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Tips on How To Look and Feel Your Best at 65 and Over
The saying, "Getting old isn't for the faint of heart" is one that most people are familiar with. However, health care advancements of the last 20 years have significantly contributed to people living longer, healthier, and more satisfying lives. Let's look at a few tips on how you can look and feel your absolute best during your senior years.
Take Mental Wellness Seriously
Aging brings its own challenges, but with a preventive approach and positive attitude, certain myths associated with aging can be firmly put to rest. These include memory loss and brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia. As you get older, your mental processes slow down, and new information may take longer to process. However, making mental stimulation a priority throughout your life, and practices such as memorization techniques, games, puzzles, and riddles will continue to positively impact your cognitive ability and create new brain pathways as you get older.
Eat for Health and Longevity
Healthy eating habits are crucial to a sense of overall well-being. You really are what you eat, and this expression is especially relevant to older adults. An unhealthy diet with refined carbohydrates, sugary foods and drinks, and other processed foods can be linked to illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and cognitive impairment. A balanced diet containing potassium, calcium, vitamin D and B12, and dietary fiber will help maintain your body's muscle mass, bone density, and immune and nervous systems.
Exercise To Keep Fit and Strong
The benefits of a regular exercise regime can never be emphasized enough. A career and family responsibilities can influence your activity levels, and it's wise to start out slow and consider activities that suit your current fitness levels and lifestyle. Exercises that are particularly beneficial to older adults improve strength, posture, and mobility and put less stress on your joints, muscles, and bones. These include water aerobics, chair yoga, pilates, and exercising with resistance bands. You can also keep your exercise routine simple by putting on comfortable clothing, grabbing some earbuds you’ve synced with your phone, and heading into the fresh air for a run or a walk.
Take Care of Your Appearance
If you look your best, you will feel your best. Take care to choose and dress according to styles and colors that suit your body shape and lifestyle. Regular skin care also becomes increasingly important when you age, as your skin becomes thinner. Drink plenty of fluids, apply facial and body creams every day, and take fewer showers, as hot water can dry out your skin.
A skin condition that is quite common in older adults is psoriasis, which causes raised scaly patches on your knees, elbows, lower back, and scalp. The best way to treat and control the condition is to follow a good skincare routine and a healthy diet. Other options that can reduce the symptoms include topical therapy, light therapy, and oral or injected medication.
Become Your Very Best
The above are just a few tips on how you can look and feel your absolute best as you enter a new and exciting stage in your life.
Physical therapists Bob and Brad, from Winona, MN, created a series of easy-to-follow videos and guide-sheets to help you with the most common therapy problems you might experience. Visit them online today to find out how you can look and feel your best, no matter your age or fitness level.
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