Dear Friends,
Ask yourself: do I need encouragement to focus on activities that improve my "health span?" Life span is one thing. It can always be attributed to nature or genes or heredity. Health span is another matter. It means nurturing yourself, not only to foster longevity but also to promote disease-free functioning. Without improving the quality of life, extending the life span may become burdensome. If all of us who are over sixty are to turn experience into wisdom, we must look good, feel good and carry on.
Here is a suggestion for expanding your health span. Walk as much and as often as possible. Our bodies were made for walking. Walking needs to be a daily activity. Stay out of the car, walk whenever you can. Create opportunities to walk by yourself or with others. Take advantage of existing walking tours and trails where they may be found. Get up and walk around, even indoors, once every hour. Think to yourself, "if I'm not walking often, I'm not really well. Lack of walking makes me fat and isolated."
Another suggestion is to develop your personal "senior style." The goal is not to look younger but to portray and reflect a positive attitude about aging. Style as one grows older is more noticed. You're not who you were but you are someone unique and important. Senior style is a mindset that reinforces your accomplishments, your experiences and your self-esteem. Age doesn't automatically result in a run down look to our skin and hair and clothing. If that happens it's because we haven't valued your style impact. Being stylish proclaims your quality of life, not your vanity.
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