While adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is always important, for older adults, it’s even more so. As we age, our bodies naturally lose muscle and functionality, thus, making us more susceptible to chronic diseases and debilitation. In fact, according to the National Council on Aging, approximately 80% of older adults have at least one chronic disease, and 77% have at least two.
By now, we’re all pretty familiar with the components involved in living a healthy lifestyle – we need to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and so on. Still, there tends to be a big difference between what we know we should be doing, and what we actually do. Why is it so hard for us to follow through, and engage in healthy behavior?
Though this topic is still being heavily researched and there’s no perfect, one-size-fits-all answer, a lot of it has to do with cognitive and behavioral psychology. Essentially, our past experiences, emotions, thoughts, and actions are all closely linked together – and our past experiences and emotions tend to impact the way we think and act, thus causing a disconnect between our thoughts (our desire to partake in healthy behavior) and our behavior itself.
So how can we help older adults adopt and maintain a health routine – one that actually sticks, long-term? In this post, we’ll closely examine why it’s so hard to change our behavior and form new habits, and how older adults can begin to adopt and maintain a health routine that’s sustainable over time.
By now, we’re all pretty familiar with the components involved in living a healthy lifestyle – we need to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and so on. Still, there tends to be a big difference between what we know we should be doing, and what we actually do. Why is it so hard for us to follow through, and engage in healthy behavior?
Though this topic is still being heavily researched and there’s no perfect, one-size-fits-all answer, a lot of it has to do with cognitive and behavioral psychology. Essentially, our past experiences, emotions, thoughts, and actions are all closely linked together – and our past experiences and emotions tend to impact the way we think and act, thus causing a disconnect between our thoughts (our desire to partake in healthy behavior) and our behavior itself.
So how can we help older adults adopt and maintain a health routine – one that actually sticks, long-term? In this post, we’ll closely examine why it’s so hard to change our behavior and form new habits, and how older adults can begin to adopt and maintain a health routine that’s sustainable over time.
