The Social and Physical Environment Slowing Healthy Aging

The Social and Physical Environment Slowing Healthy Aging

As we age our minds and nerves are not as good as they were 20 years earlier. Living day to day brings a lot of stress into our lives. Some of the stress can be controlled but not all of it can. Everyone will always have a certain amount of stress daily. The excess can either be your best friend or worst enemy. It takes you to make it your own. 

Are you a person that stays in the house all the time who does not know your next-door neighbor? Everyone needs to get out and socialize with other people, it will help you relieve the stress of being alone. Sometimes being with other people, you can learn from them about how they handle stress just by observing and being welcoming.  

Get rid of as much stress as you can or it will lead to depression, maybe heart disease, stress can cause many things to happen to your body. As aging progresses, our bodies lack the functions or abilities to maintain good health. 

You have control: 

Get out of the house and join an exercise group. Take in some vitamin D that comes from the sun by walking 15-20 minutes a day; make it fun by asking someone to walk with you around the block. The sun is good for you if you know your limits on how much you can handle and you can socialize too at the same time.  

Being around people is good for all of us. People teach you new things about life. Having friends or acquaintances prevent us from drifting into depression. Depression can be caused by many things; being alone and just thinking about things you have no control over. If you become depressed for more than a couple of days see your doctor and he can give you medications and advise you on how to control it. Depression will take over your life and when it does, you can’t get out of it alone. Don’t let this happen to you. 

What about your environment? 

Is there a lot of violence in your neighborhood or do your neighbors argue often, keeping you awake at night? If the neighbors are making too much noise talk to them and ask them to please quiet down because you can’t sleep. As we age, our sleep is very important to our health. Losing sleep affects our mental capability as well as body functions. If we don’t get enough sleep, we feel tired all the time; we stop enjoying activities and begin lying around the house, and maybe even too tired to eat.   

Is there a lot of violence in your area? Does your area have too many breaking or stealing going around where you live? Violence and crime can scare all of us to the point that we’re afraid to go outside for that 15-minute walk. Locking yourself in the house is not good, which depression will step in again. Maybe it is time for you to relocate to somewhere closer to family or to another area where you’ll feel safer to be.   

We all need to be and feel safe and if it requires moving to another location then that might be the answer. Don’t let things around you be a problem if you have to go to the area police, maybe they can drive around the area once in a while to keep an eye on things. Safety is very important for all of us.

Remember we all need to socialize with others and be safe at the same time. As we age, things change every day including the environment around us. Keep talking and enjoying your friends and check with others about safety; maybe they can help you decide on how they handle it.