Everyone is talking about money these days; politicians, news presenters, even health educators! Most folks are worried about the money that they’ve lost due to the tanking stock market. Questions running around in their heads: “Am I going to have to work until I die now?” “Do I have enough money to send my child to college?” “If I do send my child to college, do I have enough money to retire when I had planned?”
I was inspired when I read this article in Sunday’s paper about those same questions. Here’s the specific quote:
Associated Press: What general advice do you have for people in their 50s and 60s who have seen their retirement accounts shrink and now figure they will have to delay retirement or scale back their goals?
Nelson: Start taking better care of your health. It’s easy to say you’re going to work longer, but many people effectively retire because their health deteriorates to the point where they can’t work any more.
Do some type of assessment that gives you specific insight from a biological perspective about changes you could make to improve your health. A site that I like is www.realage.com. That’s a very specific, science-based tool that gives you a better idea about whether you really could be healthy enough to work those extra five years if you need to.
“Start taking better care of your health” It’s that easy. It reminds me of another article that I read earlier this year that obese people have lower lifetime health costs than healthy people. Why? Because they don’t live as long.
I could go on & on about the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, but what it really comes down to is when we look at that paper-lined breakfast cake (i.e.: muffin) versus oatmeal, or the couch versus the dog standing there with her leash in her mouth, which one do we say “yes” to?
Part of living is having a treat every now & then, but it’s the consistent choices that we make on a daily basis that will effect our wallets and longevity.