Getting older doesn’t necessarily mean slowing down. Youth is just as much a mental thing as it is a physical thing. When we’re young, we tend to think that we don’t need to take care of our physical activity. However, as we get older, we realize how much physical activity means for staying healthy and fit. Aging well is a choice that you have to make. The Journal of Aging Research notes that physical activity mitigates risk factors leading to early death. The more active you are as you get older, the more likely you are to live longer. However, activities should not be your only concern.
Staying Young After Sixty
You are as old as you feel. Some people in their mid-30s feel like they’re over the age of sixty already. Staying young as you age comes from balancing the significant parts of human health: sleep, diet, and exercise. If one or more of these get thrown out of balance, your quality of life will suffer. If you’re over the age of sixty, you may wonder how you could feel younger and stay active. The first thing you should do is consult your doctor. Physical activity, especially if you don’t do it often, can be hard to manage as you just get started. Knowing what your body is capable of is as important as planning a regimen. It does not help to hurt yourself in the pursuit of health. There are a few key things you can do to stay healthy and active after sixty:
1. Maintain a Healthy Weight
As you get older, your body may skew towards consuming more carbs and refined sugars. Maintaining a healthy weight comes from choosing to limit your food intake. A “healthy weight” is simple to figure out from the body mass index chart. Based on your height, this chart estimates the weight that you should maintain. Weight is a crucial part of remaining healthy. As your body ages, the amount of weight it can support drops. Each added pound of unhealthy fat on your body takes more energy to support and move. Losing weight reduces this pressure on your heart and muscles and allows you to feel healthier and more unrestrained. By keeping track of your diet, you can maintain a healthy weight and keep the stress off your heart and lungs. Boynton Beach assisted living locations typically have balanced meals for keeping residents fit and healthy.
2. Exercise Regularly
An exercise regimen could be something as simple as spending an hour walking every morning. Eventually, from walking, you’ll turn to running. However, it must be a dedicated pursuit at keeping fit. Too often, people start off walking or running and abandon the regimen because they get caught up in other things. Being dedicated enough to walk or run daily can help your circulation and keep your muscles from wasting away from lack of use. If you’re older and have a sedentary lifestyle, you might need to plan when you can walk or run. Even if you can’t make it each day, at least plan for a few days during the week. If the weather doesn’t permit you to exercise outside, you can set up space indoors to work out. With time, you’ll start challenging yourself and get fitter because of the process.
3. Quit Smoking and Drinking
Alcohol and cigarettes are lifelong habits. However, there’s no reason to continue using these substances as you get older. A 2004 Surgeon General’s report notes how many carcinogens are in cigarette smoke. Alcohol consumption can also cause problems with a person’s body, ranging from cancer to cirrhosis of the liver. All of these can lead to complications as you get older. Smoking has the added impact of making it more difficult to breathe. If you often exercise and still smoke, you’ll never be able to achieve optimal fitness. Quitting smoking and drinking should be high on your list of priorities after the age of sixty. As a senior, you need to consider your health in a different light. Your body is not as young as it used to be. Smoking and drinking can make you look older than you are.
4. Get Enough Sleep
After the age of sixty, your sleep becomes even more critical to the proper function of your bodily systems. It’s not just about the amount of sleep either. It’s about the quality of sleep. Sleeping well means that you get enough rest during the night. Often, people get eight to ten hours of sleep as they get older, but the quality suffers. As a result, they are listless when they’re awake and always feel like they need more. Determining the best time and amount of sleep requires some trial and error. However, once you pinpoint what gives you the best quality sleep, you will find that you have a far better outlook on the world. Resting in a Boynton Beach assisted living facility can give someone the perfect setup to sleep well.
5. Use Your Brain
As humans get older, our mental faculties go into decline if we don’t use them. Brain puzzles like crosswords can help to keep someone’s mind sharp. If you’re still working in a profession or learning a new skill, it may take you a little longer, but your brain will keep functioning. Aging is partially about the body getting older but also about the mind losing its intellectual abilities. Discussing things with someone else or just passing on what you know helps your brain remain razor-sharp. The more intellectual a pursuit, the better it is for maintaining your brain activity. Even board games like Bingo or Chess can help by reigniting the paths for pattern recognition and strategic planning in your cortex.
6. Relax And Recover
You’ll start realizing that you will need to take more time to relax after the age of sixty. It’s not a testimony of your body’s ability to cope with the world around it. It’s more of an acknowledgment that you will need time to bounce back. If you play sports, you might realize that you have to stop on the sidelines a little more often. You might even need to take more regular daily breaks. Relaxation and recovery are both crucial parts of remaining healthy. Pushing your body or your brain too far will result in breakdowns. The problem is that, at this age, breakdowns also take longer to recover from. It’s better to relax now than to let your overzealousness get the better of you later on.
Know Your Limits
One of the most common ways that older folks run afoul of their own bodies is by thinking they’re younger than they are. Sometimes, it’s a simple matter of the company you surround yourself with. You might be able to keep up with people ten or twenty years younger than you for a while. You might even beat them at some things. But you will need to realize that they are younger than you are. Being in a community where you’re around the same age group could benefit in keeping you young and active as you age. People around the same age can share physical and mental pursuits and compete on equal footing. Locations like Courtyard Gardens provide ample methods for remaining active well into your elderly years. So long as your body is still working, you should use it. Keeping fit and healthy can make getting older something to look forward to.
