleep. 
Some studies have shown that young adults are sleeping
fewer hours per night. And sleep disturbance has been linked to poor
mental health and suicidal behaviors. On the other hand, an increase in
depression and other mental illnesses could be what’s causing young
adults to get less sleep.

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More signs of stress 
Millennials seem to be just as stressed as Generation X
before them, and significantly more stressed than the baby boomers. In a
study conducted by the American Psychological Association, millennials
were more likely than older generations to say that their stress had
increased in the last year. And over half of millennials reported having lain
awake at night in the past month because of stress. Fewer people from older
generations reported having that problem. Whether this is a function of age
or a sign of the times is unclear.
These trends might seem grim. But the good news is that you can make a
big impact on your health and your risk of disease through small,
manageable actions you take every day. It’s just a matter of figuring out
what works for you to make healthy habits stick.
Know your brain
To get new healthy habits to stick, research shows that our brains need more
than logical arguments. And they even need more than repetition. Our
brains need rewards.
Why? Our brains rely on ingrained habits for everything from how we eat
to how we respond to criticism. In fact, at least half of what we do is
habitual — meaning that how we live our daily lives is governed just as
much by habit as it is by thought.
There’s a reason for this. Our brains, similar to the rest of our bodies, want
to be efficient and conserve energy. In other words, our brains want to do as
little work as possible. Repetitive, automated tasks give the brain less work
to do. That means that even if some of our habits are hurting us, our brains
resist changing them. Ideas of what we 
should
do for our long-term health

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usually just aren’t strong enough to battle with that habit-forming part of the
brain. Our brains need more than just good intentions to change established
patterns.
The good news is that research shows lasting change is totally possible. And
starting the process of forming healthy habits and slowly modifying
unhealthy ones when you’re younger will make those healthy choices easier
to sustain as you age.
But to set new habits you’ll need frequent, immediate rewards to trigger
production of the neurotransmitter dopamine, stimulating your brain to lay
down new habit memory. For a new habit to stick, it needs to make sense in
your life and give you enough positive feeling to keep coming back for
more.
Chapter 4
 is all about setting yourself up for successful change and contains
extensive information on how to change. But the key idea is to set small
goals you know you can achieve. Goals that are too big often lead to failure.
Failure tells your brain, don’t repeat that experience.
So instead of vowing to go to the gym every day for an hour, for example,
go once a week for 15 minutes. Or if that’s too much, just get ready for the
gym once a week, even if you don’t go. Focus on achieving that initial
success, which will then allow your brain to feel the reward and build on it.