Improving Your Daily Routine to Support Healthy Aging

Healthy daily routines and rituals play a significant role in supporting your overall wellness as you continue to age. The habits that these routines assist in creating make you think consciously about how you’re managing your health and help you identify some of the ways to improve these habits to better support graceful aging. In addition, these routines will assist with helping you avoid other more serious medical conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, joint pain, and cancer.

In the modern digital era, it might seem like everyone has a solution for preventing aging. Many companies advertise new, profound ways to improve muscle strength and exercise performance. At the same time, natural health laboratories offer new supplement formulas, and the latest television program pledges to a new diet that they say works magically. Which of these health-oriented solutions actually work, and which are little more than a scam? In short, it’s tough to make sense of all the noise surrounding your health habits and routines as you continue to age. And for this reason, it’s good to start with the basics.

In this article, we’ll cover some of the essential elements of a few healthy, morning, mid-day, and evening routines that won’t interfere with your current lifestyle. While many of these solutions might seem obvious, they are often overlooked in favor of shortcut methods for improving your health. The goal of these routines is to make healthy living easy and practical, so you won’t have to worry about whether or not you’re doing all you can to slow down the aging process. You’ll essentially feel more confident about aging and more willing to accept that aging is, of course, a normal, natural process. 

Creating Healthy Eating Practices

A daily routine that supports your health and wellness begins with the foods you eat. Creating healthy eating habits is essential for reducing your risk for a wide variety of medical conditions, including everything from cancer to heart disease. Your immune system won’t function optimally without the right mix of protein, fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates, and vitamins. Let’s go over a few of the essential elements of a healthy diet that will help you to better manage your health. And if you’re ever in doubt about how to create healthy eating habits, the best and most accessible resources are usually at your local health department and the myplate.gov website. 

Fruits and Vegetables

The general recommendation for fruits and vegetables is five servings per day. However, additional servings beyond this number are often beneficial for your health and rarely carry any negative side effects. According to a recent study from the CDC (center for disease control), only one in ten American adults eat enough fruits and vegetables on average per day. If you’re planning out new healthy eating habits, then chances are, increasing your fruit and vegetable intake is an excellent place to start. Ideally, these servings will be as varied as possible in color to ensure that you’re getting the right nutrients and vitamins that come with these foods naturally. For fruit specifically, it’s best to focus on whole fruits rather than purchasing too many dried or pre-sliced alternatives. 

Choosing the Right Grains

Wheat, rice, oats, and barley are the basis for the majority of the carbohydrates you’re taking in on a daily basis. Pasta, bread, crackers, tortillas, and oatmeal are examples of grain products that you will likely come across regularly. The next time you’re picking up one of these items at the store, select the 100% whole grain option rather than the lighter, lower nutrient alternatives. The USDA recommends that at least half of your grains should fall into this category to ensure you’re getting enough B vitamins and fiber. 

Reduce Red Meat and Choose Fish

Red meat can be tricky for your heart health, which means many dietitians recommend skipping it entirely if possible. Instead, salmon and other fish offer valuable vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B12 and fish oil. As with your grains, fruits, and vegetables, it’s best to select a wide variety of protein choices for your diet. 

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

In many cases, your average daily food intake doesn’t provide you with optimal vitamins and nutrients. To cover some of these deficiencies, a daily multi-vitamin or natural health supplement might be the right option for you. To learn more, speak with your doctor or a registered dietitian.
Organizing Your Exercise Routine

Exercise and regular movement is the best supplement to a healthy diet. It keeps your muscular system, nervous system, and bones in better shape. In addition, it can even support your immune system, so you can avoid feeling ill and stay away from dangerous long-term medical conditions as you continue to age. 

Starting Small

Making exercise a healthy part of your routine doesn’t mean you need to develop a workout program and commit to it right away. When you’re planning out your daily routines, the first thing to do is dedicate a certain amount of time each day to get up and moving- even if that’s only ten to twenty minutes at first.   

Scheduling Your Time

Consider signing up for a health class or group exercise at your local rec center when you feel like you’re getting more into the exercise routine. Alternatively, consider choosing a set time each day in which you’ll go for a walk and exercise. The goal in adding exercise to your daily routine is to set up a commitment to yourself that you feel comfortable with and that you’ll eventually be able to fulfill without a second thought.  

Make Sleep a Priority

To lower stress levels, boost immune system health, and support other aspects of a healthy daily routine, try your best to get at least eight hours of sleep each night. To make healthy living easy, choose a set time to get up each morning. Prioritizing and scheduling time for sleep sets you up to succeed in all other aspects of your new healthy routines. To support healthy aging, make health a habit.

This is a guest blog entry.