Retired people don’t normally find themselves too busy to get things done. But one thing that consistently gets left undone is personal self-care. We can find a hundred reasons not to take care of ourselves, but usually it’s because we just don’t take the time. The more we get into retirement, the easier it is for retirees to find themselves taking care of themselves less and less.
It’s natural to slow down when you get older or retire, but you can’t neglect yourself completely; you’re important and you have to take care of yourself. But the ultimate goal of retirement is to enjoy it and one way to do that is to learn how to take care of ourselves in retirement.
Here are some tips to get in the much needed self-care you need to start feeling your best.
1) Get in Some Activity Every Day
It’s good to keep yourself active. However, depending on your age and your level of physical fitness, you may have to limit your activity at the beginning. Physical activity is important to help your body release endorphins which may improve your mood and increase your energy.
Do whatever you enjoy that gets you active and it doesn’t much matter what the activity is. You could walk around the park with your spouse or dog, do some yoga in your local heath club or senior center. You might consider using use a workout video. Just do something that will get you active each day.
2) Stay in Touch with People Close to You
Relationships are an important part of retirement. Taking time to nurture friendships and relationships is a crucial part of self-care. It’s not always easy but there are some simple ways you can still put the effort in to show you care about relationships.
You could call, text or email your family and friends a couple of times a week or stop when you’re taking a walk to keep in touch with your neighbors. The important thing is to maintain your relationships and let people you care about know you’re thinking of them.
3) Make Sleep A Priority
Being tired causes a lot of us to stop being active. It’s tempting to try use lack of sleep as an excuse to sit on the couch, but it’s important to prioritize sleep to keep us healthy. The Director of UCLA Sleep Disorders says this about the risk of limiting your sleep:
“We know from research studies that chronic lack of sleep has adverse health consequences: people who consistently sleep less than six hours experience increased appetite, which causes weight gain and increases the risk of depression, cardiovascular disease, and type two diabetes.”
Sleep is a crucial part of every retirees mental and physical health. Getting an appropriate amount of sleep each night is one self-care treatment you can’t afford to miss out on.
4) Eat Healthy
Several retirees I know have made fast food restaurants their normal place to eat lunch and dinner. But eating right is a great self-care routine to instill. Healthy eating habits can cause you to experience good short term and long-term effects by providing better nutrition and limiting sodium and cholesterol. Two things that every doctor recommends.
It’s tempting to go for the quicker, unhealthy option, but eating right is better for your body and helps you keep a positive attitude. It’ll help to provide you with more energy and better overall health to enjoy your retirement.
5) Prioritize Your Health
Most of us know we have to take care of ourselves, but sometimes we put off what we know we should do. Make sure you carefully note each checkup and appointment fwith your primary care physician. Knowing the exact month to return for yearly checkups and when you have specality appointments.
We rarely take as much as we should but your health is important. Take special care to make appointments for your yearly checkups and don’t miss any regular exams. I hope these few, simple tips will help you find a way to squeeze in some self-care time during your non-hectic retirement life.
As a retiree, you probably have enough time to yourself. You past the time when you might need to put other people before yourself, but it can make it easier to ignore your self-care routine, causing you to neglect your physical health.
You’re important, and your health deserves to be valued. You can easily improve your mental and physical health by integrating these simple self-care tips.