Durban - Healthy ageing remains a major concern for men and women who try to juggle the demands of work, family, friends, and many other challenges in between.
According to Barry Kaganson, CEO of Auria Senior Living, keeping up with life demands such as career and family often comes at the cost of self-neglect.
However, Kaganson provided some healthy ageing tips, saying it is never too early to start looking after your overall health.
“The benefits of staying healthy and living a balanced life as one gets older are well documented. They include better general physical health, the ability to recover from illness or injury faster, and reduced likelihood of chronic disease. These, in turn, promote continued ability to participate in meaningful activities, leading to increased overall wellbeing.”
According to Kaganson, there are five key tips people can follow for healthy ageing:
- 1. Be proactive: Getting enough exercise and physical activity is an important factor at any stage of life, and it is never too late to start. Having regular check-ups at the doctor, dentist, and any other relevant medical professionals is also advisable. Nutrition plays a key role in physical health. Getting a good night’s sleep is also important at any stage of life, but many older people report having struggles with sleep. Good sleep is frequently tied to good exercise and nutrition, but it can also be promoted by having a consistent sleep routine and getting the correct amount of sleep for one’s age and life stage.
- 2.Break unhealthy habits - Many people develop unhealthy habits over their lifetime, and these can have lasting negative effects on their health. In one’s younger years, it may be easy to exercise more to offset a few extra bars of chocolate, and even as one gets older it is relatively easy to give up poor dietary choices. However, there are other habits that can have serious health consequences down the line, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and even taking unnecessary medications.
- 3. Maintain mental agility - Mental agility is just as important as physical agility as one ages. Many people don’t think about this much during the course of careers, which can challenge us mentally or even home schedules that keep them busy and planning, but once those demands are removed, the opportunity for mental ‘exercise’ can decrease. Staying mentally active helps stave off cognitive decline, and it is thought that it may even play a role in reducing the impact of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. There are many ways to stay mentally fit, whether you learn a new language, take up crosswords or Sudoku, develop a new hobby or even stay in touch with your old workplace in a consulting capacity.
- 4.Look after your emotional wellbeing - At all stages of life, there are certain things which are known to take an emotional toll on a person. These include stress, anxiety, depression, and a lack of purpose in life. Just as one needs to take time to work on our physical health, so does one need to take proactive steps to reduce stresses in our lives, get appropriate support when we are struggling, and find ways to reconnect with our deeper selves. This might be through religious or spiritual practices, through therapy, or through something creative such as art.
- 5.Keep up social contact - Social isolation and loneliness are considered significant health risks in older adults – rivalling smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity as a cause of premature death, according to the CDC. Social isolation is also associated with about a 50% increased risk of dementia.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE