How to Stay Healthy After 50

Staying healthy after 50 is easy with the right tests and a good relationship with your doctor. Preventative measures, good nutrition and exercise are a few places to begin the journey to good health in your fifties and beyond.

Instructions

Prevention

1. Maintain a healthy body weight. People who are significantly overweight can often decrease their risk for type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and gall bladder disease by losing 5 to 15 percent of body weight.

2. Stop smoking. Cigarette smoking kills more than 400,000 Americans, plays a role in cancer, heart disease and lung disease, and accounts for $50 billion of health-care expenses annually.

3. Don't consume alcohol. If you do drink, USDA guidelines recommends limiting daily alcohol intake to 1 drink for women and 2 for men.

4. Get your blood pressure checked every 2 years. Blood pressure is normally a part of any routine office visit or check-up.

5. Schedule vaccinations. Get a yearly flu vaccine, a pneumonia vaccine before age 65 with a booster every 5 to 10 years as well as a tetanus booster every ten years. Chicken pox, mumps, measles and rubella should be given if those over 50 have never had the disease. Certain adults should also consider the Hepatitis B vaccine.

6. Take a multivitamin everyday. For women, choose one that has 400 units of Vitamin D to help calcium absorption along with a 1200 to 1500 milligram daily calcium supplement.

Testing

1. Get screened for prostate cancer. The American Cancer Society and the American Urological Association advocate a PSA test along with a digital rectal examination beginning at age 50 or earlier for men who are at elevated risk.

2. Have a colon cancer test. Begin colon cancer screenings at age 50 with an annual fecal occult blood test, which can reveal traces of blood that may be a sign of cancer.

3. Look for skin cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends that everyone over age 40 have an annual total skin examination performed by a dermatologist or other physician trained to recognize skin cancer.

4. Get a mammogram. The American Cancer Society suggests regular screening every 1 to 2 years for all women over 40. In addition, most experts recommend an annual clinical breast exam and a monthly breast self-exam.

5. Schedule a bone density test. The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that all women 65 or older, postmenopausal women who have one or more risk factors and all postmenopausal women who have had a recent fracture be screened for osteoporosis.

Tips & Warnings

• Those at elevated risk for prostate cancer include: African America men, men with a family history of prostate cancer and veterans exposed to Agent Orange.