May 25th is National Senior Health and Fitness Day – a day dedicated to encouraging those in their later years to take control of their health, prevent illness and increase longevity while improving their quality of life.
With this in mind, here are the top 3 things seniors should do to optimize their health in their golden years.
1. Eat a nutritious, balanced diet.
For anyone at any age, a healthy diet is important – but what does this mean for seniors?
Likewise, eating a diet high in these foods will supply you with a host of vitamins and minerals that you need to maintain your overall health – particularly foods containing antioxidants, such as berries and leafy greens, which are thought to reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and eye problems such as AMD (age-related macular degeneration).
Supplements can also help to fill the gaps in the vitamin and mineral content in your diet. For example, the AREDS 2 supplements from Viteyes supply vitamins and minerals which have been shown to support macular health.
2. Up your preventative care.
As we get older, we’re more susceptible to many diseases and health problems.
Sometimes, medical issues are unavoidable. However, the sooner you find out you have a health concern, the sooner you should get treated, and many diseases are easier to treat and more effectively fought off when they are found sooner, rather than later.
For this reason, increasing the number of times you visit your doctor, attending medical exams and going to recommended screenings for health concerns such as cancers, heart issues, blood cholesterol and pressure, can help you to avoid the consequences of a problem found too late.
Likewise, as we get older it’s important to screen for vision changes, as our eyes become a lot more susceptible to age-related problems such as AMD, cataracts and glaucoma.
3. Engage in low-intensity exercise.
In our senior years, we may not be running marathons anymore (if we ever were), and more intense forms of exercise may be out of reach for the bodies we have now.
However, there are loads of low-intensity exercises that you can partake in – such as walking, Tai Chi, Pilates reformer classes and gentle swimming, which removes the stress from your joints – that are able to be enjoyed by older people, who may be medically or physically restricted from doing more strenuous activity.
It’s a complete myth that you have to do intense exercise to reap the health benefits, with even just regular walking significantly enhancing your cardiovascular health and reducing the risk of major diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancers.
