John, age 60, felt overwhelmed. His job had been eliminated and he was experiencing financial and marital problems. Joan, age 80, lost her second husband at the same time her term on a nonprofit board ended. Her reaction, “It’s time to reinvent myself.”
John and Joan are part of the nearly 80 million Americans who are already 55 or older. For this ever-growing group, a key question is how to overcome the negative challenges of aging.
Here are 15 ways millions of Baby Boomers are staying young and vibrant well into their golden years.
1. Keep Your Social Life Active
An AARP survey found that we are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Loneliness crops up after any transition that separates us from friends, family, colleagues, or place. The antidote can be increasing our social capital. We need to intentionally pump up our social supports. University of Michigan professors, Robert Kahn and Toni Antonucci, developed a way to identify and track a person’s potential supports — what they call your convoy of social support.
The convoy comprises a series of concentric circles with you in the center. The circle closest to you would be your most intimate family and friends. The next circle is for good friends, neighbors and colleagues who are very much part of your life. The circle furthest away is for acquaintances. You need both intimate relationships and more distant friends and acquaintances to provide a sense of well-being. Tracking your convoy over time is a way to check what part of it needs refreshing. Back to Joan. Losing her husband and her role in the community created a vacuum. She was lonely. She reinvented herself by taking up ballroom dancing, even entering competitions. Joan was meeting new people, and engaging in new activities. Her dance card was literally and figuratively full. If dancing isn’t your thing, that’s fine, but it’s never too late to take up a new hobby and meet new people.
2. Take A Daily Probiotic Supplement
If you are over 60 you should take either probiotic drinks, yogurts or capsules as they will protect you from developing such bowel conditions as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), say leading researchers at Harvard.
The researchers stressed that there are good and ineffective probiotic products on the market and that people should choose their supplements carefully. Half of all the brands available in the United States are not as effective as they claim to be, they said. The product needs to have the correct strain of live bacteria, i.e. bifidobacteria or lactobacilli. They must also be able to prove that each product carries 10 million bacteria or more. One of the top probiotic supplements currently on the market is Peptiva. You can visit their website by clicking here.
3. Embrace Change
One thing is certain — our lives will be filled with multiple transitions. Some we plan, others just happen; some are positive, others negative. Transitions are events, like getting married, retiring, becoming a great grandparent, and returning to school. Then there are nonevents, like not having the baby you yearned for, the career, or relationship you expected..
What makes the difference in how we handle a particular transition? Ask yourself:
- Does this transition change my life? Even a transition, even a positive one, changes your role, relationships, routines and assumptions. That will be challenging.
- Where do you stand in the transition process? Are you contemplating a transition, dealing with it, or remembering it? For example, the men whose jobs were eliminated in the mid-eighties at NASA Space Flight Center felt devastated. When I interviewed them at a later date, those who found new jobs reported great relief.
- Was the timing of the event or nonevent at a good or bad time? If it is “on-time” and expected rather than “off-time” and unexpected it is, of course, easier to absorb.
- What is your evaluation of the event or nonevent? Do you see it as positive, negative or benign? And, simultaneously, do you evaluate your resources as strong enough to cope? The men all evaluated the reduction in force negatively. However, NASA connected each man to someone in human resources as a “buddy” to help them find something new. The transition was negative; their institutional resources were positive.
4. Adopt A Can-Do, Positive Attitude
When Mikhail Baryshnikov, then age 62, danced at the 2010 Ringling Museum International Festival, he came onto a plain stage with nothing but a screen. He started dancing to a video of a young man dancing. And the young man was Baryshnikov at a much earlier age. He danced to his younger self. You saw three dancers-the younger, the older and the shadow. He no longer leapt in the air but he still created a thrilling performance. He had style.
We all need a reason to get up in the morning, something that makes us feel we “matter” to others. Vicky, a recently retired entrepreneur, made up her mind to “repurpose” herself. She looked at her regrets and then decided to follow an earlier dream of being a writer. She now produces a weekly blog filled with interviews of people expressing their views on what counts as a successful life.
You can do what Baryshnikov and Vicky did — take stock of your strengths and limitations, slow down the pace if necessary, but not give up.
