Everyone knows that people get older. But how quickly your body and mind show their age is partly up to you. Learning to age gracefully is as easy as having a healthy attitude and adopting healthy habits to keep your body and mind active. This advice is the key to getting more satisfaction from your senior years.
Put less emphasis on the little things. Your doctors are paid for worrying about height, age, and weight. If you worry about things like age, weight and your ever decreasing height as you age, you’ll drive yourself crazy. Stop and smell the roses, and you will stay mentally young throughout your life.
A balanced, healthy diet is critical as you get older. Cut cholesterol, fats, and trans fats out of your diet and incorporate plenty of whole grains, fiber, and fresh fruits and vegetables. This gives your body all the nutrients and vitamins it needs to be strong and healthy.
If want to remain healthy as you age, the best thing you can do is to never stop learning. Knowledge is a great way to keep yourself young.
Be sure that you are getting enough sleep for your age. Sleeping 7 to 9 hours every night is the best way to maintain a good hormone balance. Not getting enough sleep leads to irritability and difficulty in finding joy in your everyday life.
Make your home your own. As you age, you might discover that the home you are in isn’t the home you expected to grow old in. When moving to a new home, make sure you decorate your place with items that give you comfort and make you feel welcome.
Sleep is very important for the body, so make sure you get enough each day. You want to sleep around 8 hours per night. Health problems, from depression to heart disease, can be triggered by too little sleep.
Ditch the pessimists and surround yourself with optimistic, encouraging friends and acquaintances. Friends that make you laugh often also make you look and feel younger. Spend as much time as possible doing things you enjoy with people who make you laugh.
Stay away from extreme environmental conditions. The cold air and the sun can both equally damage your skin. Doing so leads to premature growing older effects as well as increases your chances for skin cancer later in life.
Sugar causes a host of diseases, including diabetes, which can shorten a person’s lifespan. Sugar is an ingredient that can shorten your life and make you age faster. According to studies, sugar will shorten the length of life of all animal species.
Keep a medication list where you can see it. This will be very helpful if you tend to get medications from more than one pharmacy, and are taking any supplements on top of those. You can use this list as a guide, in conjunction with your pharmacist, to determine which medications cause you side effects if taken together.
Request copies of your medical records when you have medical procedures done. When you keep your own copy, you will have easy access if you need to change doctors or visit a specialist.
Be sure to visit your doctor and do the tests that are recommended. If you stay on top of it, you will find out early what is wrong and take care of it immediately. If you act early, you can rid yourself of the problem or deal with it.
Try laughing when ever you can. Laughter keeps you looking younger and feeling younger. Try watching comedies or reading books that are filled with humor to make you feel good. Find things that make you happy and tickle your funny bone.
Be on the lookout for scams. Older people are usually targeted by fraudsters looking to make easy money. Keep your personal information out of the hands of strangers and request identification from others to protect yourself. Taking these precautions will help keep your money safe.
Be realistic about your living situation and capability to live alone. Discuss your living arrangement options with loved ones. If relatives are out, consult social services to learn about care homes for old people. If you would prefer to live around people your own age, you could move to communities specifically geared toward the elderly.
Consume as many anti-oxidants as you can every day. Experts recommend you do this in order to rid yourself of the free radicals which are present in your body. Darker-colored veggies and fruits like tomatoes, spinach, berries and carrots contain high levels of antioxidants.
Make sure your hormones are at normal levels while growing older. As you age, your hormone levels can fluctuate drastically. This can lead to unpleasant side effects, such as decreased energy, endurance and libido. It may become necessary to set up an appointment with your physician about starting on hormone replacement therapy.
Try injection therapy! Injection therapy is an innovative way to treat wrinkles. Injection therapy, by relaxing the muscles on your face, reduces the appearance of wrinkles. Also, unlike surgeries used for wrinkles, many consider injection therapy safe to use. Just beware that in order for this to be effective, you may have to go for more than one treatment!
How to avoid the downside of aging? Tiredness, putting on weight, disease and ‘senior moments’ of blank memory are the dreaded accompaniments of aging. Maintaining fitness and health through sound practices of daily life can help avoid these things. A well-balanced diet in combination with some form of physical activity can stimulate your mind and body in a positive way.
Now you see that the growing older process doesn’t have to be negative. You can continue to have an active and full life by taking the changes in stride, and taking care of yourself. Seek out different opportunities to test these ideas and improve your life.