How to Stay Healthy in Retirement and Enjoy the Years Ahead
We spend years thinking about how much money we will need for retirement. We save, invest, think about Social Security, and wonder whether our money will last.
But there is another part of retirement planning that deserves just as much attention:
Your health.
After all, having enough money to travel, spend time with family, enjoy hobbies, or simply relax at home means a lot more when you feel well enough to enjoy those things.
The good news is that staying healthy in retirement does not mean suddenly becoming a marathon runner or living on salads.
For most of us, it is about doing a handful of simple things consistently.
1. Keep Moving — Even If You Have Never Been a Gym Person
You do not need an expensive gym membership to stay active.
Walking is one of the simplest ways to get moving. Gardening, swimming, riding a bicycle, dancing, or even walking around the mall all count.
The important thing is to avoid spending most of the day sitting.
Retirement can actually make this harder than you might expect. When you were working, you probably moved around more than you realized. You walked to your car, climbed stairs, went to lunch, walked through stores, or simply moved around the workplace.
Once you retire, some of that movement disappears.
Try building activity into your normal day instead of treating exercise like another job.
- Take a morning walk.
- Walk the dog a little farther.
- Work in the yard.
- Take the stairs when you can.
- Walk while talking on the phone.
- Stretch while watching television.
A little movement throughout the day can add up.
2. Do Not Forget About Strength
Walking is wonderful, but keeping your muscles strong becomes increasingly important as you get older.
Strength helps with everyday things that we often take for granted: getting out of a chair, carrying groceries, climbing stairs, lifting a suitcase, and maintaining your balance.
You do not necessarily need heavy weights.
Light dumbbells, resistance bands, or simple exercises using your own body weight can be enough to get started.
Even getting up and down from a sturdy chair several times is a form of strength exercise.
If you have not exercised in a while or have physical limitations, talk with your doctor before starting a new exercise program.
3. Eat Well Without Making Food Miserable
Retirement should not mean spending the rest of your life worrying about every bite of food.
Food is one of life’s pleasures.
The goal is not perfection. It is simply making healthier choices most of the time.
Try building more meals around foods such as vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains, fish, lean meats, nuts, and other foods that are not heavily processed.
And yes, you can still have dessert.
You can still enjoy pizza.
You can still go out to dinner.
What matters most is what you do regularly, not what you eat at a birthday party or on vacation.
A healthy retirement should still taste good.
4. Pay Attention to Your Sleep
Sleep affects much more than whether you feel tired the next morning.
Good sleep can affect your mood, energy, memory, and overall health.
Retirement sometimes changes sleeping habits. Without an alarm clock or a work schedule, it can become easy to stay up later, sleep at odd times, or take long naps during the day.
Try keeping a fairly regular bedtime and wake-up time.
A quiet, dark, comfortable bedroom can help. So can reducing caffeine later in the day and putting away phones and tablets before bedtime.
If you regularly have trouble sleeping, snore heavily, wake up gasping, or feel exhausted despite spending plenty of time in bed, mention it to your doctor.
5. Stay Connected to Other People
This one is easy to underestimate.
Work provides more than a paycheck. It also gives us people to talk to.
Then retirement arrives and those everyday conversations can suddenly disappear.
At first, having fewer meetings and fewer people asking you questions may feel wonderful.
After a while, though, isolation can sneak up on you.
Make an effort to stay connected.
Call old friends. Have lunch with former coworkers. Visit family. Join a club. Volunteer. Take a class. Attend community events. Get involved with a hobby that puts you around other people.
You do not need a packed social calendar.
You simply need people in your life.
6. Give Your Retirement Some Purpose
One of the strangest questions new retirees sometimes face is:
“What am I supposed to do all day?”
For decades, work provided structure. You knew where you needed to be Monday morning.
Then suddenly Monday morning belongs entirely to you.
That freedom is wonderful, but having something to look forward to can make retirement much more satisfying.
Your purpose does not have to be something grand.
Maybe it is helping with grandchildren. Maybe it is volunteering. Maybe you want to finally learn woodworking, photography, gardening, painting, or another hobby.
Maybe you want to travel.
Maybe your goal is simply to walk every morning and have coffee with friends afterward.
The activity matters less than having reasons to get up and enjoy the day.
7. Keep Your Brain Busy
Your brain likes exercise too.
Retirement gives you something that was probably in short supply during your working years: time to learn things simply because they interest you.
Read books. Learn a language. Play cards. Do puzzles. Learn to play an instrument. Take a class. Try photography. Learn how to use a new piece of technology.
And do not be afraid to be bad at something new.
That is part of the fun.
You spent years becoming good at your career. Retirement gives you permission to become a beginner again.
8. Stay on Top of Regular Checkups
It can be tempting to avoid the doctor when you feel fine.
But regular checkups and recommended screenings can sometimes find problems before they become bigger ones.
Keep up with the appointments and screenings your healthcare provider recommends for you.
Also keep an updated list of your medications and supplements. If you see several doctors, make sure they know what you are taking.
And ask questions.
If you do not understand why you are taking a medication or what a test result means, ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain it in plain language.
It is your health. You are allowed to understand it.
9. Take Care of Your Teeth, Eyes, and Hearing Too
These things are sometimes treated as separate from healthcare, but they can have a big effect on everyday life.
Being able to see clearly, hear conversations, eat comfortably, and take care of your teeth can make a tremendous difference in how independent and connected you feel.
Do not ignore changes simply because you assume they are a normal part of getting older.
If something changes, have it checked.
10. Make Your Home Safer Before You Need To
Most people want to remain independent for as long as possible.
A few simple changes around the house can help.
Look around for loose rugs, poor lighting, slippery bathroom floors, cluttered walkways, and stairs without secure handrails.
You do not have to turn your home into a hospital.
Sometimes something as simple as a brighter lightbulb, a night-light in the hallway, or a grab bar in the shower can make everyday life safer.
11. Give Yourself Permission to Slow Down
Staying healthy does not mean trying to act like you are 30.
Your body may need more recovery time than it used to. Some activities may take longer. You may need an afternoon nap after a busy day.
That is okay.
Retirement is one of the few times in life when you finally have the freedom to listen to your body instead of constantly looking at the clock.
Use that freedom.
12. Start Small
If you read an article like this and decide that tomorrow you are going to exercise every day, completely change your diet, lose 20 pounds, sleep eight hours, meditate, and drink eight glasses of water, there is a good chance the plan will not last very long.
Pick one thing.
Maybe tomorrow you take a 15-minute walk.
Do it again the next day.
Once that feels normal, add something else.
Small habits are much easier to keep than dramatic changes.
Your Health Is Part of Your Retirement Plan
There is a reason we spend so much time thinking about retirement money. Financial security matters.
But your investment account is only one part of a successful retirement.
Your ability to walk through a new city, play with your grandchildren, meet friends for dinner, work in your garden, travel, pursue hobbies, and live independently matters too.
You cannot control everything that happens to your health. None of us can.
But you can give yourself a better chance by staying active, eating reasonably well, keeping up with your healthcare, staying connected to people, and continuing to find things that make you want to get up in the morning.
You spent years saving for retirement. Taking care of yourself helps make sure you are able to enjoy it.