Aging isn’t an easy thing. As we grow older, our age-related issues can start to weigh on us. Learning to work with your age, instead of fighting it, is crucial to staying happy and healthy. No matter how aging may affect you, there are several simple ways to make this journey easier on you, without having to completely change your lifestyle or routines.
The secret to building habits
Building small healthy habits can lead to an overall healthier lifestyle. However, many people will start too big and become unable to keep up these habits. For example—when was the last time you actually kept up with an ambitious New Year’s resolution? Grand plans can sound amazing on paper, but translating them into real life can be challenging. Using the following strategies can keep you from biting off more than you can chew, and keep you consistent.
1. Keep it small
The best habits are those that you can keep up with. This means starting small; probably smaller than you would expect. An easy way to do this is to identify a large goal, and then break it into smaller components until you reach something manageable. For instance, the general goal of “exercising more” could be broken down into individual exercises, like walking or swimming, which can then be worked into your routine.
The duration of these habits can also be cut down to suit your needs. If you have a busy schedule, shortening the length of time spent on that habit can make things a lot easier. Spending just 5 minutes on these habits to start can create a solid base for you to build off of in the future.
2. Build it into your routine
Carving out time for your new habits increases your chances of sticking with them. For seniors, your activities—such as routine meet-ups with friends, or exercise classes—are very important in maintaining your overall mental health. Ensuring that these activities are not hindered is vital. Try making a schedule, either physically or virtually, and write out your current commitments. Then, look at when you have the most free time and begin laying out time for self improvement.
3. Use associated activities
When adding habits to your routine, you can also “habit stack”, or link a new habit with an existing one. This will create a consistent context for your new habit to be done in, which has been shown by the British Journal of General Practice to be important for habit formation.
To start, try identifying triggers for the habits you would like to build. This could be a pair of walking shoes, a meditation area, or an inspiring quote or photograph. Then, place these objects in strategic locations to make these “trigger moments” happen at the right time. For example, brushing your teeth occurs twice a day; you might try putting a picture which reminds you of your new habit on the wall near your toothbrush, so that you are reminded to do it twice a day.
Step one: Setting goals
As mentioned above, the easiest way to come up with small, achievable habits is to identify general goals first, and then break those down into manageable pieces. As such, the first step in aging joyfully is to set these initial goals, and then narrow them down until you reach something workable.
This process doesn’t require any special equipment or planning. In fact, you can try this right now! With a pen and paper, try to write out some general goals for yourself, whether they be mental or physical, and then begin brainstorming specific ways to apply these goals to your life. If you are able to jot these down with no issues, you can move right on to step two. However, it can sometimes be difficult to come up with these on the spot—if that is the case, a few common broad goals for seniors, as well as some examples of how to begin breaking them down, are listed below.
Goals for the mind
As you age, your lifestyle naturally becomes more isolating. Retirement, reduced mobility, and the loss of friends and spouses can all lead to loneliness, worsened mental health, and cognitive decline. To combat this, you may have goals such as “make more friends!” or “improve your mental health.”
If a goal of yours is to improve your social life, the first step is to decide how you want to accomplish this. Do you want to invest more time into the friendships you already have? Or would you like to meet new people? Asking yourself these questions can help to make the path forward clearer.
Spending less time alone will also naturally help to combat mental health issues like depression. According to the National Institute on Aging, studies have shown that “loneliness and social isolation are associated with higher risks for health problems (including) depression, and cognitive decline.” For those hoping to improve their mental health, taking steps towards becoming more connected with others can be a great help. Seeking out therapy services is also a good idea, especially if you are struggling significantly or are in crisis.
Goals for the body
As explained in this WHO article, aging is caused by “the accumulation of a wide variety of molecular and cellular damage over time” which can lead to a range of health conditions, including arthritis, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and others. As such, a broad goal of yours may simply be to “get healthier” in order to combat or prevent these issues.
There are several factors that influence your health. While some are outside of your control—like genetics, sex, or your childhood environment—others such as diet, frequency of exercise, and sleep quality can be improved through positive changes made to your lifestyle. Try examining each of these aspects in your life, and take note of where you could improve. This will give you a sense of which areas you should be focusing on when developing your healthy habits.
Step two: Creating habits
Once you have identified key areas in need of improvement, you can start to find and implement habits. Just as with your goal setting, you should look over your list of goals right now to see if any habits jump out at you. Your intuition can be your greatest asset when finding habits that will suit your lifestyle. However, just in case you are in need of some inspiration, some examples of healthy habits are listed below.
Habits for the mind
These habits may be helpful if your goals include things like improving cognitive health, forming deeper connections with current friends, or meeting new people.
- Learning new things
In an experiment done by Scientific American, adults between 58 and 86 years old were encouraged to learn new skills over a 3-month period. The results showed that both memory and attention were dramatically improved, and that these results lasted; in fact, the one-year follow up showed that these elders had not only maintained their gains, but improved their scores to rival those of adults 50 years younger! If you are interested in reaping these benefits, you can try:
- Playing an instrument
- Learning a language (a great option is Duolingo, an online learning tool)
- Singing
- Drawing (you could try drawing digitally too!)
- Photography
- Practicing to use technology
- And more!
These can be done for just 5 minutes per day to begin with. Remember, the trick is to start out small, and build consistency. Once you have established the habit, you can increase the length of time spent on it.
