Senior Health and Aging Gracefully

At Palm Medical Centers, we offer senior-focused primary care with genuine kindness. That not only includes providing access to comprehensive healthcare services, but also showing seniors how they can take care of themselves every day, so they maintain their independence and best quality of life as the years go by.

In addition to common medical concerns, seniors have special healthcare needs that include geriatric assessment, fall prevention, and memory care. To meet those needs, the board-certified physicians and in-house specialists at Palm Medical Centers offer a wide variety of services. However, there are several ways that you can help maintain your health, so that you stay both physically active and mentally sharp regardless of your age. Let’s review them.

6 Keys to Graceful Aging

1. Make Healthy Food Choices. Healthy eating can help you live longer and feel your best by boosting your immunity, strengthening your bones and muscles, helping your digestive system function, keeping your skin, teeth, and eyes healthy, and reducing your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. Include nutritious fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products in your diet and drink plenty of water. Avoid processed foods and those containing saturated fats.
2. Sit Less and Move More Throughout Your Day. Staying active, as opposed to becoming increasingly sedentary, is vital to senior health. Not only does it help you improve and maintain your balance and stamina and reduce your risk of falls, but it also helps prevent, delay, and manage chronic diseases and improve your brain health. Walking 30 minutes per day has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and colon cancer, while also strengthening bones and helping prevent osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. It even helps reduce blood pressure in some diagnosed with hypertension.
3. Avoid Tobacco. You don’t need a doctor’s warning to know that smoking is bad for your health. Countless research has confirmed that the use of tobacco products can lead to heart disease, respiratory ailments, and lung cancer. Long-term smoking can also make you look older than your actual age, as it increases production of an enzyme that breaks down collagen, thus reducing your skin’s elasticity and making it look more sagging and wrinkled. If you are currently a smoker, quit the habit while you can.
4. Have Regular Checkups. Visiting your primary care physician for preventive services – such as physical exams, vaccinations, lab tests, and screenings – can help prevent disease or detect it early enough for more effective treatment.
5. Share Your Family Medical History. Be sure to share your family health history with your healthcare providers, so they can assess your risks of developed age-related diseases and can help you take steps to prevent or catch them early.
6. Be Alert to Changes in Your Brain Health. While dementia is not a normal part of aging, the human brain does undergo changes as we age. So, if you start to notice issues with concentration and memory, or have questions about brain health, see your doctor sooner rather than later.

Medical Center in South and Central Florida

At Palm Medical Centers, we specialize in providing primary healthcare services that can help you stay healthy, active, and independent as you age. As a patient, you have access to a variety of healthcare specialists, as well as social service guidance that can enhance your wellbeing and provide cost-saving benefits. With an emphasis on preventive care, your primary care provider at Palm Medical Centers offers the type of personalized, comprehensive healthcare that strives to ensure you’re living your best possible quality of life.

To learn more or to become a patient, call us today at (833) 500-PALM (7256) or send us a message now. You can even request a tour of one of our multiple clinics that are located throughout South Florida and Central Florida for your convenience.