5. Men Should Boost Their Free Testosterone Levels
Boosting your free testosterone is something that every man over the age of 50 should be doing in order to continue looking and feeling younger. There’s a continuous and huge drop off in free testosterone for men after the age of 30. For men the biggest thing you can do to increase your free testosterone levels and lower your estrogen levels is to lose the fat around your belly. Of course, that’s easier said than done. That’s why millions of Americans are turning to the free testosterone boosting supplement called Nugenix. Nugenix is currently the #1 selling free testosterone booster at GNC and Walgreens. If you’d like to read up on it, and even get a sample shipped to you, click here. It’s also recommended that you eat a lot of cruciferous vegetables daily in order to naturally lower your estrogen levels.
6. Take Care of Your Bones & Joints
If you’re one of the millions of adults who relies on taking pain-killers such as Aspirin frequently to help manage ongoing joint or bone discomfort, you’ve come to the right place to learn about safer alternatives to taking these drugs. Whether you feel it in your low back, shoulder, knees or elsewhere, a number of natural remedies have been shown to help relieve symptoms of joint discomfort— including stiffness, reduced range of motion and difficulty walking.
A classic remedy for any muscle or joint ache is taking a relaxing bath with Epsom Salts. High in magnesium and sulfates, Epsom salts are easily absorbed through the skin to provide quick relief as they lower inflammation, reduce muscle spasms and relax tense areas. Add two cups of salts to warm bathwater and soak for at least twenty minutes.
Many seniors are also turning to a new supplement to help relieve joint discomfort. Formulated by renowned Doctor, David Katz, Instaflex Advanced has become the best selling joint solution product at GNC and Walgreens. Thousands of seniors across the US and Canada are enjoying joint relief everyday with it.
7. Drink Pure Water – Eliminate BPA’s & Plastics
Drinking pure water isn’t just something that the elderly should be doing, but something everyone needs to do. Most of us don’t think too much about what’s in our water, despite the fact that we know that drinking water is key to our health. If it’s the public water supply, then it’s regulated, right? And even if we don’t have the best tap water, there’s always the bottled option. But as the water crisis in Flint, Michigan has proven, the water we’re being supplied isn’t always good for us. In fact, it can be downright bad for us, and it can take years to turn things around. Of course, the regulations in place are also affected by industrial, military and pharmaceutical lobbies as well.
And bottled water isn’t necessarily a better option. Aside from the fact that these plastic bottles are terrible for the environment, bottled water isn’t well regulated either.
And you might be paying more money for no reason. The National Resources Defense Council estimates that at least 25 percent of bottled water is really just tap water and 22 percent of the brands they tested contained contaminant levels above state health limits.
We recommend taking a look at this video about the Turapitcher to find out just how bad drinking tap water can be for your health and what you can do to fix it.
8. Drop The Extra Weight & Slim Down
Everyone knows that they could stand to lose a little weight in order to feel better and have more energy. But how do you get started? Jump start your weight loss at any age with The Truth About Fats. This system has specific recommendations for seniors and will show you how to use the incredible power of “Healing Fats” in order to gain energy, feel younger and lose weight in the process.
There are no strict rules in this system, so there will be no need to starve yourself or do any of those exhausting exercises. You aren’t even required to count calories or anything like that. All you will need to do is stop eating a few “Harmful Foods” and begin eating MORE delicious healing fats to trigger your body’s master metabolic switch.
Simply follow the steps in the system, and put more of the foods you like back into your diet.
9. Control Your Blood Sugar
If you are one of the millions of people who has prediabetes, diabetes, metabolic syndrome or any other form of “insulin resistance,” maintaining normal blood sugar levels can be challenging. Over the past several decades, these chronic disorders have swept through the U.S. and many other nations, reaching epidemic proportions and causing serious, but often preventable, side effects like nerve damage, fatigue, loss of vision, arterial damage and weight gain.
A healthy diet is key to blood sugar management and preventing or treating diabetes. It’s not that you must avoid consuming any carbohydrates or sugar when trying to maintain normal blood sugar — just that you need to balance them out with protein/fats, and focus on getting them from real, whole foods. Eating a source of protein, fiber and healthy fat with all of your meals can help stabilize blood sugar, especially when you consume carbs/sugar (such as starchy veggies like potatoes, fruit or whole grains). These slow down the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, help manage your appetite, and are also important for your metabolism and digestion.
