Caring For Elder Family Members Can Be a Blessing!

With more senior citizens living to an older age, many of their relatives must provide essential care for them. While you might think that caring for an elderly relative is a burden, it is actually a blessing. Here are several ways that caring for senior citizens has benefits for you and them.

1: Seniors Who Remain At Home Live Longer

The senior citizens who remain at home will live longer, giving you more chances to enjoy their company. Moving to an assisted living facility or nursing home can feel traumatic for a senior citizen, leading to physical and mental challenges. 

2: Living In a Nursing Home Is Expensive

When a senior citizen decides to live in a nursing home, it is going to become expensive. In many situations, a senior citizen must sell a family home to pay for the costs of long-term care. This means that you won’t inherit your wonderful childhood home. 

3: You Have a Chance To Reconnect With a Loved One

By caring for an elderly relative, you have a chance to reconnect. While spending a lot of time with a senior citizen, you will get to hear stories from the past. If an older relative is living in a nursing home, then you won’t have much time for talking each day. 

4: Seniors Living At Home Are Healthier

The senior citizens who remain at home are healthier, leading to fewer serious illnesses or hospitalizations. Not only are senior citizens who live at home physically healthier, but also, they are less likely to suffer from a dementia condition such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

5: The Benefits For Grandchildren

Long ago, grandchildren had the benefit of living with their grandparents, but today, that rarely occurs. In many cases, a parent is too busy to spend a lot of one-on-one time with a child, but a grandparent has more time. A grandparent can listen to a grandson read a book, or she can play a board game with a granddaughter.

6: A Senior Citizen Living At Home Feels Happier

When a senior citizen lives at home, they feel happier, reducing the chance of having depression. Most senior citizens want to remain as independent as possible rather than living in a small room at a nursing home for several years. It is a blessing to have a happy parent or grandparent rather than someone who is grumpy. 

7: It Is Possible to Keep Pets

Most assisted living facilities and nursing homes will not permit pets. If your grandparent or parent has a pet, then they will want to remain at home. There are mental and physical benefits from owning a cat or dog, helping to keep a senior citizen healthier. 

8: Caring For an Elderly Person Teaches You Compassion

Taking care of an older relative will teach you about compassion. While you are preparing a grandparent’s meals or helping a parent get dressed, you will realize how much they did for you in the past. Caring for an elderly individual will also make you think about what will happen to you when you are old. 

9: You Will Learn To Live In the Present

Caring for a senior citizen will teach you to live in the present rather than in the future. An elderly individual will tell you that you shouldn’t postpone your happiness until later because life is too short.

Why Race Walking Can Be a Fast Way to Better Health

Race walking is widely recognized as a very intense sport and has even made its way into the Olympics. This sport has a rich history around the world and has a very large international following. Athletes who participate in race walking train very hard to compete in the sport and follow very strict guidelines in terms of the required movements for their walking stride as well as tough training requirements. 

While you might think that race walking is just a much faster pace of walking, it is a bit more complicated than that. There are actually rules that you cannot have more than one knee bent at a time and that at least one foot must be firmly on the ground at all times. This may seem easy at first, but it actually requires quite a bit of concentration and skill. In the competitive world of race walking, walkers can be disqualified if they do not follow the stride requirements. 

If you are interested in race walking as a way to get your daily exercise in, then you might quickly discover that it is a very effective way to maintain weight and improve your circulation. Another benefit of race walking is that it is a much lower impact activity for your joints than running. Race walking is a great way to improve your cardiovascular health because it involves aerobic exercise. If you go for longer distances, you can even improve your strength and endurance over time. 

If you are already incorporating walks into your daily exercise routine, then you may want to consider stepping up the pace because it can significantly boost your calorie burn per hour. This is important because in the same amount of time, you can burn more calories and get your heart rate up faster. If you are looking to lose weight in a healthy way or improve your stamina, walking at a faster pace is definitely a great way to get there. 

One of the ways that race walking is such an easy exercise to get into your daily routine is that it does not require any special gym membership. You can race walk outside from anywhere. In addition, there is not much equipment required at all because you only need a pair of sneakers to get started on your race walking journey. No matter what pace you are when you first start out, you can experience the benefits of this exercise without needing any special skill set or instruction. It is also a great exercise to fit into your group activities. By planning to race walk with your friends, you can fit in some social interaction with your daily exercise, which is a great way to improve your overall mood and keep you connected to others. 

When you first start out with race walking, be sure to stretch before and after your walk. You should also make sure that you have plenty of water to drink so that you stay hydrated while you are exercising. Be sure that you drink water in advance of your walk so that you do not start out in a dehydrated state.