10 Tips for a Healthy Retirement

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10 Tips for a Healthy Retirement

Quiz: Which is the most important ingredient for achieving a happy retirement?

A. A sound financial plan
B. Good health
C. A bright red convertible

Answer: We can eliminate C. While it's certainly nice to have, a bright red convertible is not a must. However, choosing between answers A and B is more difficult. Face it: retirement without good health is not ideal. Together, however, these two ingredients can make your retirement a more joyful and fulfilling stage of life.

Moving into retirement free of chronic or serious illness may demand as much (or more) knowledge and effort as financial planning. As we age, our risk of developing both heart disease and diabetes increases. That's why planning for retirement should mean more than socking money away in an IRA; it should include eating sensibly, exercising, taking steps to control any illness and engaging in other activities to help you maintain and improve your health.

Lifestyle plays a tremendous role in many of the conditions that most commonly affect our quality of life as we get older — heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes, for example.

Stay Informed
Obtaining up-to-date health information can help you make the right decisions for living a healthy lifestyle. For example, although most people believe that heart disease is a "man's issue," heart disease actually kills more women each year than men. Women especially should consider following the tips for a healthy retirement - these tips may help to prevent heart disease. Three sites to consider visiting are www.womenshealth.aetna.com, where you will find the Framingham Heart Study Risk Assessment to help you evaluate your risk for heart disease, the women's health section on www.cdc.gov and www.hearttruth.com.

A Financial Incentive to Stay Healthy
Here's one more reason to be mindful of your health as you inch toward retirement. A healthy lifestyle now can help protect your financial well being when you retire.

Today, companies are increasingly trimming coverage for future retirees or eliminating them altogether. If you work for a company that doesn't offer retiree health benefits or only offers partial benefits and you retire before age 65 (when Medicare coverage begins), you may need to shop for an individual health insurance policy.

When you purchase individual coverage, insurance companies can ask about your medical conditions and factor your health status in the price they charge. You must disclose your medical information to obtain coverage and based on your health, the cost can vary considerably.

In addition, the fewer health problems you have, the less burdened you will be with co-payments, deductibles and the health care expenses a health insurance policy doesn't cover. Even once you are eligible for Medicare, you may need to purchase supplemental coverage to pay for prescription drugs and other services that Medicare doesn't provide.

The Top 10 Tips
So what are some things you can do to make sure you retire not only feeling financially secure but also feeling healthy? Check out the 10 tips below:

1.Know Your Cholesterol Numbers. A simple blood test can let you know if you have high cholesterol. National guidelines recommend that everyone older than age 20 have a blood test to determine cholesterol levels, including total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides. Optimal numbers: Total cholesterol 200 mg/dL or lower; LDL cholesterol 100 mg/dL or lower; HDL cholesterol 60 mg/dL or higher; Triglycerides 150 mg/dL or lower.

2.Stop Smoking. Smoking damages the heart by raising blood pressure, damaging blood vessels, promoting the buildup of fatty plaque in arteries, and lowering levels of "good" cholesterol, thereby making the blood more likely to clot and depriving the heart of oxygen. Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do to help prevent a heart attack.

3.Know Your Blood Sugar Numbers. Monitor your blood sugar and maintain it at a normal level. Have a fasting blood sugar level test performed at least once a year. A normal fasting blood sugar level is less than 100 mg/dL. Higher levels indicate that you may be headed for diabetes. Risk factors for diabetes include obesity and lack of exercise. If your blood sugar level indicates a problem, work with your doctor to make changes to your lifestyle. People with diabetes are more likely to develop additional heart risks, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

4.Maintain a Healthy Weight. Try eating some high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Other recommendations include oatmeal (contains a type of fiber which lowers cholesterol); brown rice, barley, peas and beans (also contains cholesterol-lowering fiber); egg whites or egg alternatives; chicken, baked fish, whole grain bread; white meat turkey; and low-fat yogurt. Also avoid fad diets. These diets set you up to regain weight once you resume a normal eating pattern. Most importantly, they can be dangerous because they deprive you of important nutrients.

5.Another Number to Know. The combination of your weight and your height allows doctors to calculate a body mass index, or BMI. This number is a guide for determining if you are underweight, overweight or within a healthy weight range. When you have a BMI that puts you in the "overweight" or "obese" category, you have an even greater risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes. To calculate your BMI and obtain nutritional information to help you maintain a healthy weight, visit the Aetna Healthy Body, Healthy Weight website.

6.Ease into Exercise. When starting an exercise program, be kind to your body. Don't start the first day with a 30-minute run. Instead, start with five minutes of walking. Then, add one minute every day until you reach your 30-minute-per-day goal. Do not begin an exercise regime without talking to your doctor.

7.Find a Way to Relax. Too much stress can make you irritable and depressed and increase your heart rate, making your muscles tense and raising your blood pressure. Relaxation eases your body's response to stress. Types of relaxation include meditation, deep breathing, muscle relaxation, listening to relaxing music and picturing pleasant scenes. For best results, do one of these activities for 15 to 20 minutes once or twice a day.

8.Express Yourself. Keeping feelings bottled up can aggravate stress. Talk to your friends and family and ask for support. If you don't have an adequate support system, work to develop one so you'll have someone to talk to when you're upset. Consider joining a support group. Also, consider keeping a journal to record your thoughts and feelings.

9.Be Mindful of How You Think. Certain styles of thinking — perfectionism, all-or-nothing thinking and negative thinking — can lead to feeling stressed out. Be mindful of how you think. For example, if you're a perfectionist, try to lower your expectations of yourself and others, and learn to accept things you can't change. If you tend to think negatively, try to focus on the good, not the bad, and try to view problems as opportunities.

10.Be Aware of Your Blood Pressure. An optimal blood pressure level is 120/80 mmHg or less. To prevent or manage high blood pressure, consider these lifestyle changes: cut down on salt, limit alcohol and caffeine intake, quit smoking; watch cholesterol levels; exercise; lose weight and reduce stress.

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