Healthy Living
Growing Old… woo hoo! By Marty Twichell , EnhanceFitness
choose to not make them worse. If we throw up our hands and believe we are a victim of getting old and that there is nothing we can do, we are selling ourselves short. So, first identify issues we have, do your personal research, have the conversations with your professional health care provider, connect and contribute to your health. Add good habits to your day, be kind to yourself, do your best and aim for balance in your life. Be realistic about your own limitations. Often, a person falls because they do not want to use a helpful tool like a cane or a walker or hand railings. They want to ignore the fact that their balance, vision, and steadiness are not what they used to be. According to Consumer Reports, car accidents for 80+ year-olds are 5.5 times higher than for middle-aged drivers. Most of us could list many ways our aging has changed us because it is a pretty long list! Many health issues in our society are treated like normal aging, however, that may not necessarily be true for all. Whether it is incontinence, loss of muscle tone, joint aches, sleep problems, etc., find out if you could contribute to the healing process or if it is medical issue for you. Since we are less active than we used to be, some of our health issues are consequences of our sedentary lifestyle. The amazing thing is that we can keep contributing to our ability to feel better. We are not going to undo everything, but we can build muscle tone and increase our aerobic endurance. Some things we can do include: • improving our balance and we can move with grace, • walking or participating in an exercise
class like PCOA’s EnhanceFitness, which is a recognized fall prevention format for students 60+, • joining a PCOA’s A Matter of Balance workshop to improve confidence and balance, • starting an activity that interests you, • making your home safer, • perhaps avoid night driving, let others help us, • asking the youngsters to teach us something, invite people over, nurture plants, • joining a book club, • giving back to our community as volunteers, • traveling and • doing the many things that we may have put off for lack of time. Allow yourself to be as old as you are. Practicing ageism on ourselves is discounting who we really are. Our culture is so filled with both young and old ageism that it doesn’t appreciate the amazing gifts we all contribute. When we are honest about our age and appreciate the experiences we bring to the table, everyone benefits. When we mix it up with all different ages, we can enhance everyone’s life. Allow yourself to be the elder in your group and see yourself through other’s eyes. Be a role model for healthy aging as you stay active, stay safe, enjoy healthy habits, and give back to the community. Next time someone says that you don’t look your age, tell them that this is exactly what my age looks like! We have earned every wrinkle we have gotten! Embrace the older version of yourself as much as you fondly remember the younger version. Remember, we are all in this together, and we are incredibly lucky to be aging!
It is funny how conversations change as we age. Now, we often start our personal conversations with a list of current health issues before we move on to other topics. Many of us are dealing with situations related to aging and others are dealing with old injuries that have come back to haunt us. Since aging happens to all of us, we can at least feel like we are all in this together. Genetics may affect our health in many ways, but we do have some say in of our aging process. One helpful way to start is to honor the place we are at this moment. The ability to grow older is not one that is given to everyone. Studies have shown that an “attitude of gratitude” can impact our mental, physical, and emotional health more than one might think. Being grateful for what we have and for how long we have been alive serves as a stress reliever for the body. Taking a few minutes every morning to pause, breathe, give thanks, calm the mind, or follow a meditation practice can set the tone for your entire day with more calmness, acceptance, and connection to ourselves and to others and to the divine. We have control over the food we eat, the socialization we chose, the mental stimulation we add to our lives, the people we choose to be around, the activities we do, and the focus and effort we give to certain things and the attitude we bring. We cannot control certain aging conditions and health issues, but we can Program Coordinator, PCOA’s Healthy Living Department, ACE certified Senior Exercise Specialist and Group Fitness Instructor
Page 16 | December 2022, Never Too Late
Pima Council on Aging
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