Tips for Healthy Aging
Happy Healthy Aging Month! While aging can be intimidating, let’s take the month of September to re-align and remember that aging is a beautiful gift, especially if you are fortunate enough to maintain good health as you age.
Age-related diseases, such as arthritis, can slow you down. While some health conditions are out of our control, there are still many aspects of healthy aging and quality of life that are in your hands. In fact, the World Health Organization says that more than 40 percent of cancers and at least 80 percent of all heart disease, type-2 diabetes, and stroke are preventable.
Making just a handful of lifestyle changes can help you stay as healthy as possible, stay independent and mobile, and stay happy as you age.
Tips and Tricks for Living the Best Years of Your Life
Get Moving
The human body is made to move! As we get older, though, it can get harder to move around - arthritis, achy muscles, and certain age-related health conditions can cause immobility. Exercise can help reduce the effects of arthritis and more to keep you moving.
Physical activity helps you maintain muscle mass and bone density, which can be in increasingly short supply as you get older - after the age of about 30, you start to lose as much as 3 to 5 percent of your muscle mass every 10 years.
Being physically active can help reduce arthritis pain, improve function, perk up your mood, and boost your quality of life. Physical activity lowers your blood sugar by making your body more sensitive to the effects of insulin. Exercise also burns calories to help keep your weight under control.
Tips for Exercise
Include activities that strengthen your core, address past injuries, and ease pain. If you have not exercised in a while, start slowly to avoid injuries; stop and rest if you feel pain.
Best exercises for people over the age of 50 include:
Brisk walking or jogging
Dancing
Swimming or water aerobics
Cycling
Hiking
Resistance band strength training
Stair climbing
Tennis or pickleball
Gardening
Barre
Sleep
Sleep is essential for good health at any age. Adults of all ages should get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Getting quality sleep can be tougher as the years go by, though. Between 40 and 70 percent of older adults have chronic sleep problems that can interfere with daily activities and decrease quality of life, according to the Sleep Foundation.
Older adults struggle with sleep for a number of reasons. Our sleep patterns change as we age, for example. In general, older adults get tired earlier and wake up earlier, wake up more often, spend less time in deep sleep, and take more naps during the day than do younger people. Pain, having to use the bathroom frequently, insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and other conditions can interfere with a good night’s sleep.
Tip for Better Sleep
Take these steps to improve your sleep tonight:
Exercise
Turn off the TV, phone, laptop and bright lights
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and large meals late in the day
Maintain a regular sleep schedule - even on weekends
Develop a bedtime routine
Eat Well
Nutrition plays a central role in healthy aging by reducing your risk for age-related muscle loss, weight issues, and osteoporosis (weak bones). Eating well may also help you avoid certain diseases, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.
Your dietary needs change with age. You may not be as active and therefore need fewer calories than when you were younger, for example, but you may need even more nutrients than you used to. The body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12 declines with age and the use of certain medications too, and this can leave you vulnerable to fatigue, anemia, and other symptoms.
Eating healthy foods can help you get the nutrients you need without the excess calories.
Tips for Eating Well
Eat a rainbow - photonutrients are chemicals that give plants their color, protect the plants from insects and sun, and provide nutrients; phytochemicals in fruit, vegetables, beans, grains and other plants can also reduce inflammation, can improve the health of your bones, skin, eyes, blood vessels, and more.
Opt for nutrient-rich foods, such as beans, peas, fish, lean meat and poultry, vegetables, and healthy fats.
Eat protein to help prevent the loss of muscle mass; whole meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, dairy, beans, peas and lentils contain protein.
Boost your vitamin B12 intake with eggs, beef, liver, salmon, milk, and dairy products.
Choose healthy fats, such as salmon and olive oil
Opt for high-fiber food that helps you feel full, keeps your digestive tract moving, and lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Quit smoking and limit alcohol use
Smoking and alcohol use can lead to premature aging and age-related diseases. Smoking can cause wrinkles, heart disease, cancer, vision loss, COPD, tooth loss, and more. Drinking alcohol can increase your risk for falls - combined with weakened bones from osteoporosis, this increases your risk for broken bones. Heavy drinking can aggravate some age-related health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, liver problems, memory problems, osteoporosis, and mood disorders.
Tips for Quitting Smoking and Limiting Alcohol Use
Use over-the-counter gum, patches, or lozenges that help reduce cravings for nicotine
Consult with your doctor for prescription medication, nasal sprays, or inhalers that reduce withdrawal symptoms
Set limits on when and how much you will drink
Keep drinking well below the recommended limits: one standard drink per day for women and for men ages 65 and older, and no more than two standard drinks per day for men under the age of 65
Spend Quality Time with Friends and Family
Social isolation is terrible for your health and well-being. In fact, there’s currently a Loneliness Epidemic sweeping the nation. Social isolation and loneliness is associated with higher risks of high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, cognitive decline, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and more.
Tips for Improving Your Social Life
Volunteer at your favorite organization, spend more time enjoying your hobbies, travel, visit family, or dabble in social media. Find more tips and information on loneliness and maintaining friendships in your 50s and beyond here.
Consult with a Mighty Health Coach
Aging is more beautiful when you do it with others! Join the Mighty Health community to connect with your own personal health coach, connect with other Mighty Health members, workout, join live events, and learn more tips for healthy aging!