Good Health Matters
Deciding to remodel your home for independent living is the easy part. Remodeling your body to go the distance (a.k.a. health and fitness) is a little more complicated.
Years ago, I saw a Ziggy (remember him?) poster in a hospital lobby. It was meant to remind people about the importance of cholesterol screening, but it was about more than that. The caption read, “If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?” It made an impression on me, and hopefully it will give you something to think about too.
Ageing is inevitable, but how you will age is not. Good health matters. People over sixty-five get special, very long and very detailed, medical questionnaires these days. Doctors and insurance companies want to focus on keeping you healthy, rather than having to deal with the aftermath. The questionnaires also ask you to rate your health as excellent, very good, good, fair, or bad. If you pick fair or bad you have some decisions to make.
The good news is that no matter how you rate yourself there is still hope. Sure, you made a few mistakes when you were young and foolish, but that doesn’t mean it is too late to reboot. Smoking, drinking, fad diets, stress, and partying all night were poor choices, but luckily the human body is quite forgiving.
It is likely that you made it this far because you did not duck immunizations, mammograms, prostate checks, or colonoscopies, but then again it could be that you just have good genes.
I know, when you grew up people only went to the doctor or dentist when they were in pain or mortally wounded. You probably figure that if it was good enough for your parents, it is good enough for you. You may be thinking “why bother?”
Please bother. The average life expectancy is considerably longer than it was a generation or two ago, and you need to plan accordingly. If you don’t continue to, or start, taking care of yourself, “where are you going to live?”
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