Aging can be a beautiful and enriching part of life. It’s a time of fresh experiences, seeing the world from a more developed perspective, and learning more about yourself. At the same time, there can be challenges. One of these is navigating health matters.
While health can be more challenging to manage as you age, it’s certainly far from impossible. By adopting some key skills, you can empower yourself to thrive in your later years. So, let’s look at some of the abilities to cultivate.
Health Literacy
Health matters can become increasingly complicated as you age. Developing skills in health literacy is invaluable for managing the challenges you face. The better you understand your conditions and the treatment options available to you, the better able you are to adopt measures to safeguard your wellness. Your literacy also empowers you to be a stronger advocate for your needs and preferences when discussing your well-being with health professionals.
There are various practical ways to empower yourself to make informed decisions about your health. One of the most critical things in the digital age is learning how to identify reputable sources of health information and advice. There’s a lot of misinformation flying around the internet, so ensuring the advice you follow is backed by credible institutions — such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — is essential.
Additionally, it’s wise to be mindful of the types of conditions that both tend to affect older people in general and those that are common in your family. Get to know the early symptoms of these types of issues and talk to your doctor about the measures you can take to prevent or address them. The better informed you are, the more proactive you can be in taking measures that genuinely boost your quality of life.
Mindful Exercise
Regular exercise is essential to maintaining your health throughout your life. It also gives you a strong foundation to build from as you start to reach later in life, helping you stay young at heart. Even if your exercise routines have been relatively sparse up until retirement, starting to incorporate them now can still help you to live a healthier and more independent lifestyle in your golden years. Indeed, strength and balance training is key to preventing the common issue of trips and falls.
If you’re uncertain where to start, personal trainers can be a good resource for training routines designed to empower aging adults to boost holistic wellness. They can discuss your needs and assess your abilities before recommending a relevant tailored program. For instance, they may suggest strength training that uses resistance bands to prevent potential strains caused by barbells or introduce you to low-impact cardio exercises. Importantly, a personal trainer can give you advice about exercises that also support your mental wellness, such as joining hiking groups to minimize the experiences of depression and loneliness that can be common.
It’s vital not to simply give all control over using exercise to manage your wellness to a professional trainer, though. The art of approaching exercise mindfully involves maintaining an awareness of how the activities and exercises you do are affecting you. Your body will change as you age, and certain actions may not be as easy to achieve as they once were.
Being vigilant of discomfort or pain enables you to make adjustments before you sustain injuries. At the same time, be on the lookout for what makes you feel especially positive or energized. Focusing a little more on these joyful exercise activities and finding similar options can boost your happiness and your health.
Contamination Management
Contamination management may seem like something reserved for industrial facilities and hospitals. Yet, it’s also a skill that can help to safeguard your well-being as you age. Interacting with contaminated items can lead to everything from gastrointestinal discomfort to infections. Many older people find such issues more difficult to manage and recover from, particularly if they live with compromised immune systems. A little extra attention here can help you protect yourself.
In a post-pandemic world, it’s essential to know to keep yourself and others safe from coronavirus infections. It’s a continued source of fear for a lot of older people. Therefore, maintaining hand-washing protocols when you come home from shopping or visiting others is a vital basic step. Even donning a face mask when you’re in crowded public spaces during cold and flu seasons can be smart.
If you’re navigating medical conditions that require injections, you’ll also need to implement good household sharps disposal practices. Sharps waste can harbor microorganisms, and infections can spread if you accidentally cut yourself. Putting these items immediately into a dedicated sharps disposal container approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an easy yet powerful way to minimize the potential for contamination. Regularly taking these to a collection site or arranging for pick-up by professionals further limits the risks.
Conclusion
Cultivating a few essential skills can empower you to safeguard your wellness in your later years. These include honing your health literacy to make more informed decisions and adopting mindful exercise routines, among other measures. It’s worth bearing in mind that your wellness profile will be relatively unique to you, as well. Not everybody ages in exactly the same way. Therefore, be open to exploring new skills and measures suited to your particular challenges. The better you can align your knowledge and practices to your needs, the better your quality of later life is likely to be.
Photo Credit
Photo is from Pexels
Guest Author Bio
Charlie Fletcher
Charlie Fletcher is a freelance writer from the lovely “city of trees”- Boise, Idaho. Her love of writing pairs with her passion for social activism and search for the truth. When not writing she spends her time doodling and embroidering. And yes, she does love all kinds of potatoes!
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