Why Is It Important To Stay Active As A Senior?

Senior Tips for Staying Active

Bonaventure Senior Living believes it is essential for all seniors to stay active, not only to keep your body healthy but also to keep your mind healthy as well.  Often, it is easy to get into a routine of a sedentary lifestyle, especially if you have recently retired, but this can put your health at risk. Fortunately, there are many ways for seniors to be active, healthy, and happy.

Senior Tips for Staying Active

One of Bonaventure Senior Living's best tips for seniors who want to stay active is that it is important to find something to do that you will enjoy. If you look upon exercise or physical activities as a hobby, rather than a chore, you will enjoy the activities more and be more apt to incorporate them into a regular routine.

Bird watching, taking a nature hike, dancing, biking, or mall walking can all provide you with not only entertainment, but with mild exercise as well.  You can also take up photography and check out different locales for inspiration or check into free or low-cost exercise classes for seniors.  If money is tight, you can check out exercise videos at your local library, split the cost of a video with a friend or just take a walk around. Listening to music or watching television while exercising can also make the process more fun. 

Activities for Those With Limited Mobility

If you have limited mobility, Bonaventure Senior Living believes you can still be active.  Water recreation is often the best option for seniors who have problems with mobility.  Swimming and water aerobics both provide great options for those who have sore or stiff joints or other mobility problems because the water can lessen the stress on your body. 

If you cannot walk, you may also want to check out PBS for exercise programs like “Sit and Be Fit”.  There are video options as well featuring exercise videos that can be done by those who aren't mobile.

Stretching

Stretching is important to staying active and supple.  Whenever you have been sitting for a while, Bonaventure Senior Living recommends you get up for a few moments to stretch.  You can stretch while on the computer or while watching television.  You can even stretch while talking on the phone.  Do neck rolls, point and flex your toes, or take a Pilate or yoga class.

Finding A Friend

Bonaventure Senior Living

believes that one of the best ways to make sure you stay active as a senior is to find a friend to share in your exercise routine.  Friends will encourage each other so you won’t miss a session and chatting with friends will help the time pass while you are exercising.  Even if you are just mall walking and window-shopping, having a friend along will help the time pass quicker and the exercise will be more fun.

Final Tips

While all of the above tips are helpful for seniors looking to stay active, Bonaventure Senior Living has a few final tips for those who want to maintain the health of their mind and bodies:

•    Eating healthy and staying positive is also essential to staying active. 
•    Find things to do that make you happy so you will continue to do them.  When you are happy, it is impossible to be stressed out and you will feel better.
•    It takes 30 days to form a habit. Once you start an exercise routine, keep it up for at least a month and you'll find that it becomes a natural part of your routine.

Finally, remember that exercise does not have to mean going to a gym, playing strenuous sports, or jogging.  Exercise can be part of your daily activities like taking the stairs instead of the elevator.  When you shop, you may want to park farther away, since walking is very good exercise, and go down all the aisles inside the store.  Even if you just get out of the house and drive to the library, you are moving and doing something rather than sitting at home. 

Exercise Tips For Seniors

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Bonaventure Senior Living understands that exercising, as a senior can be a challenge. Retirement can be a major change for most people and it can be hard to get into an active routine and easy to become sedentary and stagnant. Further, aches, pains and problems caused by aging or arthritis can also make exercise difficult.

However, while exercise can seem like a burden, Bonaventure Senior Living wants to stress just how important exercise is. With 20.9 percent of Americans 60 and older suffering from diabetes and an estimated 84 percent of deaths in those 65 and over caused by heart disease, exercising is essential to living a long and healthy life.  Fortunately, these exercise tips from Bonaventure Senior Living can help you get your exercise program started and help you to keep it going.

Starting an Exercise Routine

Bonaventure Senior Living knows that the hardest part of exercising for seniors is the process of actually getting started and getting into a comfortable routine. These tips can help:

·         Get cleared by a doctor first. You never want to enter into an exercise routine that does damage to your body. Make sure you speak to your doctor about what your capabilities are and what you should and should not do before you begin any exercise routine.

·         Focus on diet as well as exercise. Exercising when you are overweight can be very difficult. Combining good nutrition with an exercise program can help you to lose weight and cut your risk of diabetes. Losing weight can also make the process of exercising easier.

·         Start slow: You aren't going to run a marathon the first time you try to exercise. Ease into an appropriate exercise program, beginning with exercising for just a few minutes at a time. Eventually, you should try to increase your program to 30 minutes or more of mild to moderate exercise, but if you have been sedentary for a while or are suffering from health problems, you may need to work up to this.

·         Choose something you enjoy. Bonaventure Senior Living believes that exercise doesn't have to be a chore. There are plenty of types of exercise from water aerobics to taking nature hikes that can keep your body in shape and be enjoyable at the same time.

Choosing the Right Type of Exercise

When you are starting your routine, remember that not every kind of exercise is appropriate for all seniors. Your doctor will help you to identify what is appropriate for you, but some examples of possible exercises that Bonaventure Senior Living can recommend to seniors include

·         Water exercise: Water aerobics, swimming laps or otherwise doing your exercise in the water can put less stress on aging joints.

