3 Proven Health Strategies For Men Over 50

healthy man with health strategies for men over 50 by retireon

Health strategies are important for Middle-Aged Men

Fifty is a significant milestone but jumping the hurdle of half-a-decade can often mean being confronted with a series of rapid-fire changes in your life. Children fly the coop, aging parents may need extra care, and careers and finances can take unexpected turns.

If those weren’t challenging enough scenarios, five decades of living could also make you painfully aware of some of the changes taking place in your bodies.

Yes, turning 50 can certainly make life interesting, and while there are many things in life which are out of our control, it is at least possible to take charge of our health. The next few decades do not have to be a gradual decline into a state of ill-health and mental fogginess.

There are science-proven health strategies for middle-aged men. This article shares some of the strategies. Use these health strategies to ensure you stay at the top of your game during the next important chapters of your life.

1. Exercise Your Brain

In the last few decades, there has been a lot of research delving into the secrets of brain function. Scientists have discovered the brain is not as stagnant an organ as once thought, and exercising it may be just as important as the morning run or gym session is for muscle and bone health.

Neurological’ plasticity’ means that the brain forms new connections every time we learn something, and this activity can help build resistance to future cell loss as we age. Any mental stimulation can help create connections in your brain, but some forms of stimulation may be better for brain health than others.

Scientists have been studying how music can influence brain structure and have discovered that not only can it lead to beneficial brain developments during our younger years, but it can also improve mental alertness and reaction times at any age.

Music has also shown promise as protection against mental health challenges such as dementia and builds resistance to age-related hearing loss.

You may also be interested in training your body – 7 Easy Exercises For Busy Men.

2. Get a Companion

If the children have all left home and your formerly busy, noisy environment full of love and laughter has become a depressing fortress of solitude, a pet may bring back some much-needed vitality to the place.

Cats and dogs are great companions (and excellent listeners), but studies are indicating some remarkable health benefits from sharing your home with another animal.

Scientists at the University of California carried out a study which leads them to believe that pets help boost immunity and protect against cancer to the extent that they can reduce the chances by almost a third.

3. Get Enough Sleep – a must for men’s health

When talking about health strategies for men over 50, enough sleeping stays at the top of the list.

Most of us need seven or eight hours of quality sleep every night for good health. We can’t create more hours in the day, so we often sacrifice our time sleeping to get things done, and this can prove detrimental to our health.

As we age, our need for sleep increases, but many of us are sorely lacking in this department.

The brain and body go through physiological changes as the sun dips below the horizon. Melatonin brings on the tired feeling, which tells us it’s time to hit the sack, and melatonin production is triggered by a reduction of blue light in our environment.

As we sleep, the melatonin levels in our brains are reduced. After seven or eight hours, it’s time to wake up and start the cycle all over again. Sleeping also helps relieve stress greatly. Read Beware How Stress Affects Men’s Health for the impact of stress.

Unfortunately, the blue light levels from phones, tablets, and televisions can mess with the melatonin production, and we are left feeling awake and alert long after our bedtime.

Society is increasingly sleep-starved, and while four or five hours a night is the new norm for many people, it’s not good for long-term health.

Getting good quality sleep, and enough of it has links to many facets of health, including stress, weight loss, and mental health. You can apply blue screen filters via software on your devices, or through physical blue light filters, so the light from screens doesn’t block melatonin production.

You can also set regular hours so your body gets to know when it’s time for bed and increase the likelihood that you will have a peaceful night of quality sleep.

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