7 Tips to Live a Healthy Lifestyle as a Senior Citizen

As you grow older in age, your responsibilities towards the world slowly start diminishing. The post-retirement age becomes one that unfolds with it, a wonderful chapter where you can finally explore all your interests that got buried somewhere in the toil. You finally have the time and freedom to do whatever makes you feel happy. However, at this phase, you still have one important responsibility intact which becomes even more important now. That is – taking care of yourself and your health in the best possible manner.

As you age, it is implied that your immunity and bodily processes are not going to be as great and efficient as they were at the peak of your youth. However, you can still remain quite healthy if you make sure to follow the right kind of lifestyle.

In that regard, here are seven tips that you can integrate into your lifestyle to take care of your health –

Engage in some kind of physical activity

With age, it is natural for your body to feel tired much more easily. You might not feel fit enough to be able to involve yourself in as much physical exercise as you could in younger years. However, if you succumb to this thought and give up being active altogether it is only going to make you even less fit than you currently may feel.

Staying active and fit is very important. It has a lot of benefits in terms of maintaining a healthy body and mind. Excercise ensures proper blood circulation, keeps your muscles strong, maintains your weight and reduces the chances of common diseases such as that of the heart, diabetes or blood pressure. In addition, it also curtails stress levels and helps you sleep much better.

It’s not necessary for you to engage in hard core exercise at this age. What is important is inclulcating the habit of movement. To start with, you could pick up any physical activity of your choice, be it brisk walking, yoga, or even join dance classes. You could form a group with similar aged individuals to feel motivated, and exercise together to make those workout sessions fun at the same time.

Make sure to intake a balanced and nutritious meal

Even though you might start feeling less inclined to have three full meals per day now, you must recognize the relevance of proper nutrition and not skip meals. A deficiency of essential vitamins and nutrients in the body can make you feel weak, and also reduce your immunity level significantly. Hence eating on time, and eating right is very important.

Moreover, as your digestive system is bound to slow down with your increasing age, you must avoid intake of fatty or packaged food that’s difficult to digest. Instead, you should opt for a healthy diet that comprises of easily digestible fruits, vegetables, and cereals. If you have any health conditions, you must consult with a dietician and intake a properly regulated diet. If you suffer from any deficiencies, you must also take health supplements for the same.

Make it a point to stay well hydrated

In addition to eating well, it’s also very important to drink enough fluids and keep yourself well hydrated. Dehydration can be a real concern for senior citizens, especially given the tropical climate of our country. There are enough and more cases of hospitalization among the senior age groups due to the simple cause of not drinking enough water.

Managing your water intake is quite simple. You can simply fill up atleast 3-4 bottles for yourself everyday, and make sure you finish them all by the end of the day. You could keep the bottles at different, accessible places around you so that wherever you may be, they are handy. In addition you could also auto set alarms on your phone to remind you, or download mobile aplications that help you meet your goal of drinking water (yes, they exist!)

Take preventive measures to avoid or detect illness on time

The incidence of many diseases becomes more common as one ages. In that regard, making preventive visits to doctors and periodic regular comprehensive diagnostic checkups is highly recommended. Doing so might demand some time and money, but in case there is anything going wrong, it can be detected and cured at the right time before it escalates. So stop ditching the regular dental, eye and full body checkups! If there are any vaccinations recommended you must also take them immediately without any delay from when prescribed.

Learn how to manage stress better

Stress has a negative effect on the body, and as you age, it must never be in the picture. Stress can affect you psychologically and physically, while also making you inactive and much more prone to falling prey to diseases.

In order to ensure a healthy and stress-free state of mind, you need to consciously plug in efforts to relax and nurture a good state of mind for yourself. Even if life tests you, or you need to program your mind to consciously deal with it well. You must make yourself realize that circumstances are not always in control, but our responses can be inculcating a positive attitude, practicing gratitude always helps in this regard.

Moreover, in addition to working on your thought process, you should also make it a part of your daily routine to spend a few minutes doing some breathing exercises or practicing meditation techniques to keep your mind calm and centered. A combination of these two is extremely helpful in terms of reducing stress levels and raising your overall health and happiness quotient.

Stay connected with a like-minded community

Various researches have linked socialising to a better lifestyle. Staying in regular touch with like-minded people, family and friends during retirement is important to feel positive, stay busy and far away from loneliness.

It might surprise you to learn that, as per studies, seniors who feel lonely are more likely to find it tougher to do basic everyday activities like climbing stairs or bathing. Loneliness nurtures an unhealthy state of mind that attracts illnesses. This can be easily avoided by making attempts to stay busy and social. All you need to do is find a group of people at a similar stage as you, and engage in some positive activities with that community.

Alter your environment as per your changing needs

Lastly, but importantly, you must also exercise caution as you walk around anywhere, including your house. You should never take the risks of walking on slippery floors or standing on a platform to reach any height. Injuries often occur due to these small situations, and at a senior age, recovery is slower and more painful. Hence, it’s always wiser to take preventive measures and alter the environment to avoid such mishaps.

You could keep a stool or creating a seating platform in your shower area to take rest while bathing if needed. The kitchen floor must be dry and wiped at all times to avoid any slips or falls. You could also install some bells in the different rooms to call upon people in case of any fall so that they can come and rescue you immediately. These small steps can help a lot in preventing accidents and mishaps.

Remember that your health and well being is always your responsibility. Your greatest wealth at any point in time is your health, and your own efforts are what will ensure it’s always in good form.

Incorporating the above tips in your life style need not be tough. In fact,it can be an extremely easy and natural outcome of opting for the choice of residing in a good senior living facility. The community of similar aged people in these living arrangements creates a very positive, interactive environment where everyone can together lead an active, healthy and happy lifestyle. There are always people to talk to, activities to take part and actually relive the fun and frolic from the college days.

To know more about senior living concept, visit: https://www.ashianahousing.com/senior-living-india