The start of a new year is always an exciting time, the perfect opportunity to have a look at your life and see what little changes here and there you might like to make that could have a big impact on how you feel.
If you’re wondering where best to focus your attention in 2025, here are a few ideas from the team at Concept Care that could leave you feeling refreshed and revitalised by the end of the year. Which of these will you try first?
Staying active
It’s important to keep as active as possible as we get older to help maintain strength, flexibility and full range of motion. This, in turn, will help reduce our chances of slips, trips and falls, which are the leading cause of hospitalisation in older people. Staying active also helps to keep diseases and chronic health conditions at bay.
Of course, we don’t expect you all to start running marathons this year and the key to keeping active is to focus on what it is you can do, rather than what you can’t.
Activity to you could be doing the gardening or going for a walk around your local community each day. Or it could mean going to the gym more, playing more sports, trying something new like yoga or doing chair-based exercises that help you move more.
It’s important to remain judgement-free in your approach to being more active. Don’t worry what other people are able to do. It’s all about what you’re capable of and what you can do given your particular circumstances, so don’t give yourself a hard time. Remember to be kind to yourself, no matter what.
Improving your diet
Health and nutrition are very popular new year’s resolutions, no matter how old you are, but for seniors making dietary changes here and there can have a significant impact on your overall health, even if the changes themselves feel quite minor.
Getting more fibre in your diet, for example, can help promote healthy ageing, reducing your risk of various diseases like diabetes, stroke, heart disease and even potentially some forms of cancer.
Or you could focus on trying to eat more leafy greens. The likes of chard, spinach, bak choy, collards, kale and so on are all nutritional powerhouses and can potentially help prevent osteoporosis, heart disease, cognitive decline, bloating, constipation and a whole host of other health conditions you may be affected by now or in the future.
Prioritising mental health
We often neglect our mental health in favour of our physical health, so if this sounds familiar, you know where best to focus your attention this year!
There are all sorts of ways you can improve your mental health, everything from getting out and about in nature more to trying out meditation and mindfulness exercises.
What’s particularly great about mindfulness is that it can be done anywhere and at any time. You don’t even need any special skills or equipment!
To get going, perhaps try doing some square breathing exercises where you breathe in for a count of four, hold your breath for a count of four, exhale for a count of four and hold your breath for a count of four. Repeat this for ten cycles, paying close attention to the sensations in your body as you do it.
