By Dr. Au-Co Ly Nguyen, Guest columnist
As we age, incorporating simple-yet-effective practices can make a significant impact on our health. With 2024 just around the corner, there’s no better time to explore how seniors can make better and healthier changes in the new year. From making your homes more senior-friendly to embracing low-impact exercise, maintaining a balanced diet, and incorporating helpful tools and gadgets, these tips can help ensure a “golden” new year.
Over time, our living spaces need to adapt to our evolving needs. Creating a safe and accessible living space is a crucial step in promoting overall well-being for seniors.
A few tips you can do around your home include:
- Decluttering and organizing living spaces to reduce the risk of falls.
- Removing loose rugs.
- Securing handrails in hallways.
- Ensuring proper lighting in all areas.
- Installing grab bars in bathrooms.
- Investing in non-slip mats or stickers that can be placed on the floor, improving traction when walking around the house.
All of these steps can help prevent accidents and foster an environment that promotes independence and comfort.
Another aspect of healthy well-being is exercise.
It’s never too late to start or modify a fitness routine. Low-impact exercises are gentle on joints and muscles, making them ideal for seniors. Activities such as walking, swimming and cycling provide cardiovascular benefits without excessive strain. Chair yoga, tai chi, dancing and gardening are excellent choices for improving flexibility, balance and mental well-being. Seniors should aim for at least 30 minutes of activity a day, along with muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days.
Muscle-strengthening activities include:
- Seated leg lifts.
- Calf raises.
- Seated top taps.
- Bicep curls (this can be done seated or standing) using light weights.
- Resistance-band exercises.
Maintaining a healthy diet is an especially important part of our health as we age.
Seniors should focus on eating nutrient-rich whole foods, and incorporating a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and healthy fats into daily meals while limiting processed foods, excess sugar and sodium intake.
It’s important that seniors also eat more fiber-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grains, to aid digestion and prevent constipation.
A diet high in calcium also helps to maintain bone density and prevent osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a serious illness that impacts everyone as we age, so it’s important to combat it before it gets to a bad state. Foods high in calcium include dairy products and leafy greens.
Staying hydrated is also crucial for seniors, as it helps maintain electrolyte balance and blood volume levels, aids in digestion and the transportation of nutrients, and helps kidney function.
Seniors should typically consume about eight to 10 cups of water daily. I know that may seem like a lot but try setting small achievable goals throughout the day. Drinking the proper amount of water can help prevent dehydration, which can lead to headaches and dizziness, and help your other organs and systems in your body function properly.
If you’re having trouble drinking enough water, consider breaking down your daily intake into manageable goals:
- Two glasses by 10 a.m.
- Two more glasses by noon.
- An additional two by late afternoon.
This way, you can fulfill most of your hydration goals without needing to consume water too close to bedtime, minimizing disruptions during the night.
If drinking that many glasses of water feels unattainable, don’t forget that you can also “eat your water.” Consuming foods with high water content, such as watermelon, cucumbers and tomatoes, is another great way to stay hydrated. These foods can help keep the body hydrated and provide essential nutrients at the same time.
Today, embracing technology can be a game-changer in simplifying health-related tasks and improving overall quality of life. Try incorporating helpful gadgets such as:
- GrandPad: The easy-to-use tablet allows seniors to listen to music, play games and browse safely on the internet. Its large buttons and intuitive interface make it a simple tool for video chatting with family and friends.
- Amazon Echo Dot: Alexa is a smart device that uses speech recognition to perform a variety of tasks. It can do a range of things like play music, receive news updates, check the weather or set alarms, and can be set up anywhere in the home. If a fall should ever occur, you can say, “Alexa, call for help,” and it will text and call your emergency contacts.
- MedMinder: This pill dispenser holds daily doses of medication for a full month. It doles out digital reminders – lights, beeps and phone calls – with its own cellular connections. Caregivers and family members can also receive phone calls if a dose is missed.
As we step into the next year, there is no better time than now to start adopting a new or modified approach to wellness. By taking small steps to improve your home, diet and exercise routine and by incorporating helpful gadgets and tools, you can improve your quality of life — and enjoy your golden years to the fullest.
Dr. Au-Co Nguyen studied osteopathic medicine at Midwestern University in Arizona and went on to complete a family medicine residency at Community Health of South Florida, Inc. Nguyen also completed a geriatric fellowship at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in Florida. She chose a career in geriatric medicine because she wants to make a difference in patients’ lives, both mentally and physically.
