As you get older, the years are racing by, and you may have already had one or two moments where you’ve thought about your mortality. It’s the one thing that we’ve all got in common, and that is that we’ll all meet our maker one day. Some are lucky enough to live up to the triple digits, whereas some lives are cut short far before they should have been.
So when you reach the senior years of your life, it’s a period of time that should be relished and really appreciated. However, navigating this part of your life might feel at times, challenging. With that being said, here are several essential tips for navigating the senior years of your life.
1. Be sure to stay active
While you might not feel as young as you once were, it’s always good to try and keep active. That means getting plenty of exercise in, where you can, through a variety of formats. For example, that could be through a club sport like bowls or tennis.
You may prefer to do something more leisurely, like swimming or going to the gym and doing half an hour on the treadmill.
Whatever you enjoy when it comes to exercise should be the thing you do in order to keep fit. Doing exercise that you don’t like, then becomes a chore and something you avoid doing, which defeats the whole point of trying to exercise in the first place.
2. Keep up a social calendar
Keeping up a social calendar is certainly something to think about when it comes to getting the most out of your senior life.
For some seniors, getting older means having less of a social life than they used to, particularly if it’s difficult to get up and about. However, there are many avenues in which you can have social connections nowadays, and sometimes that could be achieved through the internet, on group calls with family members or friends.
Wherever you’re able to, getting out is a good way to look after your mental health. Keeping up a social calendar that’s not too intense but gets you out of the house or the rut you’re currently in is important.
3. Know when to hire a helping hand
It’s normal to want to remain independent as you get older. But once you notice yourself struggling to carry out basic household tasks or struggling to take care of your appearance/personal hygiene, it’s time to look into some help.
Depending on your status and income, you may be eligible for free senior care support. If not, then you’ll need to compare paid services.
Obviously, it’s important to find someone who you get along with and who you trust in your home. Consider checking out online reviews such as care.com reviews or ask people you know for recommendations. Family members or nonprofit organizations may also be able to help you find the right service. You can also conduct interviews and trials.
4. Maintain a healthy but enjoyable diet
A healthy but enjoyable diet is definitely something that you want to think about as you get older. Of course, you should be able to enjoy the variety that food gives you, from your local grocery to the high street food vendors and markets you come across.
However, making sure you get in all that fresh fruit and vegetables is highly effective in keeping your body in good shape. Try to avoid processed foods where possible and anything high in salt or sugar.
At the same time, moderation is an important part of staying healthy, and that also means eating foods you enjoy. It’s better to moderate your food than cut out the food that you really love to eat.
5. Challenge your brain regularly
Challenging your brain can be a great way of helping keep you active, not just physically but mentally too.
As you get older, your body starts to deteriorate faster, and that means what you might remember today, you may not remember in a year or two down the line.
With that in mind, it’s good to challenge your brain through the use of puzzles and other games that help to work the muscles of your mind. The more you can challenge and train your brain daily, the more you’ll feel like yourself for longer.
Of course, challenging your brain won’t prevent illnesses and diseases from occurring, but it can certainly stave them off for as long as possible.
6. Keep to a routine
A routine is a good way to keep you in good spirits, and it’s often why some elderly folk get themselves into community living environments or senior living memory care for those who need that extra assistance later in life.
Keeping to a routine gives you structure, and it also gives you something to do on the days when you might need a little extra activity to keep you busy.
Routines are helpful when you’re navigating a tough time in your life. A lot of people, as you get older, will start to pass away, and that can be a hard thing to navigate when you start losing people who matter to you. A routine can be good to take your mind off it all.
7. Manage your stress levels
Stress is probably one of the biggest contributors to illnesses and even death in people of any age. Depending on how well you manage your stress levels currently will determine whether you need to address this in your senior years of life.
If you’re allowing stress to seep into your life, then it often has an impact on your health and well-being. The more stressful the situation, to more damage it can do to you both physically and mentally.
Therefore, you want to find helpful methods to reduce stress where you can. Not only that, but if there are stressful situations you can actually remove from your life, whether it’s personal or work, then that’s going to do the world of good for your health as you get older.
8. Budget to help maximize your savings
Budgeting is an essential part of living out your senior years. No one truly knows how much time they have left, which is why it’s important to make the savings you have stretch for as long as possible.
Look at budgeting your money so that you do the most when it comes to maximizing what you have. You may have never budgeted before, or you’ve got experience but just stopped at some point in your retirement. However, budgeting can be helpful to make sure you’re getting the most out of the money you have to spend.
These are all essential tips that will help you to effectively navigate the later years of your life for your own enjoyment.
9. Plan for end of life
I know this is a tough topic for many of us, but the act of planning can help us to come to make peace with it, and enjoy the time we have left. There’s plenty to do as well, including decluttering your home so you don’t leave it behind for your loved ones to sort out.You may also like to plan your funeral, including the music and the food you’d like to serve. Some people even choose to set up memorial sites like this one from Keith DeMatteis for his dad, Al. Then family and friends have a place to go to share their memories, and memorialize you throughout the year, no matter where they are located.
