With so much on your plate, basking in the glory of a long and illustrious career, it is seemingly impossible to find any spare time to integrate healthy habits into your busy schedule.
Health over 60 looks quite different than it did when you were in your 40s or 50s. Your body is trying to slow down, but your lifestyle will not allow it. As a senior executive, you’ve got deadlines that will not go away. People are counting on you. There is no time to back down.
This is the moment to race head first toward the finish line of excellent health over 60. Learn what happens to your executive body when you turn 60 and stay at the top of your game.
1. Battle of the Bulge
Your cells and organs are aging. As the metabolism slows, it becomes increasingly difficult to battle the bulge. Muscle mass decreases and bone density declines. But you can reverse these trends.
Your bones, joints, and muscles don’t move with the agility you possessed in your youth. This is why it is critical to keep them strong with resistance training and cardiovascular exercise. Nothing will age you faster than a sedentary lifestyle.
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2. Bladder Bailout
Men and women in their 60s often experience various urinary issues, including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), interstitial cystitis syndrome and urinary incontinence. Each of these conditions is directly connected to your hormones. Regardless of the severity of your issues, frequent bathroom breaks are a disruption to your day and productivity .
Urinary incontinence, in particular, is quite embarrassing and affects your body image, sexual life, and overall emotional state. Cutting back on coffee can help with this to a degree since it is a known diuretic.
3. Brain Boosters
Memory loss is a common symptom of age, and let’s be honest, you have far too much on your plate to let things slip.
Though you’ve mastered your executive status, you may notice that reasoning skills, overall attentiveness, multitasking, speed of processing new information and reaction time, in general, are negatively affected as you age. In fact, your brain actually shrinks with age, specifically the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
Neurogenesis, which is the growth of new brain cells, continues well into your 60s. You’ve heard that if you don’t use it you lose it. The same applies to your mind. Your brain needs exercise just like your body. This far along in your career, it would be easy and tempting to slide in autopilot mode and simply coast through each day. Seek out and take hold of new challenges both in and out of the workplace.
Complete mental puzzles, such as Sudoku or crosswords, to your day to keep your mind sharp.
Take advantage of technology by playing mentally challenging games with friends or even coworkers. Join a local chess club or sign up for language classes. Broaden your horizons by reading books outside of your typical genres of interest.
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4. Sensory Shift
Your vision and hearing will most likely suffer during this sixth decade of life. The rate of cellular turnover declines. Health concerns that you’ve never dealt with began to spring up all of the sudden. Consider hearing aids or altering the lighting in your office to boost productivity and maintain your professionalism.
Follow your doctor’s recommendations, and keep current with all prescribed age-appropriate tests for men and women. Inform your doctor of any noticeable changes in your health immediately. Embrace a teamwork mentality as you collaborate with your doctor to develop a plan to get and keep you on the path to your best health over 60.
5. Achy, Breaky Joints
You’ve earned your big office, but sitting for extended periods of time has detrimental effects on your health over 60. Cartilage begins to wear down, you lose lubricating joint fluid and your muscles become weaker and shorter with inactivity.
Keep moving to stave off the aches and pains that plague so many senior executives and get a desk exercise bike or a bike station desk. Practice yoga or Pilates. Add supplementation using collagen, glucosamine, MSM, and chondroitin.
Schedule regular chiropractic care and therapeutic massage, or even better, get an acupressure mat or a full body massager and minimize stress and the pain associated with it after a long day at the office without having to leave your home.
Age is merely a number, just a state of mind. How you think of yourself and perceive your abilities determines how your fare on your journey to great health over 60. Check your executive health and find out your gap to success now!
Share the wisdom you have gained with age and experience by leaving a comment on how you are taking hold of your health over 60.