Reinventing Yourself During Healthy Aging Month

Think it's too late to "re-invent" yourself? Think again. September is Healthy Aging Month and the time to get started on better health practices. Healthy Aging Month is an annual health observance designed to focus national attention on the positive aspects of growing older by providing inspiration and practical ideas for adults, ages 45-plus, to improve their physical, mental, social and financial well-being.

The numbers of people over 45 is growing every year. The attention used to be just on the baby boomers. The generation x-ers are elbowing their way in and have many of the same interests as the previous generation - stay active and vibrant as long as possible. There are over 76 million baby boomers today over 50 and the first of the 82.1 million generation x-ers reached that milestone in 2015.

Why Healthy Aging Month?

September is a perfect time to celebrate Healthy Aging Month since it is time when many people think about getting started on new tasks after the summer. Drawing on the "back to school" urge embedded in everyone from childhood, the observance month's activities are designed to encourage people to rejuvenate and get going on positive measures that can impact the areas of physical, social, financial and mental wellness. It's purpose is to draw attention to the myths of aging, to shout out 'Hey, it's not too late to take control of your health, it's never too late to get started on something new.' Why not think about the positive aspects of aging instead of the stereotypes and the negative aspects?

So in honor of Healthy Aging Month, here are ten tips to help you cast off those negative stereotypes of getting older, and find new and exciting ways to reinvent yourself:

1. Do not act your age...or at least what you think your cur­rent age should act like. What was your best year so far? 28? 40? Now? Pic­ture your­self at that age and be it. Some peo­ple may say this is denial, but we say it's pos­i­tive think­ing and goes a long way toward feel­ing bet­ter about your­self. (Tip: Don't keep look­ing in the mir­ror, just FEEL IT!)
2. Be pos­i­tive in your con­ver­sa­tions and your actions every day. When you catch your­self com­plain­ing, check your­self right there and change the con­ver­sa­tion to some­thing pos­i­tive. (Tip: Stop watch­ing the police reports on the local news).
3. Eliminate negativity. Do you have neg­a­tive friends who com­plain all of the time and con­stantly talk about how awful every­thing is? Drop them. As cruel as that may sound, dis­tance your­self from peo­ple who do not have a pos­i­tive out­look on life. They will only depress you and stop you from mov­ing for­ward. Sur­round your­self with ener­getic, happy, pos­i­tive peo­ple of all ages and you will be hap­pier too. (Tip: Smile often. It's con­ta­gious and wards off naysayers.)
4. Move like a vibrant, healthy per­son. Come on. You can prob­a­bly do it. Ana­lyze your gait. Do you walk slowly because you have just become lazy or, per­haps, have a fear of falling? (Tip: Make a con­scious effort to take big strides, walk with your heel first, and wear com­fort­able shoes.)
5. Stand up straight! You can knock off the appear­ance of a few extra years with this trick your mother kept try­ing to tell you. Look at your­self in the mir­ror. Are you hold­ing your stom­ach in, have your shoul­ders back, chin up? Check out how much bet­ter your neck looks! Fix your stance and prac­tice it every day, all day until it is nat­ural. You will look great and feel bet­ter. (Tip: Your waist­line will look trim­mer if you fol­low this advice.)
6. How's your smile? Research shows peo­ple who smile more often are hap­pier. Your teeth are just as impor­tant to your good health as the rest of your body. Not only is it the first thing peo­ple notice, but good oral health is a gate­way to your over­all well-being. (Tip: Go to the den­tist reg­u­larly and look into teeth whiten­ing. Noth­ing says old more than yel­low­ing teeth!)
7. Don't accept loneliness. Stop brood­ing and com­plain­ing about hav­ing no friends or fam­ily. Do some­thing about it now. Right this minute. Pick up the phone, land­line, or cell and make a call to do one or more of the fol­low­ing: Vol­un­teer your time, Take a class, Invite some­one to meet for lunch, brunch, din­ner, or cof­fee. (Tip: Vol­un­teer at the local pub­lic school to stay in touch with younger peo­ple and to keep cur­rent on trends, take a com­puter class or a tuto­r­ial ses­sion at your cell phone store to keep up with tech­nol­ogy, choose a new per­son every week for your din­ing out.)
8. Start walk­ing. This should be done not only for your health, but to get out and see your friends and neigh­bors. Do you have a dog? You'll be amazed how the dog can be a con­ver­sa­tion starter. (Tip: If you don't have time for a dog, go to your local ani­mal shel­ter and vol­un­teer. You will be thrilled by the puppy love)
9. Find your inner artist. Who says tak­ing music lessons is for young school chil­dren? You may have an artist lurk­ing inside you just wait­ing to be tapped. Have you always wanted to play the piano, vio­lin, or tuba? Have you ever won­dered if you could paint a por­trait or scenic in oil? What about work­ing in wood? (Tip: Sign up now for fall art or music classes and dis­cover your inner artist!
10. Most importantly: Make this month the time to set up your annual phys­i­cal and other health screen­ings. Go to the appoint­ments, create a healthcare plan with your primary care provider, get current on all your vaccinations (flu season is right around the corner and COVID is still a very real threat). Creating a plan and sticking to it will help you stop wor­ry­ing about ail­ments for a while.

If you don't have a primary care provider, or would like to schedule an annual wellness visit, visit www.summitmedical.com to find a provider near you.