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Everyone would agree that it feels better to go through life in a healthy manner than it does to live unhealthily, especially if those life choices are entirely unimpeded by issues such as disease, injury, and physical challenges.

Yet when we think of getting “in-shape” and “fit,” we tend to think of performance, as in how far we can run, how much we can lift, or how much weight we’ve lost. Of course, this is very important too, because being a better, stronger, and fitter version of yourself is a goal worth pursuing.

That said, focusing on that outcome is not always easy. Perhaps it can be worthwhile to consider a healthy medium, one that focuses on sustainability rather than optimization at all levels. But what might this look like? Well, hoping to live in your best-feeling self can be a good place to start. After all, what you eat, how you treat your body and how much you move can have a profound impact on how you feel.

In this post, we’ll discuss how to maximize that, especially as you age, without becoming obsessive over the end results:

Stretching & Care

Keeping yourself supple and flexible can help you live with more comfort, as tightness, soreness, and limited mobility can be uncomfortable. Implementing a healthy before and after stretching routine surrounding your exercise can help you avoid tensing up over the years, as can joining a yoga class or swimming to save your joints. On top of that, you may consider visiting an osteopath near me if you wish to work on your mobility and functional strength, especially after an injury or as you age. Stretching and mobility can pay off big time as you get older – for some it may mean the difference between a harmed muscle and shaking a possible injury off.

Meditation & Relaxation

Learning to take things easy can seem like the opposite approach to take if you want to remain fit and healthy. Yet it’s absolutely a good approach to take. Too often we can spin ourselves into a frenzy, and make ourselves feel tense and stressed to the point of physical issues. Learning to meditate properly can help you melt your stress, and allows you to work on your concentration as time goes on. On top of this, it can also improve your neurological health, and inspire you to process your emotions as opposed to bottling them up and then releasing them with an outburst later on. That can be the healthiest of all.

Preventative Care

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and with preventative care you can achieve that more easily. Limiting your alcohol intake as you get older, trying to stay away from sugar as much as you can, and making sure you get enough sleep each night (this has more of an effect than you realize), can really pay off over the years. For some, it may even stave off illnesses or maladies they could have suffered with otherwise. In the long run, we hope this approach give you the inspiration to move forward with confidence, and to feel unapologetic about that self-care habit.

With this advice, you’ll see that yes, physical comfort and wellbeing is as good a fitness pursuit as any.