23 Jun 2020
10 Health Tips Men Over 50 Should Pay Attention To
If you take good care of your body, you will stay fit and vital into old age.
You can still stay fit and vital at the age of 50, but you now have to be particularly careful with your body. Wear and tear can pile up, you should watch carefully and take countermeasures in good time.
Tip number 1: proper nutrition
You now need significantly less food; your metabolism has completely switched to burning slower. This process begins after the age of 30, now it is very noticeable. Practically every year you will find that you eat significantly less if you follow your real need and hunger for food. If not, you will get very fat super-fast and experience massive physical problems as a result of this fat-gain. Fat sausages and a lot of sugary carbohydrates are actually no longer good for you and should only be eaten occasionally.
Enjoyment is the magic word if you want to continue eating happily: cook yourself very healthy and delicious meals, make salads and be sure to try other, low-calorie meals from exotic regions.
A huge problem at our age over 50 is stress eating: we often ‘pig-out’ on unhealthy chips, chocolate and snack foods. I recommend you compensate for stress in a different way, preferably with moderate exercise that you can do daily.
Tip number 2: Reduce Lifestyle drugs like Alcohol and Cigarettes
If you haven't done it yet, now is the time to avoid cigarettes and alcohol. You may be able to enjoy the latter to a very small extent. Red wine is acceptable; the very good varieties strengthen heart health. What you should avoid are too many sweets and other extremely unhealthy foods like potato-chips, crisps, pretzels and other salty snacks. Better crack some nuts to snack on. The only luxury when it comes to nutrition that practically does no harm is coffee. For a long time coffee was frowned upon, but it has been vilified recently in various studies that coffee is very good for your heart and blood pressure - so these concerns have long since been resolved: coffee is healthy, even ten cups a day won't hurt if you can still sleep afterwards. A major challenge from the age of 50 is to switch physical enjoyment to other pleasures in life.
Tip number 3: Engage in physical activity – do more sports
Under no circumstances should you become comfortable now, however excessive exercise is not good for you anymore. You might get muscle cramps at night after doing some weight training. This could be a new, annoying experience for you. You can of course counteract this with magnesium and potassium tablets. Sport for men over 50 is a complex topic. You need it more than ever, but you have to be as gentle and careful as possible on your muscles and joints. Maybe learn something new like standard dances that are great fun and require the kind of movement your body needs now. Cycling is always possible, swimming too, jogging in moderation, strength training which means working out with weights if you REALLY know what you’re doing, otherwise hire a Personal Trainer or follow a good program you can get online designed for men over 50 so you ensure not to injure yourself.
In fact, I believe working out with weights is the most important physical exercise you can do, because from age 25 we start losing muscle if we don’t push back. Imagine how bad it is from age 50 onwards. Muscle atrophy is a huge problem in older men, and if you don’t keep working out with resistance training you will keep losing muscle mass at 3% each year.
Sport is very important even in old age and keeps you healthy. Working out with weights is the best way to keep strong, full of vitality and be independent in your mature years.
There are 7 more tips in my podcast, so make sure you listen to them all! Check out more at https://menshealthiness.com
