Preparing for a Healthy and Happy Retirement
While we’d all like to stay young forever, one of the certainities of life is ageing. As the years pass, we will all grow older and this is positive in so many ways! We become wiser, we develop stronger relationships, we experience more of the world and so much more.
But at the same time, ageing does come hand in hand with a host of health issues for the majority of us. While our bodies will naturally experience wear and tear over the years, a healthy and long life is an option for a significant proportion of us and the good news is that many of your own decisions and the lifestyle you lead can help to maximise your chances of good ageing.
Here are a few suggestions that will help you with this journey, preparing you for a healthy and happy retirement.
Diet and Exercise
Of course, two of the main factors that you can control in your life – and that will help to boost your health and wellbeing over the years – is your diet and your exercise regime. Let’s start with diet. You need to make sure that you’re eating a healthy and balanced diet in order to give your body the TLC it needs.
The food you eat determines whether you are fueling your body with junk or whether you’re providing it with nutrients that will help it to thrive. Cut out junk foods and fast foods, which often contain excess saturated fat, salts and sugars. Make sure that you’re getting your five a day.
Keep your plate balanced, avoiding cutting out whole groups as part of fad diets. Next, exercise. You should be aiming to get one hundred and fifty minutes of moderate aerobic exercise every week. This will help to keep you in shape, trimming excess fat and ensuring that you remain strong and flexible with good balance and plenty of stamina.
Find a form of exercise you actually enjoy in order to stick to this.
Retirement Plans
Having retirement plans in place can reduce stress and worry, which benefits your body and ensures that you have the support you need as you become less capable of looking after yourself. Different plans suit different people with different needs.
As you age, you may want to look at modifying your house, implementing features like stairlifts and walk in baths to reduce the strain you’re putting on your body and your risk of injury or accidents.
You may want to look into joining a retirement community like United Zion Retirement Community, which will help you to tackle loneliness which often comes with ageing and to ensure you have access to medical care or assistance that you may need around the clock.
Health Appointments
Make sure that you’re attending any health appointments or checkups that are recommended by your doctor. They know you and your needs best and it’s important that you listen to their advice. This will include standard checks that we all need to attend regardless of age – dentist appointments, opticians appointments and more – but may also include more specific check ups associated with yourself and symptoms or conditions that you, in particular, experience.
These simple steps should guide you on a path to happy and healthy retirement!
Last Updated on October 20, 2022
