8 minute read
Living Well While Living Longer
Proactive Strategies can Help with Healthy Aging in the Prime Time of Life
With people living longer – and healthier – than ever before, our latter years afford us the opportunity for more fulfillment and fun. To focus on healthy aging, consider these lifeenhancing strategies:
1. Engage your mind and spirit. Stay sharp and mentally enriched by reading and writing, doing puzzles and playing games, taking classes at a community college or online, engaging in arts and crafts, playing and listening to music and traveling — even if just taking short day trips. Seeing and experiencing new things can make you feel youthful. Immersing yourself in a hobby and engaging in lifelong learning not only can help you stay young at heart but can help you remain mentally and physically healthy, too. 2. Focus on good nutrition. Make sure your diet includes lots of fresh, nutritionally rich foods and go easy on junk food and fast food. With the advice of your healthcare provider, take supplements to ensure you’re getting enough vitamins and minerals in your diet. Avoid dehydration by drinking plenty of water and other healthy drinks.
3. Keep moving. In the spirit of the old adage “move it or lose it,” staying physically active can do wonders for your overall health. In addition to building strong bones and muscles to help prevent falls, exercise helps your cardiovascular health and staves off depression. Find types of physical activity that keep you interested and motivate
with PURPOSE
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you to make movement, stretching and strengthening a daily habit. Consider joining a health club or find a buddy to enjoy walks or other exercise with indoors and outside in the fresh air.
4. Make check-ups a priority. Key to keeping illness and physical problems at bay is having regular screenings and checkups from healthcare providers. In addition to in-person visits, telehealth consultations by phone or video chat are a good option. If and when a physical or mental health change occurs, don’t assume it’s “just part of aging” – get checked out. Symptoms can be signs of treatable illnesses especially when addressed early. Changes with vision and hearing are a common part of growing older but can often be helped easily with the right prescription of glasses or the appropriate hearing aid. Because vision and hearing problems can be signs of other health issues and can also affect your balance, make these check-ups a priority. Dental care becomes more important especially as we age because it can impact our eating and can also affect our heart health. Be sure to take good care of your teeth and see your dentist regularly. If you find yourself dealing with depression, substance abuse or other mental health challenges, don’t delay seeking professional help.
5. Stay socially connected. Make a concerted effort to keep up with friends and loved ones through regular phone calls, emails, social media platforms like Facebook and in-person visits inside and outside your home. Join recreational clubs
STAY ACTIVE LIVE WELL
Staying active is the key to a healthy life. The Y offers unlimited group exercise, swimming, social activities, and more to improve your spirit, mind, and body. Ask about special rates for seniors and Medicare Advantage members. Financial assistance is available. Join us today!
» ymcawnc.org « YMCA OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
where you can make new acquaintances as well as get involved with new activities and interests. Volunteer your time – by doing so, you’ll not only experience the joy of giving back and having a purpose but you’ll also have opportunities to interact with others.
6. Combine healthy activities for even more impact. Simultaneously participating in healthy practices gives you even more benefit than just doing them individually. For example, playing an intellectually challenging game with a friend is better than simply doing so alone because you get the perks that come from socializing in addition to flexing your brain muscles. By combining a mentally challenging game with others with physical exercise, too, you reap a positive powerhouse of benefits for your mind, body and spirit.
VOLUNTEERING RESOURCES United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County
HandsOnAsheville.org
United Way of Henderson County
LiveUnitedHC.org/Volunteer
United Way of Rutherford County
UnitedWayofRutherford.org
United Way of Haywood County
UWHaywood.org
Haywood Jackson Volunteer Center
HAJAVC.org VolunteerMatch VolunteerMatch.org
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The Right Care at Every Age and Every Stage of Life
Marianna Benson, DO
How a Geriatrician meets our changing health needs as we grow older.
The number of people making up the 65+ population in our country is growing. In 2020, the US Census Bureau reported in the previous decade, this population group grew by more than 34-percent. That is a major change and for the people who make up this group, change is a dominant theme. It’s no secret that as we age, our bodies change — and so do our health needs. Things don’t seem to work quite as they used to in our youth. Another complicating factor comes into play when we reach the age when we also see our parents begin to experience changes in their own health and need help managing more than one chronic health condition. In both situations we can discover how a geriatrician can help. Geriatric medicine is a specialty that focuses on senior health, and in preventing and treating disability and disease as you age. Geriatricians go through special training and are typically board-certified in internal medicine or family medicine. This background gives geriatricians a unique understanding — and appreciation — of the challenges you or your parents may be facing. AdventHealth Medical Group Geriatrician, Marianna (Tina) Benson, DO made the choice to focus on caring for older people early in her medical career. She was working as a nurse assistant while in college. “I worked in the hospital and my patients were all geriatric. That’s when I realized I wanted to be in a nurturing element of medicine. I knew I liked working with people and caring for older people.” Dr. Benson joined AdventHealth in 2020. Like other geriatricians, Dr. Benson takes all aspects of her patients’ health into account, including their medical history, current diagnosis and health care goals. More importantly, she looks beyond the physical health to assess spiritual, mental and social health. “Each patient is different. I enjoy the first patient visit a lot because that’s when I spend the most time with them and I always ask them questions.” Dr. Benson says it’s important to learn about their background and what they do or did for a living. She also takes time to learn about their family, their hobbies, if they have pets – all the details that add up to making them who they are. “I really like to get to know the non-medical things about them. That is so important.” That approach to whole-person care carries over to the patients’ families and caregivers as well. Dr. Benson points out the importance of keeping caregivers informed and empowered to be advocates for their loved ones. She helps make sure they all understand what matters to the patient and shapes the care plan around that. “I spend extra time educating the family and caregivers so they can have a plan ahead of time. I ask, ‘if this happens what would your loved one want?’” Choosing to see a geriatrician doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up your primary care provider. Dr. Benson is board-certified in both family medicine and geriatric medicine, so she offers primary care for older patients, but she also works in partnership with some of her patient’s primary care physicians to help meet their specific age-related health needs.
If you would like to learn more about Age-Friendly Care or request an appointment,
please visit AdventHealthNC.com/Geriatrics call 828-761-7221, or scan QR code below.
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