- Schedule hangouts, or go to events
For those who want to deepen their relationships with their current friends, hanging out with them is an obvious answer. However, the hangout-scheduling process can become tiring and tedious. Instead of always deciding on a new time and place to meet up, try building a habit of seeing a particular friend/group of friends on a set day every week or month. Some ideas for activities include:
- Walks or hikes
- Baking together
- Playing board games
- Volunteering
- Common hobbies or interests, like birdwatching, knitting, or gardening
By repeating this process with multiple friends and/or family members, you will be able to create several days a month which are guaranteed to be filled with socializing, which can do wonders for loneliness. This can be done gradually too, with just one or two recurring plans each month to start. If this system works well for you, then you can implement it with more of your friends.
If your goal is to get out more to meet new people, or are looking for activities to do with current friends, try getting in the habit of looking for upcoming events each week. This can be done through community notice boards, or online using websites such as Facebook or Meetup; even just searching for “senior events in my area” can bring up a wealth of possibilities. You might try doing this at the start of each week, at a consistent time—remember, a consistent context is very important for habit creation.
Habits for the body
- Limit substance use
Reducing bad habits is just as important as building healthy ones. This is especially true if you are older, as age-related conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and liver problems can be worsened by substance use. If you currently smoke or drink, the following habits can be used as tools to help you quit:
- Make a list of reasons to quit each time you get a craving (this can be done physically or mentally)
- Swap alcoholic drinks with water or soft-drinks
- Eat before drinking
- Identify triggers (contexts when you become tempted to drink/smoke) and list alternatives
Older people are half as likely to try to quit smoking, says the National Library of Medicine. Because of this, it is also important to have a solid support circle who you can call upon to help you stay on track. Each time you get a craving, you can try calling or messaging someone you love. You don’t need to make it a conversation about quitting if you don’t want to. Even a simple “thinking about you” message can help to distract you, and can also make your connections with those people stronger.
- Healthy eating
Eating healthy is a goal for many. How you approach it depends on your current situation. If you are usually eating home cooked meals, you may not need to do much; if you are eating fast food for every meal, it may take more time to gradually transition away from that. No matter where you are in your journey, there are several easy things you can try:
- Place a fruit bowl alongside your usual snacks
- Eat one healthy meal per day/week/month
- Meal prep (salads and healthy sauces are great options for this)
- Have one vegetable with dinner each night
Starting small improves your chances of sticking with a new diet, and can also provide a sense of accomplishment once you are able to move on to the next challenge!
Habits for both mind and body
A lot of healthy habits have some benefits for both your mind and body. Eating well, for example, is not just about having a healthier body; it has been proven to also improve mood, mental health, and quality of sleep. In fact, all healthy habits can be visualized as existing on a spectrum; on one side are the habits which are most physically beneficial, while on the other side are those that are most helpful for the mind. The following habits are merely those which sit closer to the middle of that spectrum, with the mental and physical benefits being balanced.
- Exercise
Consistently exercising is one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health. As you age, your mobility decreases, while chances of injury and chronic pain increase, which can make you avoid exercise. However, getting in the habit of doing lower impact exercises such as aquatic fitness and walking can improve digestion, heart health, lower stress, and much more. Some habits to promote exercise include:
- Daily walks in the morning, evening, or other free time
- Taking an exercise class
- Going to a gym
- Going to a swimming facility
Senior-specific exercises like seated exercise and aquafit classes can provide an accessible way for you to grow your physical and mental strength, no matter your current physical ability.
- Meditation
Meditating has been proven to lessen loneliness, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues, along with improving cellular aging, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels—which reduces risks of heart attacks and strokes, which are both exacerbated by age. Meditating regularly is therefore highly beneficial, and can be done after waking up, before bed, or anytime you have a free moment. There are also many guided meditations online, starting at just a few minutes long, which can be helpful for first-time meditators.
- Consistent sleep
Getting a consistent amount of sleep each night can improve alertness, memory, cardiovascular health, appetite, and much more. If you have trouble getting to bed at a good, consistent time, try to figure out probable causes. Some general habits you can try to improve your sleep include:
- Having a consistent routine
- Reading or doing other soothing activities to wind down
- Putting away technology an hour before bed
- Dimming the lights while getting ready for bed
According to the Good Care Group, common causes include stress, medication, and illnesses. If you are worried that it may be something serious, such as an underlying health condition or side effect from medication, consider talking to your doctor.
Step three: Reward yourself
This final step can make the difference between a short-term habit and a long term one. In an NCBI study, it was found that “older adults are motivated more by the habitual tendency to obtain reward” than their younger counterparts, who are more “motivated by the goal-directed tendency to improve their state”. Therefore, as a senior, you are more likely to stick with a habit if you have a clear, recurring reward than if you only have the final reward of being an improved version of yourself.
Just as you came up with goals earlier, you should now try to think of rewards to give yourself at set intervals. This could be something like a pastry from your favourite cafe, a spa-day with a massage, or an outing to your favourite restaurant. The trick is to keep these rewards small enough that you can reward yourself on a consistent basis. You deserve it!
Above all, remember to be patient with yourself. Change takes time, and cannot be forced—reward yourself when you have been consistent, and be gentle with yourself when you haven’t. By sticking with your goals, you will be able to achieve the ultimate goal: aging joyfully.
