How to Stay Healthy and Fit As You Get Older
Getting older is inevitable. While you cannot control your age, you can definitely slow the process of ageing simply by making some intelligent choices along the way. Right from the types of foods you eat to how much time you dedicate to exercising and your retirement goals, all these aspects will affect how fast or slow your body ages. Here is how to stay fit and healthy as you get older
As you grow older, you also go through a lot of changes. You may need to adjust your lifestyle if you want to stay healthy and fit. Making such suitable lifestyle changes will also prevent cancer and other chronic health diseases like heart disease, diabetes, etc.
What Are Some Ways To Stay Healthy and fit?
It is often said that 40 is the new 30. However, if you are approaching the 50-year mark, you will be unable to eat or work out like an 18-year-old – no matter how lovely you feel. If you want to stay healthy and fit in your old age, you need to follow the tips mentioned below.
1. Go For Checkups More Often
If you want to learn how to stay healthy and happy, you should head out for regular checkups. Do not forget about your eye doctor and dentist as well. These visits will help you detect problems even before they start. The tests you undertake will depend on family history, gender, age, smoking/drinking habits, and exercises. Your doctor will also check for other things like osteoporosis, prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, high blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.
2. Eat Whole Foods
Can you stay healthy without exercise? Well, the answer can be yes if you eat a lot of whole foods. You need to load up on low-fat dairy, nuts, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. You also need to lessen packaged foods, salt, sugar, butter, and fatty meats.
They say such diets can help you prolongate your lifespan and protect against a wide range of diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart ailments, etc. Based on research, whole foods work by changing parts of the chromosomes responsible for age-related diseases.
3. Brisk Walking
You should also walk for at least 30 minutes every day. If you are unable to do so, try doing it in smaller strolls. The walking exercises need to be brisk so that you feel a little breathless. Walking is known to deliver great health benefits.
For instance, it will keep your brain healthy by providing more oxygen and blood. Additionally, it has been proven that aerobic exercises improve or delay the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Brisk walking also helps prevent chronic diseases (like high blood pressure and heart diseases), helps sleep better, keeps muscles and bones strong, etc.
4. Stay Socially Active
Remaining socially active with your family and friends is very important to maintain optimum physical and mental health. People who are more socially engaging with others are typically healthier. Additionally, it encourages positive feelings and lowers stress. Elders that have an excellent social circle have lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease.
Staying socially healthy is the best way to stay healthy during COVID in particular. Try participating in group conversations. You can also get out of the house and go for a walk with your friends and eat some healthy dishes together. Or, if you are single, you can try your luck out on some great best dating sites 2021 has to offer – and head out for a date.
5. Add Fiber To Your Diet
If you are looking for an easy answer to “what it means to stay healthy and fit,” then adding fibre to your daily diet helps a lot. Doing this is very easy. For instance, you can swap white bread for whole bread. You can add apple slices to your salad or kidney beans to your soup. Fibre makes you feel sated and helps avoid overeating. It cuts down your cholesterol levels in your body and lowers your chances of various ailments like colon cancer, Type-2 diabetes, and heart problems.
Adding fibre to your diet also avoids constipation, a problem that appears in elders. Once men and women cross the age of 50 years, they should aim for 30 grams and 21 grams of fibre a day, respectively.
6. Avoid Bad Habits
Of course, everyone knows that tobacco kills. Chewing tobacco or smoking cigarettes harms almost every organ in your body and will cause various health problems like gum diseases, cancer, heart problems, etc. It is never too late to curb this habit, moreover, there are tobacco free chew products that are out on the market as alternatives. Once you quit smoking, your body will start healing in less than 20 minutes after having your last smoke. Additionally, the chances of a heart attack lower drastically. If you face any problems giving this habit up, you can consult your doctor.
Similarly, alcohol can do some drastic damage to your liver. As a matter of fact, it can also be responsible for some types of cancers. Ideally, men should not drink more than two glasses a day, and women should not have more than one. This is one of the many ways to learn how to stay healthy and fit when you don’t like vegetables.
7. Have An Optimistic Outlook
Life is all about ups and downs. You cannot expect good news every day. You can be fired from your job; health problems are on the rise, etc. However, you must remain optimistic and think positively. When you choose to be grateful and positive, your body and mind will respond accordingly.
People that choose to have a positive outlook have fewer heart attacks than more negative people. They also have lower chances of facing depression. Positive thinking can increase your lifespan by at least eight years, based on scientific studies. A happy and positive outlook will also help you eat better and exercise more. In turn, you will feel happy and healthier.
8. Maintain Your Sleep Cycle
One of the most important ways to learn how to stay healthy during COVID for the elderly is to maintain a proper sleep cycle. In the case of older adults, insomnia is quite common. You have a harder time falling asleep and waking up. Therefore, you must maintain a proper sleep and wake schedule.
If you are unable to do so, there are some things you can try. For instance, you can turn off your television, laptop, and mobile before sleeping. It is also advised against drinking coffee or alcohol before sleep. If you do not know how to stay healthy when working from home, then you can get in touch with your doctor.
Final Thoughts
If you want to learn how you will manage to stay healthy and fit, these tips mentioned above should help. Old age is never a problem if you make it about your attitude. If you can keep your chin up and maintain healthy habits, you will be able to last for much longer.
What do you think? Is there any family secret of youth you can share with us? Let us know in the comments!
