Living a Healthy Lifestyle as you Age

September is Healthy Aging month, so we’re providing healthy aging tips for seniors. As we age it can be difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but even as we age, it’s possible to stay active, eat healthy, and keep mentally strong. Healthy aging can also help prevent postpone the onset of different disorders, and it can have a positive effect on blood pressure, weight, sugar levels, and more. By learning how to promote healthy aging for seniors, you can improve these metrics and maintain an active style even as you begin to age.

Keep Moving to Stay Healthy

One of the best ways to stay healthy as you age is to have a balanced exercise plan! While you may not be able to compete in a marathon, there are still several exercises that seniors can participate in. Cardio exercises like walking, biking, and hiking are all great activities that promote joint and heart health; strengthening exercises like climbing stairs, weight lifting, and resistance bands improve bone density and muscle strength; and balance exercises like yoga can help prevent slips, trips, and falls. By creating a balanced schedule that combines cardio, strength, and balance exercises, you can improve your overall health and stay healthy as you age.

Keep Mentally Active to Stay Sharp

Staying mentally active as you age is another important way to make sure that you stay sharp and on top of things. There are many ways to keep your mind engaged, even in your later years. Learning something new engages both the short and long term memory centers of your brain, and is a great way to meet new people. Another way to train your brain is to use your hands. Whether it’s gardening, playing catch, or putting together a puzzle, using your hands improves hand-eye coordination and helps to build brain power. Some other things that you can do to stay mentally active include memorizing lists, facts, songs, or new words; eating antioxidants like blueberries and dark chocolate; and experiencing new sights. These activities not only help your memory and retention, but they can also help prevent debilitating diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more.

Meeting new People to Stay Socially Active

One of the most difficult things about growing old is the loneliness that you experience when you’re away from your support group. As children grow up and move away and grandkids don’t visit as often, it can be depressing living on your own or with your spouse. Many times at this point of our lives, our friends aren’t able to stop by quite as often, and we can get lonely, but there’s plenty that we can do to avoid this! Most cities have a community center with activities for seniors, and that’s a great way to get active and get out of the house while meeting new people and making friends. In addition to community centers; social clubs, religious groups, and sporting events can all be a great way to find people with similar interests and beliefs and socialize with them.

Aging can be a difficult part of life, but with these tips, you can age gracefully and help prevent many diseases and disorders. By staying physically active, keeping your brain engaged, and maintaining and active social life, you can improve your heart, bone, muscle, joint, and brain health and minimize your risk for health issues like strokes, heart attacks, Alzheimer’s, and more. Learning how to promote healthy aging for seniors also helps increase your quality of life as you age by keeping you mobile longer.