Most people focus on boosting retirement funds when they retire to have insurance that their money will last. This is very important but it shouldn’t cancel out many of the other things that will directly impact your quality of life. It can be such a mad dash to retirement that not enough thought is put into what you’re going to do to make sure that you enjoy your twilight years.
Quality of life doesn’t just depend on money. It depends on health, social life, and keeping the mind alert and active. These things don’t just happen on their own. It takes planning and putting things in place to be able to get the most out of retirement.
Everybody’s idea of the ideal retirement will look different from person to person. However, everybody wants to be able to enjoy it in their own way. In this article, we will go over several things that you can do to make sure your retirement is as wonderful as you imagined it would be.
1 – Take care of vision and hearing
You should be taking an overall look at your health, in general, to make sure that you are healthy when heading into retirement. However, there are two areas that are of concern for many healthy seniors that directly impact their ability to enjoy their elderly years.
Vision and hearing are two functions that deteriorate with age. When you can’t see well or hear well then you are very limited and this will also result in a decline in the quality of your life. It is very important to have a vision test done to make sure that you have the right prescription for glasses or contact lenses. Reading is important as is vision in general so having the right prescription will help you enjoy activities without limit.
Hearing can end up degrading in a slow and steady way that is difficult to notice. It is important to have your hearing checked out at every check up. This way it can be found early on and you can be given the right hearing aid to make sure you can hear what is happening around you clearly.
The best hearing aids these days are very small and discreet so there is no reason to avoid getting them. The latest generation of hearing aids is also much more advanced than those in the past. They can even be controlled discreetly by smartphone so you can adjust the volume on the fly without needing to do it directly to the hearing aid settings.
With your vision and hearing improved then you will be able to enjoy many aspects of life that would have been off-limits had you let them deteriorate further.
2 – Stay in shape
An event that can take away a senior’s independence is a fall. All too often, elderly people will be doing great as far as their health goes and are able to live on their own. Then, they fall and injure themselves and their ability to take care of themselves diminishes as does their health.
The key to being able to avoid falls is to have good balance. Unfortunately, this is something that many elderly people struggle to maintain. The reason is that they often stop being active and the first thing to go is balance. It’s very important to continue to get plenty of exercise when you get older.
It’s always a good idea to go for walks and do things like gardening. However, to really keep your balance intact it pays off to be stronger. Some light weight training is a good way to achieve this. This isn’t to say that you need to start hitting the gym and bodybuilding. It just means that in addition to staying active you should also focus on keeping muscle mass that usually disappears with age.
Resistance exercises are also helpful. For instance, doing some squats will help your core strength and that will help keep you from falling.
3 – Keep working
It seems counterintuitive to continue to work when you retire, but it is good to have a purpose. You don’t need to continue commuting to the office for the career you’ve had for decades, however. What this simply means is that it is good to have something to do that is constructive and gives you something important to do.
For example, being a volunteer is a good way to continue working and being an important member of society. You can work as much or as little as you want or are able. At the same time, whether you are able to give of your time will be welcomed by your coworkers and other volunteers.
A part-time job is a good idea to be able to supplement your income and give you something to do. It is important to feel needed and when you have a job then your boss and coworkers will enjoy having you around. It can be as simple or complex a job as you like. The nice part about being retired is that you get to decide how, where, when and how much work you want to do without getting tied down.
4 – Stay social
Loneliness is something that affects many seniors. In this busy, modern world, often people don’t have time for others. This often leaves grandparents and friends left out of things. Make sure that you take initiative to maintain social relations.
It may be up to you to be the one to call or go by your relatives’ to make sure that you are still connected. Keeping friends is also a bit difficult so make sure to always be reaching out to maintain those connections.
In addition to maintaining old relations, you should be looking to forge new ones. Join clubs and groups that will keep you social and make new friends. If you have a hobby then there is surely a group that has regular meetings for those that are passionate about it.
Story by John Moran
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