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5 Ways to Live Independently as a Senior Citizen
If you’re looking for some practical advice on how to help your elders feel safer in their own skin and regain their independence, then stick around as we dive deeper into the topic of senior independence.
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Moving along, here are ways to maintain independence in old age or before old age.
Maintain Mental And Physical Health In Your Prime Years
For those who aren’t necessarily seniors yet, but might have family members who are or are just curious, the key to staying healthy and independent in your senior years is to maintain healthy well-being in your years now.
It’s always been about here and now. And we can’t stress enough how health is literally the most important thing in our lives for anyone. If someone doesn’t have energy, their limbs, or the capacity to function, they won’t be able to do anything. So taking care of your health is not just essential; it should be the first thing in anyone’s mind.
And while we humans are capable of adapting to the worst conditions, we are here to live, not merely survive. So, be sure to take care of yourself first. So, how do you maintain mental health? Many seniors reportedly suffer from memory loss, dementia, and many other mental regressions.
A good way to counter this is to train your memory in your prime years. What could be done for mental health includes:
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Try to remember, as accurately as your brain allows you, the sequence of events that happened in your day. This trains the brain to remember. Do this every night.
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Get out of your comfort zone. A part of you dies if you follow routine too rigorously and if you never do anything new or try anything new. New connections between neurons are made, and new brain patterns emerge when you do something new. This could also just mean thinking in a different way. Do not settle, and your mental health will stay active and refreshed.
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Brain-boosting foods and plants exist. Ashwagandha, Chaga, walnuts, and so many foods promote mental and physical health.
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Use your brain. Take up a hobby, do a sport, paint, draw, read. Just keep using it. Don’t watch TV until you sleep or swipe on your phone endlessly all the time. That’s one way to kill the brain and mental health.
Physical Health
Maintaining physical includes:
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Getting regular exercise. No need to go to the gym every day if that’s not your cup of tea, but moving, walking, and getting some fresh air on a daily basis are essential.
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Eating right. We’re going to dive deeper into this in the following paragraphs.
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Changing diet or lifestyle choices if any illness persists.
Wholefoods Diet
If you’ve heard of the line, “You are what you eat.” then you’re lucky because that sentence is one of the truths you won’t need to double-check in this lifetime. Unfortunately, our consumer society markets and relies heavily on fast food and processed foods to match our fast-paced lifestyles.
Eating junk once in a while won’t kill you. Eating junk all the time will. To maintain vigor and health in old age in order to remain independent means to take care of what you eat. Consider doing this:
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Replace junk snacks with all kinds of nuts, dried fruit, and fruit in general for snacking.
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Eat much less meat than you already do. Try vegetarianism or safe seafood options—moderate red meat consumption. Mass-produced grocery meat is bad for the environment, cruel to animals, but also slowly blocks your colon. Many regular meat eaters suffer from constipation because of this.
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Replace processed foods with whole foods. Buy fresh.
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Try the natural herbs and plants that nature has to offer for supplemental health benefits. Turmeric, for example, is a great example. There are also many superfoods out there, like goji berries, that maintain your health and treat a plethora of things to keep your body in great shape.
Learn To Self-Sustain
Some people or couples move out to the country as they grow older and start a vegetable garden. Tending to a garden can help you become more self-sustaining when it comes to food.
For seniors who want to stay healthy, stay active, and also want their food source right next to their homes, this is a great practice for becoming more independent.
Growing vegetables doesn’t need to be an extra complicated and stressful task either; seniors can choose to grow vegetables that are easy to grow and won’t be hard to harvest. This is recommended since straining your physical capabilities is dangerous. Seniors should allow themselves to do work that they are able to do. Work that doesn’t put them in pain.
Regular Health Checkups
If you’re maintaining exercise and a healthy, unprocessed diet, you will be seriously decreasing the chances of cancer, chronic illnesses, etc. But you should still schedule medical appointments with the doctor.
Getting Used To Home Delivery
When you get older, it’s inevitable that your energy levels aren’t going to be the same as in your prime years, but don’t let this stop you from walking and doing what you like. Just be careful. However, senior folks should know the magic of home deliveries. This can be particularly useful on days when you feel weary or lazy.
Home deliveries include almost everything nowadays, from medicine to meal plans, to groceries. Use applications like:
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Uber Eats
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DoorDash
These enable anyone to get home deliveries. You can also research alternative competitors who provide the same services since there is plenty in the market. And it’s not only beneficial to seniors; many young adults, teenagers, and basically most age groups use these types of applications.
As a senior, you should let yourself rest and relax fully on your days off and let delivery services take care of any usual chores you might have to attend to.
Final Thoughts
We hope this article has shed some light on those who were looking for sober ideas. Independence is a human right, and it’s an important feeling to have for our esteem, confidence, and overall well-being.