Live an Active Life
Regular exercise is not only good for your physical well being, but your mind as well. Being fit at an older age gives you the ability to maintain your independence and remain active to perform daily activities. Regular exercise is an excellent source of prevention to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, depression, and arthritis.
Just be clear regular exercise doesn’t require a strenuous weight program or even a gym membership! Walks, jogs, or bike rides are perfect everyday activities to get you out of the house and active. A good rule of thumb is to exercise the way that you most enjoy, consult your doctor, and get out there.
Eat Healthy
The overconsumption of sodium is a leading cause of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in the U.S. It’s estimated that the majority of adults consume double their daily sodium due to eating prepackaged and restaurant food.
It’s highly encouraged to make home cooked meals that consist of nutrient rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains. Everyone’s dietary needs aren’t uniform, and it’s important to follow your doctor’s diet suggestions.
Maintain Your Brain
Cognitive decline is a normal aging process but can be decelerated through active learning. Pick up hobbies and challenges that regularly stimulate your mind such as dance lessons, language lessons, guitar lessons, or reading.
Emphasize Relationships
As much as twenty-eight percent of elderly adult live alone. Isolation can result from several scenarios like retirement, health issues, or the loss of a spouse. Maintaining regular communication is important not only to your loved ones, but for the stimulation of your brain. If you have any friends or family who are feeling isolated go eat with them, get some coffee, go fishing, anything is better than spending days at a time by yourself.
Reduce Stress
Stress is capable of causing a whole myriad of problems as you age. Long-term stress can result in brain cell damage, depression, memory loss, fatigue, and the decreased ability to fight off infection. It’s been suggested that more than 90 percent of illness is either caused or further complicated by stress alone.
Although it’s hard to completely avoid stressful situations we can still learn better coping techniques to deal with stress. This tip really encompasses the other tips as exercise, eating right, and getting plenty of sleep are extremely helpful in reducing stress levels. We can’t micromanage every aspect of life, so it’s important to accept and adapt to things that are out of our control.