Top 10 Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that there are 76.4 million baby boomers in the United States. This group refers to Americans born from 1946 to 1964. Thanks to progress made in the medical field, more older adults are living longer. Since healthy living has countless benefits for older adults, it’s helpful to know some tips to adopt a healthier life. If you’re interested in learning how to live a higher quality of life, keep reading below.

1. Stop Smoking

If you are a smoker, this is the perfect time to quit for good. By quitting this addiction, you can reduce your risk for aging, cancer, heart failure, and strokes. Indeed, this will help improve your health and well-being. For men, smoking can cause erectile dysfunction as a result of atherosclerosis. It’s recommended to talk with your doctor about the best options to quit smoking. There are several options to quit, including medicine, nicotine patches and gum, and therapy.

2. Stay Active

On a daily basis, it’s important to exercise for at least 30 minutes. There are countless exercise ideas to help you maintain your balance, flexibility, and strength, as well as promote your cardiovascular health. By exercising, you will find it easier to maintain a healthy weight and improve your health and ability to sleep. Staying active will keep your body strong, which will help reduce your risk for falls. Exercising can also help you better manage stress, which will help you maintain your mental health.

3. Eat Healthy

Eating healthy is another way to promote a healthy lifestyle. The key is to eat a balanced diet on a consistent basis. A balanced diet consists of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, and healthy fats. Like any diet, it’s important to eat the correct portions for your size, age, and health. By eating healthy and exercising, you can help prevent several illnesses, including heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and type 2 diabetes. For women, you can prevent osteoporosis by taking calcium and vitamin D supplements. 

4. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Did you know that being overweight can increase your chance of getting diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure? You can maintain a healthier weight by eating healthy and exercising on a regular basis. To determine your ideal weight based on your height, use the Kaiser Permanente BMI (body mass index) calculator. To cut back on excess calories, it’s a good idea to replace sugary drinks with water, which is zero calories.

5. Reduce Your Fall Risks

Older adults can reduce their risk for falling by following some easy tips. This includes removing clutter and loose rugs from the home, using night lights in the hallways and bathrooms, keeping electrical cords stored away, and installing rails in bathrooms and staircases. Instead of walking barefoot, it’s better to wear supportive shoes that can better grip the flooring inside the home.  

6. Stay Up-to-Date on Immunizations and Doctor Appointments

For older adults, it is vital that they go to their yearly checkups at their local doctor’s office. This is a key tip to maintain a healthy lifestyle, as well as monitor for any potential health risks. At age 50, women should receive mammography screenings to check for breast cancer. Men should also be checked for prostate cancer. These are just a couple of the dozens of preventative screenings that older adults can receive to check for various health risks. 

As for immunizations, this is yet another important step that older adults can take to prevent serious health illnesses, such as shingles and the seasonal flu. For those that qualify, Medicare provides annual wellness visits, preventative screenings, and vaccinations to ensure that older patients can maintain their health.

7. Prevent Skin Cancer

During the aging process, skin becomes thinner and less elastic, as well as more dry and fragile. When older adults get injured, it takes longer for their cuts and bruises to fully heal. To help prevent skin cancer, it’s recommended that older adults wear SPF 30 or above sunscreen and limit their sun exposure. This will help reduce their exposure to ultraviolet rays that cause skin cancer, as well as reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

8. Receive Regular Checkups from Your Audiologist, Dentist, and Optometrist 

Hearing loss is a common concern for people as they age. This is especially true for anyone that was exposed to extremely loud noises from work or an accident. By visiting an audiologist, an older adult can get their hearing checked. If they need a hearing aid, this can ensure that a person can hear properly. As you can imagine, being able to hear is very important – to hear people talking to you, your surroundings, and talk at an appropriate noise level for others to hear you (not whispering or screaming).

Believe it or not, an older adult can still maintain good oral health if they take care of their teeth. This includes brushing their teeth, flossing, eating healthy, drinking water, and visiting their dentist every 6 months for a cleaning appointment. 

As for vision, most adults start noticing that their vision begins to change around age 50. This may include a gradual decline in their ability to see small text or focus on objects up close. Common vision issues include cataracts and glaucoma, which an optometrist can check for at yearly vision appointments.

9. Reduce Your Stress Levels

To reduce stress levels, there are various techniques to try until you find something that works. Popular stress-busting ideas include drawing, exercising, gardening, listening to music, meditation, praying, reading, socializing with others, and writing. Once you find something that melts away the stress, you will find that it also helps improve your physical and mental health, as well as how you feel about yourself. Positive thinking is a great approach to improve your outlook on life. 

10. Do What You Love

As you age, you may find it challenging to do the things you used to love to do. However, you can still engage in fun activities that bring you joy and fulfillment in life. This will vary based on each person’s preferences and interests. Check out these fun ideas below for some inspiration to live each day fully.

• Learn a new song
• Get a pet
• Go golfing
• Join a community group (i.e. exercise, gardening, golfing, etc.)
• Read a new book series
• Start a mini garden
• Visit a friend or family member
• Write poetry

As you can see, there are several ways to adopt a healthier lifestyle. People are living longer than previous generations thanks to our advanced medicine and technology. We hope these 10 tips will help inspire you to take an active role in your health and achieve the highest quality of life possible. At Liberty HomeCare and Hospice Services, we are dedicated to helping you make each day matter with our compassionate, expert care. Our professional team offers a wide range of services, including home care, hospice care, and palliative care. Call us at 800-999-9883 to find out about our referrals and admissions.