We often hear that health is wealth and even more so when you’re over 60 years old. There are many things to consider when it comes to staying healthy when you’re over 60. As one grows older, the body needs a lot of extra TLC. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to keep up with yourself by enjoying healthy meals, appropriate exercise, fresh air nature strolls, and even going back to that hobby you used to enjoy in your heyday.
To make it easier, RMA has compiled a few tips for you to ensure that you stay fit as a fiddle as you get older:
Going Green or Blue
Greens, greens, greens. Need we say more? As you grow older your nutritional needs get much stricter from what you needed when you were younger. While you could get away with all those burgers and fried chicken in your youth, to stay healthy over 60, you need much less of the junk and more of the good stuff. Dark leafy greens like spinach, kale and marog are essential in a senior’s diet. The high doses of Vitamin K found in greens can help reduce bone fragility. Finishing meals off with steaming green tea will help aid digestion and maintain a healthy metabolism. In addition, upping your intake of certain berries, like blueberries, cranberries and bilberries can help lower the risk of diabetes and lower cholesterol.
Drinking Water
You need to be consuming at least 6 to 8 glasses of liquid daily to keep your body
hydrated. Water is your best bet, but any fluids served hot or cold – such as juices, coffee or tea – will benefit your overall health by giving you much needed vitamins and nutrients like Vitamin C, Calcium and Zinc. It’s also important to stay away from sugary drinks, mineral waters and energy drinks as these add to other ailments like heart disease.
Healthy diet
Essentially, a Mediterranean diet is recommended to stay healthy over 60. This includes foods from the 5 food groups: fruits, vegetables, lean meats (including lots of fish), whole grains and healthy fats and dairy (like olive oil and high quality yoghurts). You don’t have to go Mediterranean, though. Just make sure veggies and fruit make up at least half of your diet, with the rest taken up by lean meats, grains and healthy fats.
Exercise
Your joints need joy, as much as they are starting to pain you at this point. It\’s very important to keep them as mobilised and well-oiled as possible. So start walking, jogging, swimming or running. Take up yoga or even that sport you used to love in your younger years. As the body gets older, it’s important to slow things down a bit and start with exercises that work best for you, on a milder level so as not to put too much pressure on your changing body. And according to The New York Times article on “How To Age Well”, it is also a good idea to shed a little bit of weight to reduce your risk for diabetes, heart disease and improve metabolic function in the liver, fat and muscle tissue.
Medication
Speaking to your doctor about the right type of medications and what effect they have on you will enable you to get the appropriate kind of help needed for any ailment you may have. The older you get, the more likely you are to be affected by chronic illnesses and multiple co-morbidities like diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and osteoarthritis, that usually need lifelong treatment. Ensuring that you medically comply with taking your medication regularly, assists in the therapeutic treatment of your co-morbidities and in turn gives you a longer bill of life.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8144798/
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-age-well
https://www.eatthis.com/secret-tricks-for-keeping-in-shape-after-60-say-experts/
