Staying Healthy After 65

How can you add a few extra years to your life if you’re already over 65? The answer to that question includes an unexpected number of simple strategies that have the potential to transform your health. Here’s a look at five ready-made lifestyle changes you can put in place today. What’s the easiest one? If you’re already a non-tobacco user, you can skip the first one on the list.

Quit Tobacco

It’s not just about smoking, according to doctors. All tobacco products have the capacity to cause cancer in our mouths, lungs, throats and other parts of our bodies. For more than 60 years, medical professionals have been advising people to quit smoking. Recently, after key research on the dangers of chewing tobacco, they added non-burning products to the list. The good news is that it’s now easier than ever to stop using this poisonous stuff. Several large non-profit foundations offer free cessation classes in most cities and small towns. Ask at your local hospital for the nearest group and put an end to tobacco use.

Exercise Regularly

It turns out that this ubiquitous advice we all get from our doctors is one of the best guarantors of longevity. And you don’t need to run marathons or compete in triathlons. Simple bouts of daily activity like walking, occasional swimming, bicycle riding and active games are enough to meet the threshold for exercise. One of the most enjoyable ways to put more movement in your life is to join a community exercise class or sports team. Group volleyball, tennis, walking and calisthenics can not only help you drop a few pounds and look better, but social get-togethers like these, help build important emotional ties with neighbors and fellow fitness enthusiasts.

Keep the Mind Sharp

Recent long-term studies of Alzheimer’s patients and other sufferers of dementia have shed light on the basic human need for lifelong mental activity. Too many people tend to shut down their minds and cease acquiring new mental skills after 50. We can possibly avoid the onset of dementia, or greatly delay it, by taking on a fresh mental challenge like learning a foreign language or taking piano lessons after retirement, or according to one home elevator business using previous work experience to become entrepreneurs.

There’s a lot of common sense in what our grand-parents used to tell us and research has shown that eating three, well-balanced meals per day is the most effective way to maintain a healthy weight, get enough nutrients and keep blood pressure in check. Part of the three-meal strategy is not snacking between meals. For most people, that will entail a reduction in sugar intake. Consider the average adult in 1900 consumed less than one pound of sugar per year. Today, that same average person eats about 40 pounds of the sweet stuff annually.

Get Enough Sleep

Some of the latest research on sleep and body rejuvenation suggests that the time-honored adage about getting eight hours of shut-eye per night was on target. In fact, a major study found that for 95 percent of healthy adults, the ideal amount of nightly sleep is between 7.5 and 8.5 hours.