On top of diet & exercise, you can also take a supplement called Glucocil which aims to help control blood sugar levels. It contains several key ingredients and herbs that have been shown to help manage blood sugar levels. Some of these include cinnamon, chromium, mulberry leaf extract, Phellodendron bark extract and many others. You can learn more about this supplement by clicking here.
10. Eliminate Body Pain By Massaging Your Feet
Taking inspiration from the ancient practice of reflexology, MindInsole will massage your way to better health. The magnetized insoles will stimulate precise pressure points on the soles of your feet to relieve strains, reduce pain, and boost your energy levels. Seniors can get 50% off by simply by using our link.
On each insole, there is 400 accupoints to target key areas of your body alongside healing magnets that will balance your body’s natural electromagnetic levels. Reduce your back pain and release harmful toxins from your body – MindInsole is just like having a massage therapist wherever you go.
11. Learn How To Meditate
Practicing meditation can be extremely beneficial for our physical and mental wellbeing. Especially for seniors, meditation offers a great way to cope with the issues that arise as we advance in age.
Anxiety, stress, and depression are all common in our senior years, particularly as we face a number of on-going changes that occur in our bodies and in our environment. Meditation can help us to overcome the challenges that come before us, and can be a very effective tool for mental, physical and emotional health.
Meditation doesn’t need to be complicated to learn. By simply sitting for a few minutes and breathing slowly and deeply you have already started meditating. The next step is focusing your mind on one thing to begin calming your mind. You can focus on your breathing or an image you find particularly relaxing like: a placid lake at sunset or a campfire at night. Try to resist allowing random thoughts to enter your mind by concentrating on a single image or on your breathing.
12. Patriot Power Greens – Drink This Daily
Let’s face it, getting older isn’t fun… You still feel like you’re still young at heart, but your body doesn’t seem to agree. The biggest causes of death in America is poor health – Heart Disease, Diabetes, Cancer, these diseases combined kill over one million Americans per year… When it comes to your health, the best preparation might just be prevention. That’s why we’ve added Patriot Power Greens to this list. Many people report that drinking Patriot Power Greens daily has boosted their energy levels and improved their overall feelings of well being. We recommend that you drink either this or something similar daily.
13. Keep Your Feet Feeling Young
Foot pain, no matter how much or how little it hurts, it sets a precedent for underlying health issues to come. In fact, millions of Americans have experienced foot pain related to the arch, heel, ankle, or plantar fascia.
These episodes, no matter how short or how long, determine chronic issues later with varicose veins making an appearance. The wonderful team over at Dr Soothers Socks have come up with a fantastic pair of compression sock sleeves. Their new socks dramatically reduces swelling and pain in the heels. It soothes achy tired feet and helps with the circulation of blood flow so that your feet are getting enough oxygen.
14. Help Relieve Pain With This Device
It’s hard to feel young when you’re in constant pain. Whether it’s back pain, neck pain, knee pain, needing to take medication isn’t always the best solution. Especially since pain medication can be hard on your body and liver. For that reason many Americans are now purchasing a new device called Accupoint which is designed to reduce pain in the lower back, arms, and legs. AccuPoint technology is intended to block the pain signal that you feel and increase endorphins to help give you lasting relief. This drug-free alternative allows you quick and easy therapy at home, at work, or on the go. The AccuPoint Pain Relief Pad can be used virtually anywhere at any time. Simply turn it on, adjust the comfort level, and let the pain melt away like never before!
15. Drink Red Wine
Now, if you’re unable to drink wine for health reasons then skip this suggestion. However, if your doctor gives you the go ahead then drinking small amounts of red wine may reduce the risk of heart disease by helping to retain the “good” HDL cholesterol in the blood. … Some studies indicate that populations already at a high risk of heart disease, like the elderly, may benefit even more from moderate wine consumption. Getting older shouldn’t mean you’re no longer able to have fun! You can even join a wine club called Winc where they will curate and send you some amazing wines every month (at a discount).
