Aging Gracefully: Few Tips

Aging Gracefully: Few Tips 

Dr Smita Pandey, Rakesh Kumar Tripathi & Dr SC Tiwari

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“As you grow old, you become matured

Your eyes shine like gold,

And you gain the wisdom for,

 The experience you hold.

Only the time passes by,

But with years you grow

As life takes a new grand flow,

And you see the achievements from nearby.

Moreover, you have time to listen the twitter of birds,

And see the moving clouds in the sky,

Or watch the twinkling stars,

Or move like a leisure passer by.

You can do anything new

A new hobby or develop a new interest

With your new friends even-though few,

You share life’s basic trust!

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There is an old saying that “old is gold”, then why you feel that people are cold towards you when you reach the ripe old age. Your experiences are still important to others. So never let down your self esteem in the old age. Though, in old age there are lot of illnesses and morbidities but it does not mean that you would be on the walker all the time. Moreover, there are few other myths of the old aged that memory becomes impaired and the old people cannot learn new things. These are all myths. The fact is that as much as you practice, so much you gain. Even you can learn new facts and can train your brain for novel practices, even in the old age.

Here are few tips for you by which your brain and body could remain young even at the old age:

1. Connect with the Family and Friends:  Spend time with at least one person in the family and friends - your grand-children, children or neighbors or some other friend.
2. Pick up a long neglected Hobby:  After the retirement during the old age you feel that the hours have become too long. For that reason you could discover your long neglected hobby which you were not able to fulfill during the time you were busy caring for your family and earning bread and butter. Do something meaningful and creative.
3. Learn something new: You can learn something new like instrumental music or some other skills to have meaning in life.
4. Volunteer for activities:  Volunteer to help others. Engage yourself in pro-social activities. This would add to grace in your life and enhance your self- esteem.
5. Exercise Regularly:  Do some physical exercises like jogging, brisk walking and mental exercises too like playing word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles etc.
6. Sleep Adequately: About 8 hours of sleep is must for an adult. So take adequate sleep.
7. Balanced Diet: Take a balanced diet rich in minerals and vitamins required for revitalizing you with energy and preventing diseases by building your immunity.
8. Prevent Dehydration: Take at least 10-12 glasses of water everyday to prevent you from dehydration.
9. Try variations: Try varying the tasks and subjects each day.
10. Do something new each day:  Try something new and different each day. This way your brain would be sharp and active and your interest in life would be maintained.
11. Use Multisensory Approaches: Use as much senses as you can like sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste alt the same time to learn a new topic of your interest. Researches say that it helps in keeping away the brain from aging.
12. Mind Mapping:  Try to summarize things in the form of diagrams to learn something new or recall previously learnt information.
13. Meditation: Meditation is the self –induced mode of consciousness in order to get some benefit. It helps in biochemical and physical changes in the body that alter metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and helps in the activation of the brain.
14. Brain Storming: Play games of brain storming with your grand-children. This would keep you engaged as well as boost your brain power and at the same time boost the brain power of your grand- children as well (Brain storming sessions include where you have to work upon it in a group in such a manner that there are plenty of ideas from each member of the group withholding any criticism and at the end it has been summarized and the ideas have been improved and modified).
15. Play Brain teasers: Logic puzzles and riddles etc. which you may play with your grand-children would boost your brain power and prevent aging.
16. Use Creative Techniques: Variety of creative techniques like drawing sketches or doodles, writing creatively etc. are stress relieving, emotion and brain boosting.
17. Be Close to Nature: Develop flair and love for nature. This would help you release your emotions in a positive manner.
18. Say “No” to Addictions:  Addictions are the greatest cause of mortality in the old aged. It impairs the quality of life so say no to addictions.

Try these tricks and you would be aging gracefully without growing old but remaining evergreen young forever!

                                                                                                                                                          - Vriddhitthan, No.6, 2011, Pg No. 26-27.