Our Favorite Tips to Help Your Body Age Gracefully
Looking younger than your age is a great confidence booster, but aging gracefully is about more than your appearance. If you want to live a long, happy, and active life, you need to take care of your whole health.
At Orthopedic & Wellness in Frederick, Waldorf, and Germantown, Maryland, Dr. Ojedapo Ojeyemi and Dr. Matthew Roh create wellness plans that go beyond your diagnosis and symptoms. We help you manage your symptoms while improving your overall function and energy.
Here, we share with you some of our favorite tips to help your body age gracefully.
Create healthy habits
Some of the most common chronic health conditions that affect adults in the United States are linked to unhealthy habits — like not exercising, poor nutrition, and smoking. Create habits that boost wellness, such as:
- Eating a balanced diet
- Getting 30 minutes of exercise five days a week
- Drinking enough water
- Getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night
- Finding healthy outlets to reduce stress
If you smoke or use tobacco products, quit. Smoking affects every organ in your body, including your skin, muscles, bones, and heart.
Pursue joyful activities
Many people overlook their mental health. But how you think and feel significantly affects your overall health. Pursue activities that make you happy, whether it’s gardening, reading, or volunteering for an animal rescue.
Your social well-being is also vital to healthy aging. Spend time with people you love and who make you feel good about yourself.
Protect your skin
Your skin is your largest organ, and it protects internal structures and organs from outside invaders. Taking care of your skin improves its ability to protect you. It also prevents premature skin aging.
We recommend applying sunscreen daily and avoiding the sun during peak sunlight hours — 10am to 2pm. Taking good care of your skin not only reduces the visible signs of aging, but also may lower your risk of skin cancer.
See your doctor
Your medical providers are health experts, and your annual physical exam is the most important health visit of the year. At this exam, your doctor assesses your current health and how it’s changed over the years and screens for health issues before you have symptoms.
Your primary care provider also makes referrals to specialists like the team at Orthopedic & Wellness to help you manage common conditions like back pain and knee pain. Pain affects your physical, emotional, and social well-being, and you don’t need to accept it as a normal part of the aging process.
Aging gracefully requires your active participation, but it’s not something you have to figure out on your own. If pain is taking over your life, we can help. Call the office closest to you today or book an appointment online with one of our wellness experts.