Healthy Aging and Health Habits
If you think about it behavior choices didn’t have much to do with health a hundred years ago. Infectious diseases such as influenza and tuberculosis were the top killers. Today more people die from heart disease, cancer and stroke which can all be prevented.
One of the things you can do to increase your odds for a longer life is to get a good night’s sleep. Sleep just happens to be an important factor for behavior change and lack of sleep interferes with your ability to focus, to remember and learn. When you are not sleeping well you are more likely to make poor decisions.
Managing stress is another major factor for healthy aging. I’ve been having Internet connection problems for the last 3 weeks and it’s not my computer or something the people I work with can’t fix. It’s Comcast, the only Internet source available to us. It is very, very stressful because there is nothing I can do. It takes a while to have that thought settle in and once it does I work around the considerable inconvenience as much as I can so that something is accomplished.
If you have support from family and friends while you take steps to change your behavior consider yourself very fortunate. Or it may be that you would rather not rely on your family and could use another source for help. You can ask your doctor if she can refer you to a dietician or a counselor. You may want to join the community center and participate in their health programs. Maybe you and a good friend can share a personal trainer for an hour.
Keep in mind that there is nothing easy about changing unhealthy habits. Few of us are perfect so prepare yourself for lapses. A step backwards on occasion isn’t a horrible thing. It’s what you do next and most of the time that will make the difference in living a healthy lifestyle.
To your success at healthy aging,
Ruthan
Ruthan Brodsky
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