·         Yoga or Pilates: A low-stress yoga or Pilates program can allow you to exercise and stretch to retain mobility without putting excess stress on your body.

·         Programs for those with limited mobility: Shows and videos like Sit and Fit are designed to cater to those who are no longer able to walk but who still want to remain healthy.

Bonaventure Senior Living knows that getting started with an exercise program is hard but choosing the right kind of exercise and following these tips can help you to keep your mind and body in top form as you age.

Tips For Helping Senior Save

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Savings Tips by Bonaventure Senior Living.  There are several ways for senior citizens to save money on their health care. The first way is to ask for generic prescriptions. The generic prescriptions have the same ingredients as the brand name prescriptions and they will save senior citizens a lot of money. The senior citizens might even be able to take over the counter medicine like vitamin supplements. The second way is to take the prescription correctly. They need to listen to the way the doctor and the pharmacist tells them to take the medicine. The directions are also listed on the bottle so make sure to read over them carefully. If they do not take their medication like they are suppose to, and then they could end up right back at the doctor’s office.

The third way is to shop around for the cheapest prices on the prescriptions. This means calling around to different drug stores to find out what they are charging for a certain prescription. Even the brand name stores like Target and Wal-Mart have great prices on generic prescriptions. It is definitely worth the time to do a little research. The fourth way is to compare the prices of lab tests. This means not just going to the lab that the doctor suggests. Call around to different labs in the area to find the cheapest prices of the lab tests. This could save a lot of money after all because a lot of laboratory charge different prices for the same procedures. It is all according to the doctor and his staff.

The fifth way is to try mail order medications. This will only work if the senior citizens take a lot of medications on a regular basis. Just find out if the prescription drug plan offers the mail order option for the prescriptions. The mail order option means that the senior citizen could get a 90 supply of their medications for a much lower price than at a pharmacy. The sixth way is to read over the healthcare bills when they come in. A lot of senior citizens are being overcharged so it is very important to see if the bill has any errors. If there could possibly be an error on the bill, call the doctor to find out what the certain charge was for.

The seventh way is to ask for a discount. This is as simple as just asking the doctor for a discount on a visit or a pharmacist for a discount of the prescriptions. The eighth way is to look for coupons. Look up the manufacturer's website and see if they have any coupons on there that is available to download or print. They may even offer a discount card that could save you even more money. The ninth way is to walk daily. It is always a good idea for a senior citizen to walk on a daily basis. This is one of the best ways to stay out of the doctor's office. This is because the exercise helps to keep you heart healthy.  Bonaventure Senior Living. 

 

Post by Bonaventure Senior Living

Tips To Help Improve Your Memory - Bonaventure Senior Living

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TIPS FOR IMPROVING MEMORY - Bonaventure Senior Living

The truth is that memory loss can affect anyone, but the elderly are more prone to memory loss and forms of dementia that any other age group.  There are steps you can take and activities you can participate in that will aid in improving your memory. Brain cells can be regenerated at any age, and there are some simple, fun and easy things you can do to make that happen.

1.       Games are good  - Schedule a weekly game night for mind stimulation combined with fun with your family and/or friends.  Get a few friends together once a week and you will find that by making this mental work out social, your spirits will improve alongside your memory.  Board games like Scrabble, Chess and Boggle require a great deal of mind activity – making them ideal for memory improvement!

2.       Learn a new language – Learning a new language has been proven to wake up areas of the brain that regenerate brain cells. Staying active mentally through learning new things also reduce the effects of aging on memory.  Also, performing an old skill in a new way such as trying to eat or brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand can wake up your brain and lead to new connections being made in your brain.

3.       Take your vitamins – Medical professionals cite the memory restorative properties of B vitamins.Bonaventure Senior Living

4.       8 hours of sleep – As we age, we sleep less and while 8 hours of sleep may no longer be possible, getting good, solid, deep sleep will help increase the attentiveness and alertness of your brain.

5.       Exercise – Regular physical exercise increases circulation to the brain, which is helpful for memory and alertness. Exercise is also good for your bones, joints and muscles and can ward off a host of age related maladies.

6.       Memorize –  Some short-term memory problems can be helped by taking immediate action.  If you find yourself becoming forgetful, consider using a voice recorder or leaving post-it note reminders for yourself.

7.       Dark Chocolate is good for your brain -  This isn’t just a chocoholic’s excuse to get more chocolate into their life! Recent scientific data backs up the fact that the flavonoids in dark chocolate are natural antioxidants that boost memory.

8.       Sing a Song – By memorizing the words to your favorite song you are challenging the brain to remember new material over a period of time, which aids in the brain developing the ability to learn new skills.

9.       Green Tea for Memory – Drinking green tea is soothing, relaxing and good for your memory.

10.    Play a card game – The simple task of matching and the repetition of counting and adding numbers in your head is a great memory enhancing exercise. Plus, it’s fun!

Try these fun and easy memory tips and see how much the help your brain become more alert and less forgetful!  Bonaventure Senior Living.