As you enter your golden years, it’s important to remember the good things in life. More importantly, it’s important that you spend some of your newly found free time having a good time. It may seem a bit obvious, but it’s important to keep these kinds of things in mind – It can be easy to get caught up with the drudgery of life and to settle on the mundane, even with all that new free time after you retire.
The Harvard Study of Adult Development has recently joined the septuagenarian generation itself, entering it’s 73rd year in existence. On-going research at the institution suggests that they keys to having a fulfilling retirement are to get out and be active, having a good time, and making new friends. Most importantly of these factors is trying to exercise, even after you retire.
Exercising will help you have a healthy heart and it can assist in preventing disabilities as you get older. Having the extra time you gain from retiring gives you plenty of space to fit a workout into your week here and there – and it doesn’t have to be arduous. Join some buddies in cycling or jogging – exercising in groups adds a built in system of motivation.
Transitioning from a working life to turbo tax customer services retirement can be difficult for some, and one way to combat the stress that comes with the change is by setting goals for yourself prior to your actual retirement. Not only should you set goals – you should be accountable to yourself for them. Sure, it’s great to have time to finally relax, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have some semblance of organization in your lifestyle.
Harvard’s study provides some evidence to these claims – a recent study of 5,422 retirees over the age of fifty were shown to be 40% more likely to have either a stroke or heart attack compared to their peers that were still a part of the workforce. The data showed that people were also more at risk within their first year of retirement, but it also showed that this risk tapered off to a more level plateau in the following years.
That information may be shocking to some – but there is good news. Most of this is preventable. Exercising and eating healthy foods greatly reduce the kind of risks associated with high blood pressure – namely strokes, heart attacks, and heart disease. Another factor that you may not immediately connect is that exercising also helps prevent cognitive degeneration.
The goal should be to make exercising fun. Nobody is expecting you to hit the gym and pump iron everyday, but engaging in moderately physically demanding activities certainly help. If you lost a lot of your old contacts after retiring, make new friends and engage in activities together. Continue to strive to learn new things, and find new goals and purposes in life.
Source: USA Today