YOU TIME

1 Sleep: Health experts recommend getting at least eight hours of quality sleep each night so your tissues can remodel and recover.

2 Time between workouts: Fitness fanatics—especially those 50 and older—should take a conservative approach to their workout schedule. Take more time between workouts to make sure your body is up for its next challenge.

3 Hydration: Most American adults don’t drink enough water, so be sure to prioritize hydration in the morning, afternoon and evening. Have two glasses of water first thing in the morning and then one glass of water before each time you eat, whether it’s a meal or snack. The National Academy of Medicine suggests nine cups (eight ounces) for men and women.

4 Nutrition: Nutrition is incredibly important for older people because of their predisposition to arthritis. Eating healthy foods and avoiding those that could generate a low-inflammatory response within the body, like dairy, meats, sugars, gluten and more.

5 Muscle health: Keep your muscles as well as the fascia, ligaments and tendons of those muscles healthy. The best way to do that is to use triggerpoint rollers, stress balls and other apparatuses that can flush out muscles.

6 Cross training: Running both forward and backward, endurance sports, biking forward, walking forward and doing lateral training and balanced training as we get older is very important.

7 Flexibility: There are two different types of flexibility: static flexibility (flexibility when holding things) and dynamic flexibility (flexibility with motion). If you do static stretching and you hold something and you tug at it, the likelihood of you overstretching and doing damage is higher than if you do dynamic flexibility.

8 Balance and proprioception: Balance and proprioception, which is the sense of self-movement and body position, decrease as we age and become less active. To enhance your balance and proprioception, try standing on one foot while brushing your teeth or taking a weekly yoga class.