9 Simple Yet Effective Ways Seniors Can Stay Healthy

​As you age, you face unique and specific health concerns. You’re also more likely to get sick alongside other negative health effects. But there are a few things you can do to improve your health and wellness.

1. Take Supplements

As your body ages, it doesn’t absorb vitamins and nutrients from nutrition the way it once did. Your doctor will likely recommend taking vitamins and minerals on a daily basis in order to prevent deficiencies.

A simple, yet often underappreciated supplement is gummies with CBD. This supplement derived from the hemp plant has no psychoactive properties like marijuana, but it comes with a host of health benefits like pain relief, reduced inflammation, stress relief, and more. It’s a legal supplement in some form in almost every state, and those who have tried it have reported numerous health and wellness benefits with minimal side effects.

Consider using a weekly pill separator to ensure you won’t forget to take your pills daily for optimum wellness and nutrition.

2. Drink More Water

​Everyone could benefit from drinking a little more water, but seniors need it more than most. Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body requires hydration to work properly. If you want your immune system to fight off illnesses, your joints to heal from injury, and your body to stave off serious illnesses like heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes, you’ll drink more water.

Consider getting a water chart and filling it out through the day as you strive to reach your goal of at least 64 oz of water daily. If you’re tech savvy, you might consider an app that keeps track of your water intake instead.

3. Socialize

Mental wellness is just as important as physical, particularly for the aging mind. You’ll soon find that your cognitive responses will slow and struggle more with each passing year. Socializing with others stimulates your brains and continually fires synapses to keep it healthy.

Seniors are often lonely too. They’re at a higher risk for anxiety, depression, dementia, and other mental health issues. Connecting with others who are in similar positions as your own allows you to let off steam that might otherwise build into serious mental health issues.

To make sure you’re getting proper socialization, it might be time to move from your long-time family home to a community where there are more people with similar life experience. There are many communities, both outside of nursing homes and within, that offer the senior-friendly socialization you subconsciously crave.

4. Join a Gym

Exercise will protect your joints, muscles, and tendons from falls and old age. You should achieve about 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day. A gym membership is ideal because you’ll kill two birds with one stone: exercise and socialization.

Choose a gym with plenty of senior-friendly activities. Many wellness centers like the YMCA have dozens of programs designed to help seniors with varying health problems and concerns stay active and healthy through fitness classes. They’ll teach you how to exercise without hurting yourself and give you opportunities to socialize with those with which you have things in common.

5. Sleep Better

Getting a better night’s sleep is an essential part of physical and mental health. While you sleep, your brain archives memories and replenishes energy stores. Your body repairs torn muscles and invites greater rest and relaxation for the next day. If you’re not getting the recommended 6-9 hours of sleep each night, your physical and mental state will suffer.

The sleep industry offers many potential solutions for those who struggle with sleep. Shop around, asking for reviews and recommendations from trusted sources. Your doctor can likely point you in the right direction for a better night’s sleep if you bring it up at your next appointment.

6. Stimulate Your Brain

Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other memory loss problems affect more than 40 percent​ of those over the age of 65. Each year, about one percent will progress from slight memory loss to dementia or worse, which is devastating to both those experiencing it and their families.

Stimulating your brain is a great way to slow memory-related health issues. Find ways to stimulate your brain. Pull out a crossword puzzle, watch trivia game shows, visit museums, and participate in other activities that require cognitive activity. Regular mental stimulation can delay or even prevent mental health problems at the end of your life.

7. Add Color to Your Plate

The standard American diet involves a lot of yellow and white foods. These hold very little nutritional value. As you age, you already struggle to get enough nutrition in the foods you eat, so eating monotone-colored meals won’t help.

As a general rule of thumb, every time you sit down to a meal, look for opportunities to add color. Carrots, bell peppers, oranges, leafy greens, cabbage, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrition and taste to improve your overall diet and health.

8. Have Regular Teeth Examinations

Your mouth is linked to your overall health in ways that you might not realize. Receiving an oral examination once every sixth months will decrease your risks for developing certain illnesses, prevent cavities, and help you keep your original teeth as long as possible.

In the meantime, brush and floss regularly. Good dental hygiene goes a long way in promoting your overall health and wellness.

9. Focus on Prevention

​Some things are inevitable with old age. Your memory will worsen, your hearing and vision will degrade, and you’ll have wrinkles and age spots. There’s nothing you can do about those things. However, there’s a lot you can do to prevent serious health concerns, simply by taking preventative measures.

Prevent falls and injuries by removing trip hazards and improving lighting. 
Receive yearly screenings for cancer and other illnesses at your yearly checkups.
Avoid certain risk factors for heart disease and other illnesses.
Eat healthy and exercise to stave off heart disease.
Quit smoking and limit your alcohol and caffeine intake.

Your prevention efforts will not only keep you healthier—they may also save your life one day!