A Healthy Lifestyle for Senior Wellness

As seniors get up there in the years, a healthy lifestyle can fall by the wayside rather quickly. Without the right diet, exercise routine and social support, senior wellness can plummet. If that happens, all it takes is a few small changes to get back on track so the senior in your life can feel their very best. Ready to help make that happen? Here’s what you need to know.

Get the Right Daily Diet Going

Upon entering the golden years, many seniors find it tempting to replace well-balanced meals with sweet and savory treats galore. Problems chewing and digesting healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, can make them shy away from a balanced daily diet even more.

Doing that is often a big mistake, however, since seniors’ daily dietary needs are just as important as ever. They need the right balance of vitamins, minerals, and calories to avoid malnutrition and have enough energy to remain active. To encourage them to get the right nutrients every day, you may need to help your seniors to reimagine their daily meals.

While keeping their personal challenges in mind, encourage them to eat a variety of :

• Whole Grains: 5 to 10 ounces
• Fruit: 1.5 to 2.5 cups
• Vegetables: 2 to 3.5 cups
• Proteins: 5 to 7 ounces
• Dairy: Up to 3 cups of milk or two ounces of cheese

They should also keep their water intake up since dehydration is a serious risk in the senior years. Have them aim for around eight ounces of water per day or more when it’s hot out or while taking potentially dehydrating medications, like diuretics.

Make Exercise an Everyday Affair

Getting older often means that physical activity takes more energy and effort than ever before. This can lead to a rather sedentary lifestyle as long walks are traded for crossword puzzles and other low-key activities.

Staying active is key in maintaining physical and mental health as it fights against everything from heart disease to depression. Physical activity can also help improve bone strength, reducing the chance of fractures that could seriously impact mobility. For those reasons, it’s important that seniors adopt a daily exercise routine that keeps them moving and feeling their best.

Low-impact activities are the most beneficial, such as:

• Swimming
• Water aerobics
• Walking
• Yoga
• Tai Chi
• Rowing
• Elliptical

These activities put the least pressure on the joints while helping build endurance, muscle mass, and bone strength.

If nothing else, seniors should aim to get their stretches in each day to aid in maintaining their flexibility. As they stretch their limbs, back, and neck, they may even find the pain and stiffness in their joints decreasing over time.

Bring on the Social Support

When it comes to senior wellness, social activities are just as important as a healthy diet and exercise routine. Isolation can cause a serious decline in mental health and overall outlook even if just for a short period of time.

To avoid that scenario, seniors need a strong network of friends and family members who can check in on a regular basis. They can text fun messages together, give a quick call, or even stop by for a visit. If everyone leads very busy lives, it’s often best to work out a schedule to evenly break up the social interactions.

Beyond that, seniors should have people they can count on for help in their daily lives and in an emergency. They may need help going to the store or even have their groceries delivered to their homes and put away. Some seniors might benefit from help cooking meals and having someone to eat with at least once per day. Others may just need help maintaining their home and yard on occasion.

As for emergencies, nearly all seniors greatly benefit from having a medical alert system set up in their homes. This system automatically calls for help when seniors press the button on the home dock or wearable device. Then, the two-way calling allows them to let the response team know who to notify about the emergency, which usually ends up being a family member or local EMTs.

Talk to Seniors to See What They Think of Their Day

As you work with the seniors in your life to promote their wellness, don’t forget to bring them into the conversation. Ask their ideas about what’s working and what might be missing from their daily routines. See if you can help them troubleshoot their challenges and find better solutions that aid them in feeling great, day in and day out. By doing so, you can align your efforts to help with their wishes to get the best results possible.