Putting The “Light” In “Twilight Years” – What We All Really Need In Old Age

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Old age, it’s one of those things that we consider to be so far ahead in time that we don’t need to worry about it. But old age creeps up on us sooner or later, whether it’s planning for retirement by starting up a pension in your 20s or 30s, or we have a moment in life that makes us realize how fallible we are. Preparing for old age is something we can all do, regardless of how are young we are, and what are the best ways to do this?

Financial Security

Not just the aforementioned pension, but if you live in places where you need to pay for your medical treatment, it is essential for you to start a pension pot as well as a medical fund pot as soon as possible. While there are many organizations that can help with regards to medical payment, such as GoMedigap, – that helps pensioners with Medicare costs – you can find out more from GoMedigap.com, but it’s your prerogative to start preparing for your twilight years in the financial sense. It’s heartbreaking to see so many people in their old age struggling to pay bills, or living without the essentials in life, and this appears to be the way of the world currently. So it’s in your best interests to start preparing for a more enjoyable later period in life.

Looking After Our Mind

It looks like there are more cases of Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive decline than ever before. And you might have seen relatives succumb to Dementia, and how upsetting it is for the caregivers.

Looking after our brain isn’t a difficult task. The trick is, much like physical exercise, we need to be doing enough to stimulate our brain muscle so it can grow. Essentially, this is all about doing stuff that you find challenging. And while it may sound like you’re going back to school, do things that are stimulating, but stuff you enjoy.

This could be playing more computer games, as they have been shown to have a positive impact on brain development, or it could be something as simple as having a strong coffee while playing Sudoku. Caffeine has been shown to have a positive impact on the brain, and Sudoku is one of those complicated puzzles that you can do anywhere. If you’ve always wanted to learn a language or an instrument, these are options too. But we all seem to think that our brains get worse as we get older, this is not the case!

Learning About What Makes Us Happy

In old age, we can all start to feel somewhat isolated, especially as people our own age starting to pass away, and you might not feel that people aren’t listening to you anymore. It’s important for us to know what makes us happy. It’s not just beneficial to us in old age, but it’s beneficial to us in life. We can spend our whole lives not knowing what really makes us happy because we focus more on other people. Your happiness is paramount to ageing, but it’s also important to how you live your life.

And of course, making sure that you appreciate life, by getting out regularly into nature, is something simple that we can all benefit from. There’s an article on TheGuardian.com explaining more on why we need to get out into nature. Not only is it beneficial for our minds and bodies, it helps us gain a perspective on what really matters in life. This, ultimately, is what will help us keep a sense of perspective as we get older.

This is a collaborative post.