Ways to Build Resilience

Kylie Bell outlines useful resilience-building strategies to Eve Ash. These include exercises for increasing mindfulness (which in turn improve telomere length) and consciously switching negative (aging) thoughts to positive. She also recommends choosing to perceive stressful situations as challenges and remembering successful situations which help energize, de-stress and build resilience. Focus on what you can control; be realistic with goals and tasks. Above all, resilience is built through eating, hydrating, sleeping and exercising well. Even losing an extra hour's sleep per night impacts on our ability to cope!

Resilience can be built through:

• Mindfulness - being in the present non-judgmentally
• Replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts
• Perceiving threats as challenges
• Remembering our successes (energizes and destresses)
• Focusing on what you can control
• Being realistic with goals and tasks
• Eating, sleeping, and exercising well