September is a month full of transitions and, as a result, can get very busy. Case in point, there’s a lot to raise awareness about in September. This month is National Yoga Month, National Food Safety Education Month, and National Healthy Aging Month. What’s great is that these different national month awareness campaigns all work together for the greater goal of healthy living and aging. Two major tenets of healthy aging are maintaining health through low-risk activity and a healthy diet. In this month’s blog post, we will look at ways to embrace National Healthy Aging Month and how we can incorporate Yoga and Food Safety.
Over 25 years ago, this monthly observance was created by Healthy Aging ® to bring attention to how important a healthy lifestyle is for those who are becoming or are considered older adults (aged 65 and older). Healthy Aging®, in their guide for this year, has split the focus of this month into several categories, which are all focused on maintaining activity as we age. It is essential to focus on a healthy diet and a healthy amount of physical movement as people age to make sure that they maintain their health.
A big part of staying healthy is providing your body with quality food. National Food Safety Education Month is all about keeping your food safe. While this is incredibly important for all people, for older adults, the risk of food poisoning could be more serious. It is vital to remember the four steps given by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) when handling food to help lower the risk of foodborne illness, clean, separate, cook, and chill:
- Clean means to make sure that what comes in contact with the food is clean.
- Separate means to separate raw meat from other foodstuffs as they can spread germs before they are cooked.
- Cook means to make sure that the food you cooked has reached the internal temperature necessary to kill germs
- Chill means to make sure the perishable foods are refrigerated quickly and not exposed to high temperatures.
Another important aspect of healthy aging is having enough movement in your daily routine. National Yoga Month, also celebrated in September, helps raise awareness about the many varieties and benefits of yoga. Yoga can be a low-intensity workout that focuses on breathing and stillness or it could also provide a healthy amount of physical movement. The National Institute of Health states, “many individuals practice yoga to maintain their health and wellbeing, improve physical fitness, relieve stress, and enhance their quality of life.” Yoga can be scaled for any level of experience and physicality, so if you’ve been waiting to try it, now is the time!.
For this September, make sure to include all three of these monthly observances into your daily routine to help you or an older adult in your life to age healthfully.