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Are fitness and health things that you only have to worry about when you’re old? Of course not. We have to prepare for our later years. New reports suggest that the percentage of the population over 60 will rise to 17 percent by 2050, We all need to be thinking about how to stay fit and healthy long after middle age.
People who don’t stay fit in their later years do have serious quality of life issues. Many will eventually need to go to the hospital or even to a home care facility. And keep this in mind. The retirement age is expected to continue to rise, keeping you working for longer. For this reason, you need to stay fit.
So, one of the questions we need to answer is how you can protect your future health right now.
Wait! I have To Worry About My Sixties In My Twenties!?
Start Now, You’ll Thank Me Later
Actually yes, you do. Because how you choose to live now and how you treat your health and fitness will impact you later in life. Let’s take a look at high heels as an example. High heels may make your legs look amazing. And you might love wearing them daily.
Wearing heels has been shown to have a positive impact on levels of confidence. But you shouldn’t ignore the fact that heels also damage your ankles and the lower regions of your legs This significantly increases the chance of issues with your bones and joints later in life.
If you do insist on wearing heels, you may at least want to make a compromise. Wear them one day on, one day off. Or even just wear them a couple of times a week. Better yet, look for heels that can be worn for extended hours without pain. That pain is one of the first signs that you are injuring your body!
Of course, wearing heels is just one of the ways you can impact your later health. You also should be thinking about how often you exercise. Many people start to develop chronic pain later in life. This is incredibly common.
However, it can be prevented if you choose to exercise regularly when you’re young. And you should continue to exercise throughout your life. As life gets busy, fitness can go out the window. Suddenly, looking after your family is far more important than heading down to the gym.
But you should squeeze fitness into your daily schedule. Otherwise, you can find yourself in a position where it starts to hurt getting out of a chair. And that’s not what you want to happen!
Don’t Delay Dieting
When you’re young, you probably think that you can eat whatever you want. We all know someone who has such a great metabolism. They’lll eat and eat and eat without ever putting on weight. But the body is more resilient when you’re younger.
As you age, it’s more of a struggle to drop those pounds and get fit. And the effects of an unhealthy diet become far more prominent. Start working on eating healthy at a young age. This will help ensure that you’re not overcome by sugar addiction. Yes, sugar, like a drug, can be incredibly addictive. So can certain processed foods that are packed full of sugar.
Dealing With Injury
What If you are injured later in life? As already mentioned, once you reach a certain age, the body is less resilient. The time it takes to heal from an injury grows. And you can find yourself on medication and needing treatment for months. There is also the chance that you’ll further injure yourself and make the situation worse.
That’s why you have to be incredibly careful if you injure yourself at a later stage in life. You might even want to consider using an in-home care service like senior care from Visiting Angels. Services like this ensure that someone at a later stage in life is not at risk of worsening their injury as they recover in their own home.
You might find yourself in this situation right now, not as the patient but as the parent of the individual who has suffered an injury. If that’s the case, you should make sure that you’re taking the right steps to protect their health on their behalf. Injuries do happen later in life and are often unavoidable. But, if they are dealt with the right way early on, they don’t have to lead to a lower quality of life.
Easy Exercise
It’s important to maintain an exercise routine throughout your life. But go gentle as you get older. Strenuous exercise at a later age can lead to the type of injuries just mentioned.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t stay fit. Yoga would be a great form of exercise to practice in your golden years. And will be far better for your body than something more strenuous like weight training.
Or, if you are continuing to complete more grueling exercise routines, do make sure you have the expertise of a professional. If you go to the gym, you can work with a coach. And they will make sure you don’t push your body too far while helping you hit your goals.
As you can see then, it is important we think about our fitness and health throughout life. That way, we can start shaping our routines now to ensure the best quality of life in our twilight years!
I went to my first strength-training class at the YMCA last night. It was a trip, considering I am just getting started in working with weights. Out of all the things I’ve tried so far, I have liked it the most. It probably helps that the instructor is an approachable female and not a big meathead 😉
Lucky for me, I broke my collarbone when I was around 31 (hey–30 years ago!) and had to wear a butterfly brace for a month. PT was an at-home program my doctor created; he casually said I might need to lift weights to build the strength back. I’ve been doing some form of weight training/cardio/Pilates ever since. So for being 61, I’m not so bad. But, it is far more work these days than it was even when I was 50. I wear a 25 lb backpack when I’m on the elliptical just to add resistance and make sure I’m sweating enough! I just started Yoga for in the evenings and am surprised by how hard it is–and fun!
Good post–speaking as that 61 year old!