You may find out that you are no longer as fit and nimble as you would like to be. Your eyesight is not as sharp as it used to be. Age is definitely catching up with you. You know this because tasks that were previously easy to do become increasingly difficult.
Aging comes with a host of its own issues. You feel tired more frequently, your body weakens, and you are more vulnerable to diseases. You can age gracefully by taking care of your mind and body; this will improve the quality of your life and prolong the onset of age-related medical complications.
Maintain a healthy body weight
You begin experiencing muscle loss once you hit the age of 40 and you will start getting soft especially around your midsection. It is then easier for your body weight to balloon with fat taking a bigger proportion of it at the expense of muscle mass.
To arrest this phenomenon and slow down muscular degeneration, elderly people need to double their protein intake to build and keep their muscles.
Maintaining a healthy body weight will keep away a litany of diseases like hypertension, stroke, and diabetes, many of which are exacerbated with being overweight.
Don’t neglect your mental health
Mental health is as important as physical health. As such you must keep your mental faculties in tip-top condition. Keep your brain active by reading, doing crossword puzzles and basically anything that works out your brain.
Keep yourself busy and be well informed on the current affairs from news sources (view site). Have storytelling sessions with your kids and if possible, have some form of social interaction with your peers if your kids stay far away. This will jog your memory and keep conditions such as dementia at bay.
Minimize the stress in your life
Stress affects both your physical and mental wellness. Stress increases your blood pressure which in turn leads to increased risk of cardiac arrest or stroke. Worse still, it may lead you into unhealthy coping mechanisms like binge eating and drinking. These habits will deteriorate your health.
For your mental health, stress makes it hard to focus and can result into memory lapses and even memory loss.
It is therefore important to identify the causes of stress in your life and find healthy ways of managing them.
Exercise regularly
Regular exercise increases blood flow to the brain and helps in maintaining a healthy body weight. This strengthens your bones and reduces the risk of developing dementia. It is however important to consult with your physician before engaging in any strenuous physical activity.
Strength training can help senior citizens slow down the inevitable loss of muscle mass that comes with age. There are less intensive exercise that are still of much benefit like dancing. Dancing requires motor coordination which requires the full functioning of the brain besides also being a physical activity.
Quit smoking and excessive drinking
Smoking hardens your arteries in addition to putting you at a greater risk of lung and mouth cancer. With hardened arteries, you are in the path of developing serious cardiovascular diseases.
At an advanced age, your body can no longer handle the alcohol as it used to. Your hangovers become worse and you take more time to recover. Additionally, alcohol affects the natural enzyme balance in your stomach affecting digestion and might even result into ulcers.
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