Elder Care Cafe

When I’m cruising through the channels on television to see what show I might want to watch next, especially in the early morning hours, I’m finding all kinds of so-called experts preaching about the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle. Most of these men and women are pitchmen trying to sell their products so it’s easy to dismiss them and continue on. However, at times the message they are trying to spread is worth a second glance.

The lesson? If you want to be healthy and happy as a senior you may need to make the effort to change certain areas of your life.

Moderation is key

In recent years moderation has become a buzz word when wanting to live a good life. After the excesses of decades past, seniors have learned that having it all isn’t always as great as it sounds. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle through eating, exercising, and enjoying life seem to be the better way to go.

Here are a few ways you should consider if you want to live a healthy and happy life.

Drink alcohol in moderation. If you choose to drink alcohol, doing so in moderation will keep you happy without causing illness or broken family relationships. Guidelines tell us that two drinks a day or okay, but some believe drinking even less than that is better, and none at all is best. That, of course, is up to you. But, if you need more than one or two drinks every day and can’t see yourself stopping at all, you may have a problem and should seek help.

Smoking. Warnings were placed on cigarette packs for a reason. Research has proven that tobacco causes numerous health problems including difficulty breathing, poor circulations, lung cancer, and pneumonia just to name a few. If you smoke cigarettes or cigars, or chew tobacco, you should consider quitting if you want to extend your length of life.

Smoking and excessive drinking aren’t the only bad habits that can reduce your lifespan and keep you from living a happy, healthy life. Here are a couple more areas you can review to see if you are living to your optimum level.

Nutrition. There is a saying that notes you are what you eat. The basic theory is if you eat fat you will be fat, if you eat healthy food you will more than likely remain healthy. Take a look at your diet and see you can make changes that will help you remain healthy long into your 70s, 80s, and 90s. Experts have shown that eating the right foods can help you avoid such ravaging illness as diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, and so on. While you may not be able to prevent all disease, you can go a long way to help prevent the onset of illness.

Have regular health check-ups. In order to help prevent the ravages of disease, have regular check-ups with your health care provider so that if you do have a problem with your healthy it can be caught early.  Not only can your primary physician order any exams you may need, there are often health fairs or free examples where you can check such things as your blood pressure or weight, if you don’t have a scale at home. Take full advantage of any option that will help you keep an eye on your health.

Exercise regularly. If you are already exercising on a regular basis, keep it up! If not, consider starting out slowly with a short walk and some basic exercises, and increase your efforts a little at a time. Exercise can keep your muscles strong and your joints moving, and help prevent arthritis and still joints. Keep your blood pumping by moving around rather than sitting all day and you will feel younger and more able to enjoy your life.

It’s surprising how long people can live when they live a healthy lifestyle. Quit the bad habits of smoking and excessive drinking and buy into the good healthy habits of eating healthy foods and in moderation, exercise daily, and pay attention to your health by getting regular maintenance checks and you should enjoy yourself and the quality of your life for many years.