Healthy aging it’s about more than just living longer, it’s about thriving as we age. “People can live longer but not be in good health,” says Robert Mankowski, PhD, assistant professor in the Institute on Aging at the University of Florida College of Health Medicine. “We’re not really interested in extending life expectancy; we’re more interested in extending life expectancy.” Here are five things you should stop doing after 50, according to the experts. Read on and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure signs you’ve already had COVID.
Exercise is important to prevent age-related health problems and maintain bone health. “Exercise at age 50 is crucial and vital for the future because of one word in particular: independence.” says Damien Joyner, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, Active Aging Specialist and Founder of Incremental Fitness. “Independence means being able to carry out activities of daily living with little or no help. We need to be able to do housework, pick up groceries, pick things up and put them away. As we get older, we shouldn’t have to avoid stairs , curbs, uneven surfaces, or other natural or man-made physical obstacles that we encounter in our daily lives.”
Don’t Let Sleep Become An Afterthought After 50: The American Heart Association Just Added healthy sleep to your cardiovascular health checklist, “Sleep is essential to every process in the body, affecting our physical and mental functioning the next day, our ability to fight disease and build immunity, and our metabolism and risk of chronic disease.” says Erica Jansen, Ph.D.. “Sleep is truly interdisciplinary because it touches all aspects of health.”
A diet high in salt and sugar can put a strain on heart health, doctors say. “We need carbohydrates, but not necessarily processed sugars.” says Dr. Mankowski. “As we age, blood pressure tends to go up,” says Sandra Arevalo, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “If we continue to eat the same amount of salt, we are making our heart work harder.”
“One way to take care of yourself is to get routine medical care at age 50,” says David B. Samadi, MD. “The goal of this is to develop and maintain the doctor-patient relationship, encourage a healthy lifestyle, screen for disease, assess for medical issues, and update immunizations.”
Drinking too much alcohol is bad for your health at any age, but it’s especially dangerous for older adults, experts say. “It’s around the age of 50 that these biological processes start to occur,” says Alexis Kuerbis, associate professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York. “Just like our eyesight can fail or hearing can fail, our perceptions are failing. We can’t feel like we’re getting more intoxicated as we get older. We think we’re fine.”
Ferozan Mast
Ferozan Mast is a science, health, and wellness writer who is passionate about making information backed by science and research accessible to a general audience. read more
