Take These Simple Steps Now To Boost Your Future Health

Caring for your physical, mental, and emotional health is fundamental in maintaining lifelong well-being and healthy aging. Small daily life changes can add up quickly and help you live longer and healthier and lead a quality life. Below are simple steps to enhance your future health dramatically.

Maintain Oral Health

Did you know there’s a link between oral hygiene and life expectancy? Research published in the Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology Journal reveals that tooth loss and mortality are related. A person with more than 20 teeth at 70 years is likely to live longer than one with less than 20 teeth. This is mainly because most oral health diseases are preventable and emanate from poor oral hygiene.

Additionally, individuals with oral diseases have a high risk for diabetes, dementia, stroke, and heart diseases. Therefore, taking care of your oral health today ensures greater oral and overall body health. You can maintain oral hygiene by brushing your teeth and tongue twice daily, flossing daily, using antibacterial mouthwash daily, and limiting sugary and acidic foods. Also, visiting a dentist regularly prevents future oral issues. Orthodontic care treatment also helps maintain oral health for both kids and adults. Over 4 million Americans wear braces, with 25% being adults.

Attend Checkups

An excellent way to boost your future health is to go for checkups to understand your health and risk factors. Regular health screenings help catch chronic diseases early and lower risk factors for illnesses. You can detect symptoms of age-related diseases like hypertension, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, and arthritis.

Thanks to advances in technology, laboratory and biological tests, physical examination, and imaging reveal harmful changes in cells and molecules to diagnose and treat health conditions early as well as improve health outcomes. The early detection of diseases like cancer can be the difference between lifelong health and death. Regular checkups also stimulate feelings of wellness and peace of mind and reduce the chance of surprise illnesses.

Care for Mental Health

Caring for your mental health is crucial in boosting future wellness and promoting healthy aging. As you age, your physical and cognitive health starts to decline. Your muscles lose strength, age spots appear, and your sight and hearing diminish. You may also lose your sense of independence, with 7% of older adults requiring help with personal care, from transportation to personal grooming and meal preparation. All these changes affect your mental health -how you feel, act, think, and relate with others.

You can care for your mental health in numerous ways. First, stay in touch with family and friends as they offer a sense of belonging, improve mood, and boost wellbeing. Second, although stress is a part of life, find ways to destress, such as meditation, calling a support person, spending time on a hobby, taking a warm bath, and keeping a journal. Unchecked stress leads to a myriad of health problems like obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Third, learn new skills, get active, and make time for contemplation and appreciation.

Make Lifestyle Changes

Lifestyle changes such as eating healthy, making time for self-care, exercising, staying hydrated, and avoiding stress can improve your future health significantly. Physical activity, for instance, has incredible health benefits, including managing weight, reducing the risk of some chronic diseases, relieving stress, and increasing sleep quality. In addition, keep off bad habits like overeating junk food, smoking, skipping doctor’s appointments, living a sedentary lifestyle, skimping sleep, and overconsumption of alcohol.

Lifestyle changes can help prevent urinary incontinence, a prevalent health problem affecting 50% of institutionalized elderly persons and 15% of community-dwelling seniors. The main causes of urinary incontinence are urinary tract infections, constipation, and weak pelvic floor muscles. Emsella, a treatment for strengthening pelvic floor muscles, has been proven to reduce stress urinary incontinence by 95%.

Staying healthy is essential to guarantee well-being in the golden years. While some factors affecting your future health are out of control, others like going for regular checkups, caring for your mental health, and adopting healthy habits are within your control. Remember boosting future health is not a sprint; it takes time, effort, and commitment to change habits and embrace wellness.