3 Ways You Can be Healthy and Happy in Your Senior Years

By Mike Cooper

Health and happiness – sounds like a great way to spend your senior years. Do you envision your senior years sitting on a boat with a drink in your hand in a warm weather climate? Or in a cabin with a cup of steaming cocoa with a great book watching a pristine snowfall? Whatever your vision, I’m sure it is not one with sickness and misery. No one wishes that for themselves.

What is your plan to achieve that goal? Health and happiness doesn’t just happen (at least not for most of us). You have to work at it throughout your life.

On National Senior Citizens Day, we want to share 3 ways you can be healthy and happy in your senior years:

• Check your finances. You’ve heard the old saying, “Money can’t buy happiness,” but it can buy things – and we all need some things. It is never too early to create financial goals based on your needs and wants. There are many financial planners that can help you with those goals. You can stress less as you grow older knowing that you can live the lifestyle you want once you retire.
• Check your health. It costs a lot more to be unhealthy that it does to be healthy – doctor’s visits, prescriptions, co-pays, time off of work, etc. If you start taking care of your health at a young age, you may be able to reduce some of the negative effects of getting older such as arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke and even dementia. We have talked about healthy nutrition and exercise in prior blogs (such as https://www.napervilleseniorcenter.com/snacking-can-be-healthy/ or https://www.napervilleseniorcenter.com/5-ways-to-stay-healthy-mentally-and-physically/). These habits need to be started at an early age so you keep you don’t have to play ‘catch up’ when it comes to your health!
• Check your network. Who will help you if something happens to you? Your wife, kids, other family or friends? A lot of this depends on where you are living in your senior years in relationship to people you know. Do you want to live near family or do you want to be somewhere exotic (or just warm)? These things should be taken into consideration as you age.

Whether or not you are near family or friends in your senior years, you can count on Naperville Senior Center to be your “home away from home” when you need it. We treat all of our Members like family (sometimes better than family)! We can help you or your loved one keep physically and mentally active without breaking the bank.

When we hear our Members say they look forward to coming each day, we know we are doing our best. Each week there is something new, different and interesting for them to do or learn; we want our Members to grow!

Call to action: contact us to schedule a FREE 3-hour trial at our facility so you can see what we have to offer and understand the Naperville Senior Center experience, “Home Away From Home.”