Growing Older Better

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. // Aging, Health, human interest

6 Comments

April 5  

My Take On Aging

There is no golden ticket

There is no ticket, activity, pill, etc. that “magically” works to improve your aging process. There are many things that you can do and very often it takes all or many of them. It’s often trial and error to see what works for you. Buying into the hype of  “this is what you need to be healthy if over 50” is usually not true.

It requires work

Movement is your friend. You don’t have to run like in the image but walking around is perfectly acceptable as is weightlifting,  yoga, core work, Pilates, or anything that makes your body work, but the work is necessary. If you’re in a wheelchair or bedridden, be sure to check what kind of exercise you can and are able to do.

And a bit of a caveat here it helps if you start moving when you’re younger, but it’s never the wrong time to start moving.

macro shot of vegetable lot

It requires good nutrition

Good nutrition does not mean expensive food. In fact, one of the most nutritious and least expensive foods is beans. If you have dietary restrictions, you have to think about that –  if you have a garden, you can grow a lot of nutritious food. You don’t even actually need a garden – you can grow in pots. I did container gardening for years. There’s a lot of good food out there, but be a label reader – that is important. That’s too long a conversation to have for now. I’ll come back to this at another time.

It requires using your brain 

Keeping your cognitive activity working is something that also helps with aging. So keep [or start] doing things like crossword puzzles, or most any kind of puzzle, learning new things, going to classes, or doing classes via apps or online.

  • Hi Lynn,
    I have changed my theme once because the other one was no longer supported on the new WordPress format. It was a change for the better but it was not the same. Now many years later I am exploring other (newer) themes but haven’t found one that has the features that I am used to using.
    Your post covers a lot of topics but it brings to mind a couple of memes like:
    “It is better to wear out than to rust out.”
    One from my online fitness instructor relates to the joints:
    “motion is lotion”
    So far, so good.
    Blog on!

    • tnx for the comment – Today I spent the morning fiddling and figured out what I did wrong with my themes and since it’s a resource day, I still did recommend buying the theme. I also recommended that people pay attention to the updates. I’m still not sure what I did or didn’t do, but I’m working at it. That’s good for my brain. All that cognitive activity is keeping my brain functioning. It’s certainly not going to rust out.”

  • There’s nothing wrong with your blog format. It is quite attractive and neat, making it easy to read. I would love to be 65. I do all the things mentioned. It is work to keep body and mind healthy. I love your post.

    • Thank you. I used the theme that I’ve been using for years to set it up and when I published it, it just came out differently. I did some fiddling with it and I think that created some coding errors – and I didn’t feel like dealing with it. If it didn’t bother you, I’ll not let it bother me anymore 🙂 and doing all the things that I mentioned when you’re younger is good.

  • Thank you. Great suggestions. I’m now 68 years old. Happy to be alive and happy to be healthy. I do have food intolerances so I’ve learned how to watch my diet, read labels and eat good food. I also work out regularly and take long walks. Today, I got 10,000 steps, so I was happy with that, especially because I was done before it started raining (again). I try to learn new skills every day. And I’m learning how to play the guitar! Life is good at any age if you make it so.

    • Thank you for your comment. I too have food intolerances and I went to the ER last year because I forgot I was living back in crab territory and I got exposed to it. I am very careful about reading labels most of the time but I still occasionally will grab something off a shelf and then go oops after I get home. I have been setting daily workout/movement goals for myself each month and meeting them. It’s kind of fun. Yes, life is good at any age.

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    About the Author

    Native of NYC who moved a lot, got several degrees, and has been a lifelong writer and reader... I am interested in many things - and I write [and teach] about them - especially the human lifespan and healthy aging

    Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.

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