So no one told you life was going to be this great. While I’m more of a Living Single girl myself, no one can deny the impact that the show Friends has had on pop culture. As such, it’s no wonder that 17 years after the final episode aired, the whole world stopped to celebrate the news that the cast would be back for a reunion episode.
Of all the excitement that surrounded the news, it would be hard not to notice how great the cast has looked since the finale aired in 2003. So, how exactly have the world’s favorite friends managed their health, and what can we learn from them?
Longevity Secrets From The Cast of Friends
Jennifer Aniston is the ultimate yogi
If there’s one exercise that the Morning Star can credit for her sculpted physique, then it’s definitely yoga. Speaking to the Daily Mail, her trainer revealed the intense yoga routine that helps keep the actress toned:
Jennifer Aniston/Instagram
“With Jennifer Aniston, I would do 30 minutes of spinning, 40 minutes of yoga, incorporating some of my hybrid, which is a yoga pose paired with a toning exercise,” said Mandy Ingber, Aniston’s instructor, and close friend.
“We would do some power yoga, vinyasa flow, and then some yin yoga stretching, and then finish with the infrared sauna.”
Yoga has also been found to have incredible anti-aging benefits, such as slowing down cellular aging. The study, published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, found that, after performing 90 minutes of yoga for five days a week over 12 weeks, yoga had slowed down markers of cellular aging and lowered measures of inflammation in the body.
Courteney Cox eats anything green
The SCREAM actress is a huge fan of vegetables. Speaking to New You, the actress is quoted as saying; “Luckily, some of my favorite foods in the world are vegetables. I just love kale, spinach, broccoli, asparagus. Anything green I crave,”
Courteney Cox/Instagram
You don’t need us to tell you the health benefits of eating a diet rich in vegetables. However, do you know that the greener they are, the better for your health? Green vegetables are particularly high in vitamin K, and this compound has been found to help your longevity. According to a study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vitamin K can help to combat aging and age-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality worldwide and osteoporosis may limit mobility, leading to isolation and depression. So, you might want to start eating your greens.
Lisa Kudrow embraces body positivity
While many were enamored with Kudrow’s blonde locks and shape while Friends was still on the air, the actress revealed that she was often her worst critic. Speaking on the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast, the Easy A actress shared that she struggled with body image issues:
amourkudrow/instagram
“You see yourself on TV, and it’s that, ‘Oh my god, I’m just a mountain of a girl,'” she said of the thoughts that she would have. “And I’m already bigger than Courteney and Jennifer. [I was] taller, bigger. My bones feel bigger, I just felt like this mountain of a woman next to them.”
Eventually, the pressures got to Kudrow, and she found herself losing weight on purpose. While she was lauded with compliments, this did very little for her health “Unfortunately for a woman, if you’re underweight, you look good,…When I was too thin I was sick all the time, a cold, sinus infection, I was always sick.”
Thankfully, the actress now has a much healthier relationship with her body, which is great as body positivity has been linked with improved mental health, which is great for your longevity.
David Schwimmer goes plant-based with his daughter
Plant-based eating is great for your health and the planet. The Madagascar actor’s nine-year-old understands this, which is probably why she’s been a vegetarian since she was five years old.
David Schwimmer/IMDB
“She’s a vegetarian, self-declared vegetarian,” the actor explained on the “Table Manners with Jessie Ware” podcast, “She was five, four, or five. She just said, ‘I’m a vegetarian…I think she had been somewhere with her mum where they were talking about vegetarianism and animal rights, and I think it just hit her.”
Not only is a plant-based diet great for the environment, but it could also help you live longer and better. According to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in added sugar, sodium, and processed meats could help promote healthy cellular aging.
“The key takeaway is that following a healthy diet can help us maintain healthy cells and avoid certain chronic diseases,” said lead author Cindy Leung, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Matt LeBlanc is a fitness fiend
The Charlie’s Angels star has once been quoted as saying, “I train every day, I run, I’m as healthy as a horse.”
Matt Le Blanc/Instagram
Staying active is one of the best ways to live a long and healthy life. In fact, exercise is often seen as the ultimate key to longevity. It’s no wonder that a University of Cambridge study found that, regardless of your fitness level, exercise can increase your lifespan.
Matthew Perry takes wellness shots
Could he be any healthier?
Matthew Perry/Instagram
On his Instagram page, the 17 Again star shared a video of him and a group of friends taking a wellness shot.
Now we would never recommend substituting a wellness shot for supplements or actual fruits and vegetables. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use the shots to boost your health. After all, a lot of these shots contain ingredients such as turmeric and ginger – both of which have health benefits.
Want to know more?
Another longevity tip that you can learn from a Friend’s cast member is embracing fasting. Jennifer Aniston is a huge fan of intermittent fasting, and it’s probably because fasting could be the key to longevity.
References
Leung, C. W., Fung, T. T., McEvoy, C. T., Lin, J., & Epel, E. S. (2018). Diet Quality Indices and Leukocyte Telomere Length Among Healthy US Adults: Data From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002. American journal of epidemiology, 187(10), 2192–2201. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwy124
Simes, D. C., Viegas, C., Araújo, N., & Marreiros, C. (2019). Vitamin K as a Powerful Micronutrient in Aging and Age-Related Diseases: Pros and Cons from Clinical Studies. International journal of molecular sciences, 20(17), 4150. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20174150
Tolahunase, M., Sagar, R., & Dada, R. (2017). Impact of Yoga and Meditation on Cellular Aging in Apparently Healthy Individuals: A Prospective, Open-Label Single-Arm Exploratory Study. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2017, 7928981. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7928981
