Protect Your Health As You Grow Older

You can take steps to stay healthy and independent as you get older. It’s important to:

• Keep your body and mind active
• Choose healthy foods
• Get enough sleep
• Talk to your doctor about any health concerns
• Take steps to prevent accidents

Remember, it’s never too late to make healthy changes in your life.

Stay active to live longer and better.

Regular physical activity can help you:

• Reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers
• Avoid falls and other injuries
• Live on your own longer
• Improve your mood
• Feel better about yourself
• Improve your ability to think, learn, and make decisions

Learn more about staying healthy as you get older:

• See how staying active can help you with everyday tasks [PDF - 864 KB].
• Visit the National Institute on Aging's website.

These steps can help you live a healthier life.

Keep your body active.

Staying active as you get older is one of the best things you can do for your health. Keep in mind that if you haven’t been active in the past, it’s not too late to start!

• Do moderate aerobic activities – like walking, swimming, or raking leaves. Aim for 2 hours and 30 minutes a week.
• To get the most health benefits, do aerobic activity for at least 10 minutes at a time and then work your way up.
• If it’s hard for you to be active for more than 10 minutes at once, do 10 minutes of activity a few times during the day.

It's also important to:

• Do strengthening activities 2 or more days a week.
• Do exercises to help your balance, especially if you are at risk of falling.
• Try these stretching exercises so you can move more easily during everyday activities.
• Follow these safety tips during physical activity [PDF - 627 KB].

If you have a health condition, talk with your doctor about the best activities for you.

Get ideas for eating healthy.

Eating healthy is always important, no matter how old you are. It’s never too late to make healthy changes to your diet.

Try these tips:

• Choose lots of vegetables and fruits in different colors.
• Make sure most of your grains are whole grains, like brown rice and whole wheat.
• Drink low-fat or fat-free milk, and eat other low-fat dairy products.
• Choose healthy sources of protein like seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, beans, and nuts.
• Stay away from trans fats, saturated fats, and added sugars.
• Limit the amount of salt you eat. Use this shopping list to find low-sodium foods.

Get more tips and ideas for eating well as you get older.

Take an active role in your health care.

Your doctor or nurse can help you stay healthy as you get older.

• Use the myhealthfinder tool to get a list of screening tests recommended for you. Print out the list and take it with you to your next doctor’s appointment.
• Use this guide to talk with your doctor or nurse and take an active role in your health care.
• Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you have questions or problems with your medicines. Get more tips for using medicines safely.
• If you think you might be depressed, let your doctor know. Depression is treatable and is nothing to be ashamed of. Check out these frequently asked questions about depression and older adults.

If you have Medicare, be sure to schedule your Medicare wellness visit every year.

If you smoke, quit.

Quitting smoking is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) for free help with quitting. Read about quitting smoking when you are older.

If you have a history of heavy smoking and you smoke now or have quit within the past 15 years, ask your doctor about screening for lung cancer.

Take steps to prevent falls.

Older adults are at greater risk for serious injuries from falls.

Do these 4 things to lower your risk of falling:

1. Do exercises to improve your balance and leg strength.
2. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to review your medicines. Some medicines can make you dizzy or sleepy.
3. Get your vision checked often. Update your glasses or contact lenses when your vision changes.
4. Use this Home Falls Prevention Checklist [PDF - 7 MB] to help you find and fix the dangers in your home.

Make sure you have smoke alarms in your home.

Older people are at a higher risk of home fires. To stay safe, put smoke alarms on every floor of your home.

Use long-life smoke alarms if possible. These alarms use lithium batteries and last longer than regular smoke alarms. They also have a “hush button” so you can stop the alarm quickly if there’s a false alarm.

If you use regular smoke alarms, replace the batteries every year. (Tip: Change smoke alarm batteries when you change your clock back from daylight saving time in the fall.)

Follow these other tips on smoke alarms:

• Test your smoke alarms once a month by pushing the test button.
• Put smoke alarms on every floor of your home and near places where people sleep.
• Don’t forget to put a smoke alarm in the basement.
• Replace your smoke alarm if it doesn’t work when tested or if it’s more than 10 years old.
• Dust or vacuum smoke alarms when you change the batteries.

Get more fire safety tips [PDF - 3 MB].

Watch for changes that may affect your driving.

Getting older doesn’t make you a bad driver. But changes that come with aging can make it harder for you to drive safely. You may have trouble seeing at night or find it harder to react quickly to avoid an accident.

Take these steps to stay safe:

• Get your vision and hearing checked regularly.
• Always wear your seat belt.
• Never use your phone while driving.
• Plan your route and drive on streets you know.
• Read more about how to stay safe behind the wheel.

Keep your mind sharp.

Just like physical activity is good for your body, activities that challenge your mind can help prevent memory loss and keep your brain healthy.

As you grow older, it's important to:

• Learn new things – take a class or challenge yourself to read a section of the newspaper that you normally skip
• Connect with other people – try sharing meals with a friend or volunteering at a local school

If you are forgetting things more often than usual and it’s getting in the way of doing everyday things, talk with your doctor or nurse. Learn more about memory problems.

Get support if you are a caregiver.

A caregiver is someone who helps a family member, friend, or neighbor who is sick or has a disability.

Caregiving can be stressful. It's important to get support if you are a caregiver – and be sure to make time to care for yourself, too.

• Find information about caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease.
• Get more tips and resources for caregivers.