4 Questions That Can Help Seniors Maintain a Healthy Self-Care Regimen
Updated December 2023
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Are you searching for the secrets to staying healthy and happy as you get older? As it turns out, maintaining a proper self-care routine doesn’t require any secrets or tricks. If you’re an older adult who wants to thrive in retirement, you can do so by answering a few simple questions.
Seniors entering retirement may want to consider whether they should downsize their home, make aging-in-place modifications, build a home gym, and upgrade their smile.
Read on to discover which of these changes would benefit you the most and make sense for your lifestyle!
Should You Downsize Your Home?
For many aging adults, caring for a larger home can come with unwanted expenses and responsibilities. If these sorts of problems have been coming up as you prepare for retirement, you may want to weigh the pros and cons of downsizing your home.
One of the most pressing disadvantages of downsizing during retirement is having to deal with fees and expenses that are often involved in the sale of a home. If you have been living in your home for some time now and have built up enough equity, you may be able to take care of these added costs with no problem, and you may also be able to free up a substantial amount of income for retirement.
One way to use that income to improve your quality of life is to move into independent living. You will want to tour communities in order to see firsthand which features will benefit your golden years, but you should also be mindful of the differences between independent living and assisted living. Independent living is better suited for seniors who do not have daily care needs but do not want to live alone in their own homes.
Should You Make Aging-in-Place Modifications?
If you plan on living in your current home during your golden years, then you need to make sure that your home is free of common hazards that can make aging in place dangerous for seniors. Ensuring safety in your home means making sure that you have access to an environment that is free from fall risks, promotes nutritious eating, and allows for accessible mobility.
In terms of fall prevention, making changes can be fairly simple to complete on your own or with the help of an inexpensive handyman service. Those simple changes can include installing grab bars (affiliate link) in your bathrooms or replacing high-pile carpets with low-profile flooring.
Other changes around the home, like replacing faucets and lowering countertops, can make preparing healthy meals much easier as you grow older in your golden years. Being unable to turn knobs or reach counters can make it difficult to cook and prepare these nutritious meal options as you age, so consider making these home modifications now so that you can avoid accidents and falls later in life.
Should You Build a Home Gym?
When you’re making modifications to your home, look for ways you can add simple, easy-to-use exercise equipment that’s suitable to your abilities.
For example, you can use an empty spare room to create a small gym that features things like hand weights, resistance bands (affiliate link), or a yoga mat so you can do some stretching or poses. If you want to get in some light cardio while sitting down, you can invest in a portable under-desk elliptical. Not only can these ellipticals help you burn some calories, but they can also tone your lower body at the same time.
Regardless of which option you select, make sure it’s something you feel safe doing on your own.
Should You Upgrade Your Smile?
Your teeth are intricately connected to your overall health. In fact, science is revealing more and more how much mouth health reflects both mental and physical well-being. Issues like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and dementia can all be linked with oral health. And when one goes downhill, the other typically follows suit. That makes it all the more important to keep your mouth in top shape.
If you’ve experienced something like staining, there are many ways to treat your teeth from the comfort of your home. Brightening rinses and whitening toothpaste are just a couple of the many options available to you.
If you have teeth misalignment, take note that this may be more than a cosmetic issue, as the misalignment may prevent you from properly cleaning the surfaces of each tooth — this can lead to plaque buildup and decay.
Fortunately, minor misalignment can be solved with an aligner treatment. There are several options on the market, including brands like UpSmiles. Although this option is an effective and affordable treatment for misalignment, you may want to explore other aligners (Invisalign is a popular option) to see which is right for you.
There are no fountains or magic wands that can boost your health and well-being during retirement. However, there are a few simple lifestyle choices you can make to help ensure that you fully enjoy the many years ahead of you.
