Midlife can be one of the most exciting stages in a person’s life. It is a time that allows more freedom to pursue your own goals and interests, and often brings newfound independence to do as you like once the children have left home. Embracing the freedom that midlife offers allows you to live life on your terms. Along with increased independence and freedom, midlife is also the ideal time to adopt healthy habits that will benefit you in the future. Starting healthy habits in midlife can help to ensure that your later years are as fulfilling and independent as possible. It is never too late to adopt good daily habits!
3 Ways To Ensure Midlife Is Your Best Life
Stay Active
Being active is essential at every age, but keeping yourself active during midlife is an excellent way to help yourself preserve your independence in older age. Elderly adults represent a significant proportion of the number of slip and fall accident claims each year. Therefore, it makes sense to do all that you can to reduce the chances of falling and becoming injured in later life. And that means you must make a conscious effort every day to move your body.
The CDC highlights the role of exercise in minimizing the chances of a person suffering a fall. Regular exercise helps to improve balance and steadiness in older age. This makes midlife the ideal time to get started with a new exercise routine to improve your health both now and for the future. Activities such as tai chi, yoga and Pilates are excellent for both physical health and mental wellbeing. Attending exercise classes also provides the ideal opportunity to meet new people and widen your social circle.
Keep Learning
As well as working out to keep your body active and healthy, it is also vital to keep your mind active too. An active mind can help to reduce the chances of developing dementia in older age. If you have spent years putting off starting a new further education course, or learning a new language, midlife is the ideal time to start. Not only will you be fulfilling an ambition and adding an extra interest to your life, but you will also be helping to keep your mind alert in the future. There are so many options out there too. From online to apps to in class, you can easily find a course that will fit your lifestyle.
If you don’t want to commit to an ambitious project to keep you learning, why not try a new hobby instead? Learning any new skill and widening your knowledge can be beneficial, whether it is a new interest such as gardening, knitting or an activity such as salsa dancing.
Puzzles, sudoko and journalling are other great ways to engage your mind and relax you. That is a clear win-win!
Get Social
Social interaction is vital for people of all ages. Relationships with other people help you to stay connected with the world around you and enrich life. While it may seem obvious that having an active social life helps to increase happiness, you may not know that it can also help you to live a longer life. According to Harvard Women’s Health Watch, positive social interactions help to improve health and longevity. Keeping in touch with friends and family members, and meeting new people helps to enrich life, but it turns out that it is also beneficial to your long term physical and mental health too.
We spend many years looking forward to midlife and retirement. It would be a shame if you finally reached that time but felt limited by your mind or body. That is why it is important to start healthy daily habits now to ensure that our best years are still to come. Even the smallest improvement can have great impact so why not start today! Your future self will thank you.