While we can’t stop having birthdays, it’s very encouraging to discover that we can take steps to slow the ageing process and improve our chances of avoiding many of the nasty ailments associated with getting older.
I’m obviously not a doctor but when we produced a book titled “How to stay Healthy, Active and Sharp in Retirement” I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of experts from a range of health and medical backgrounds. Here are a few of the important lessons that I learned –
Everything is connected.
We tend to view health in terms of physical health and mental health and treat them as quite separate. It’s surprising to see that just how closely they are connected. Physical activities and exercise can have a major effect on the mind and our thinking can have a major effect on our physical health. The mind / body / spirit connection is very real. Probably the most obvious example is that someone who worries consistently about their health is more likely to get sick more often than someone who expects to be healthy.
This is why stress can be so bad for us. If we allow ourselves to get stressed regularly it will have the physical effect of lowering our immune system and make us more vulnerable to a range of both minor and major illnesses.
A healthy lifestyle benefits both our physical and mental health.
We all know that regular exercise and a well-balanced diet will help to protect us from heart disease and diabetes. The good news is that having a healthier body will also help to keep dementia, depression and other mental deterioration at bay. The flip side of the coin is that doing no exercise increases our chances of contracting both physical and mental illnesses.
It’s possible to delay the physical and mental ageing process.
One of the contributing authors to our book says “Once you pass 50, exercise is no longer optional”. By staying physically fit we’ll not only keep illnesses at bay, we’ll also improve our chances of being strong and active in our 70s and 80s.
Relatively new discoveries in the field of brain science show that we can also slow mental deterioration by keeping our brains active. There are now brain exercises available on the internet which permits us to exercise particular parts of the brain (eg memory or attention). These stimulate the brain and can improve mental performance. One site you might like to look at is www.brainHQ.com
If you would like to take some steps to improve your health in retirement, you’ll find our book “How to stay Healthy, Active and Sharp in Retirement” very useful.