It’s always important to feel good inside and out but maintaining good heart health for seniors becomes even more important as we settle into retirement. With luxurious days of leisure ahead of us, it can be easy to become complacent with our health, but we’re here to tell you that now is the perfect opportunity to dedicate more time to keeping your body and mind in premium condition!
It’s important to have a healthy ticker, but it’s also important to have fun in what should be some of the best years of your life. It can be hard to know where to start, so we’ve put together some top tips for heart health below.
Eat Well to Be Well!
If we are what we eat, then we should eat well to be well! It’s an old-fashioned notion, but a notion that remains true nonetheless! Food plays such a huge role in how the body functions every day, and each body processes food differently. However, it’s almost universally acknowledged that a balanced diet with lots of vegetables, quality protein, and limited salts and fats is the ideal way to keep our hearts in good nick.
Good food doesn’t have to be boring either! If we look at some of the world’s ‘blue zones’, where people live the longest and healthiest lives, they include Japan, Italy, Costa Rica, and Greece. None of these locations screams boring cuisine, just think of all the delicious feta cheese-laden salads and grilled fish morsels to wrap in a fluffy flatbread or two – delicious!
A top tip on healthy heart diets for seniors includes swapping white flours for whole grains, adding in leafy greens, or trying to use herbs and spices instead of just our standard salt and pepper.
Keep Up an Active & Physical Lifestyle
One of the best ways to keep our hearts healthy is to use it! Our heart is a muscle that needs to be used to stay healthy. It’s important to get the heart pumping so it can clear itself of any blockages that might accumulate, and efficiently pump blood to where the body needs it.
Moderate cardio exercise is always recommended for seniors. Pick a few activities that make you catch your breath, but not choke and heave. It’s just enough to keep the heart engaged without putting too much strain on the rest of our bodies.
Take Up Tennis
Tennis is a great way to up the heart rate without too much exertion. It’s a relatively small court, and if you pick your partner right you won’t be needing to run too far in either direction! Plus, it’s a good bit of fun with friends.
Dive Into the Pool!
Swimming and water sports are great ways to keep your heart healthy. They’re low impact to help with any joint or knee niggles we might be nursing, and there are options to suit everyone.
If laps don’t spark our fancy, water-aerobics is a fun way to get the heart pumping and the body moving. Plus, just being in the water is a great way to calm our nervous system down and build up other things like immunity and level-headedness.
Go for a Round of Golf
Take it easy and take it outside with a game of golf! It doesn’t sound like a heart rate chaser, but trust us, after hefting a bag of steel on your back for nine holes, you might be puffing just a little!
Golf is also a great way to get our friends out for a day of fun and gives us a chance to have a good chat as we wind our way around the green.
Take the Pressure Off & Relax!
Much of our heart’s health relies on our blood pressure. Too low and our body can’t get all the blood it needs, too high and it puts stress on our heart. The solution? Well, it’s not straightforward, but rather lies in a combination of a healthy diet, exercise, and lifestyle. Unfortunately, that means we need to cut the cigarettes & limit the lagers, but we find feeling healthy is better than a short-term buzz anyway.
Do Things That Make You Happy!
Our mental wellbeing can play a big part in our heart health. Stress, depression, or anxiety can wreak havoc on how our heart works, so it’s best to know how to keep ourselves happy and healthy. Take time out of the day to do things that bring you joy. It could be gardening, chatting with friends, or going for a long walk on the beach. Whatever it is, do it, your heart will thank you for it, and so will your mind!
Keep Fit, Active & Heart Healthy at Fairview Lifestyle Village
For a lifestyle retirement village that cares about your wellbeing, from your heart to your head, Fairview Lifestyle Village is the place to be. With a range of facilities from sports to a library and beautiful gardens, there are so many ways to keep active in a like-minded community. If a senior citizen home doesn’t take your fancy straight away, just take a look at some of our beautiful villas, townhouses, and apartments, they’re sure to turn your head.
Get in touch with the team at Fairview Lifestyle Village today to see how a place at our facilities can keep you healthy, fit, and living your best life in retirement.
