People who change their lives around at 40 often adopt these 5 specific habits

Eliza Hartley by Eliza Hartley | August 1, 2024, 9:14 am

Turning 40 can be a significant event for most. It’s a time when people pause to reflect on the years that have gone by and strive to make mindful changes to their habits for the next phase of their lives.

It can be a pivotal moment in their lives as well, where people make decisions to set them on a path towards new goals, or a brighter, more fulfilling future.

If you’re at the cusp of 40 and looking to transform your life, read on to find out what habits people adopt or have adopted when they were in the same situation as you.

1) Exercise regularly

At the age of 40, you will have noticed significant changes in your body. Things start slowing down, pains persist longer than usual and muscles start aching after the most mundane activity.

Being active plays a vital part in aging well. Even if it means walking for half an hour every day, incorporating movement is essential to ensuring a healthier lifestyle.

According to a study, exercise is linked to improved affective experience and faster cognitive processing. In addition to staying fit and healthy, staying active also helps improve one’s mood, well-being, and the ability to remain alert while aging.

This can also help prevent illnesses associated with aging, such as Alzheimer’s disease, as the brain continues to remain active through activity.

While you may prefer not to do as many strenuous exercises as before, it’s good to incorporate some sort of resistance workouts to increase strength and muscle mass.

You don’t need to go for a high-intensity spin class. There are so many other alternatives out there that you can consider, you’ll just need to pick one that you like.

Exercise needn’t be boring or unpleasant. If you want to transform your life at 40, it’s time to change your mindset towards activity and see it as essential for strengthening your body and aging well. 

Of course, this goes hand in hand with…

2) Eating healthily

Diet forms a large part of a healthy lifestyle and you cannot out-exercise a bad diet. 

Poor nutrition can catch up to you eventually, especially when your body is no longer young and able to tolerate eating too much sugar, fats, and salt or omitting nutrient-dense foods like vegetables and fruits.

When you were younger and perhaps too busy to focus on your eating habits, you may have snacked on a lot of processed foods because of convenience, indulging in rich foods to reward yourself after a long day at the office, or overeating at gatherings with friends. 

At the age of 40, your body may have already told you that it can no longer tolerate such eating habits. 

But in addition to avoiding diseases caused by poor dietary habits such as diabetes, stroke, hypertension, or heart disease, having good eating habits can lead to improved mental health.

Consuming less processed foods and incorporating more whole foods into your diet can lead to improved mental health and cognitive ability. These foods include complex carbohydrates, lean proteins and fatty acids.

If you want to change your life for the better, it’s important to ensure a healthy diet.

But let’s not forget another important habit…

3) Getting sufficient sleep

I’m sure all of us are guilty of this. After a long day of work, finishing up household chores, and spending time with family, we’re left with a meager amount of time for ourselves.

So we sacrifice sleep by scrolling through social media until late, to reward ourselves for a long day of work. We end up getting in 5 hours of sleep, or 6 at best, before waking up and restarting the cycle again.

But at the age of 40, the time needed for your body to repair and heal is a lot longer. Moreover, insufficient sleep can lead to a higher risk of diseases such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. 

It can also speed up aging and affect the brain’s cognitive abilities. 

Therefore, it’s important to get about 7 – 9 hours of sleep per night. You’ll be surprised at how much more energized you’ll be when you get up the next day.

If you’re unable to sleep for that long, try taking afternoon naps if possible. These have the potential to improve memory and make up for the lack of sleep at night.

It’s no wonder that people who change their lives at 40 prioritize sleep.

4) Adopt an attitude of gratitude.

Learning to be thankful should be a lifelong habit and not one that should only be adopted in your 40s.

But if you haven’t made this a habit, it’s never too late to start.

Gratitude can present a whole host of benefits, such as increasing one’s emotional well-being, and self-esteem, increasing positive emotions and overall, ensuring a happier life.

In addition to being thankful to people who help you or during milestones in your life, adopting an attitude of gratitude also includes appreciating the little things in life.

If it helps, keeping a gratitude journal and penning down five things you’re grateful for at the end of the day is a great way to kickstart this habit.

Keep this up long enough and you’ll start to notice a change in the way you see the world, how you navigate relationships and even how you see yourself. 

5) Positive thinking

And last but not least – positive thinking.

This may seem like an obvious one, but in reality, it can be challenging to do.

It’s easy to be positive and optimistic when things are going our way. But as we know, as life progresses, things don’t necessarily become easier.

In fact, things may start getting tougher, and more complex. It may be difficult to always see the silver lining.

Therefore, positive thinking is a discipline, and it also goes hand in hand with gratitude. 

Note that I’m not trying to say that everyone should ignore their problems and pretend that everything is okay. That’s not what positive thinking is about.

Instead, it’s about hope, and choosing to look on the bright side of things, rather than harping on the negative.

It’s about finding that one good thing to talk about – no matter how tough it is to search for.

Concluding thoughts

Are any of these habits familiar to you? If you’ve already incorporated some, you’re on the right path toward transforming your life at 40.

If you haven’t, don’t worry – it’s better to start now than never. Some of these may seem tougher than others, but with practice and discipline, you’ll be living a transformed life in no time.