Healthy aging in Thailand: Top tips for looking after yourself in retirement

Many associate their retirement years with declining health. Although changes to your body are inevitable as you age, it’s never too late to give your body and mind the attention they deserve. Focusing on healthy aging is a great way to ensure that you enjoy many of the same activities you once did for as long as possible, and make retirement in Thailand the best chapter of your life. To that end, this week’s article discusses the following tips for maintaining a healthy and vibrant retirement in Thailand.

1. Focus on nutrition

Living in Thailand should make it fairly easy to acquire quality, locally sourced grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein. A diet rich in the nutrients your body needs can go a long way toward maintaining healthy aging. In fact, nutrition doesn’t just have an impact on the waistline, but has been proven to have a positive effect on overall physical and mental health. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables, as well as lean protein like fish and chicken breast are all options that can help with healthy aging; reducing your risk of developing nutrient-related conditions such as degenerative muscles, osteoporosis, mood changes, anemia, and more.

2. Stay active

Along with eating well, staying active is an equally important part of healthy aging. For the biggest boost to your retirement health, get moving with regular exercise such as aerobics, dancing, swimming, hiking, or cycling to help:

• Promote stronger bones and muscles
• Improve balance and strength
• Lower cholesterol and blood pressure
• Prevent joint stiffness and pain

Last but not least, regular exercise makes you stronger, which in turn reduces your risk of experiencing falls – a major cause of disability and mortality in older adults.

3. Boost your immunity with vaccinations

Vaccinations play a huge role in ensuring that your time in Thailand is without the threat of illness. As another key component of healthy aging, vaccines are especially important for older adults as their immune systems weaken as they age. In addition to our list of recommended inoculations for foreigners in Thailand, which primarily includes vaccinations against Typhoid and Hepatitis A, a Tetanus booster once every 10 years can protect your body against infection in a cut or graze.

For more information on recommended vaccines for older adults, you can refer to CDC’s immunization schedule here. Lastly, before making a final decision on the vaccinations you need, we highly advise talking to a healthcare professional about your options.

4. Get regular health check-ups

Retirement in Thailand can be an incredible experience, as it should be. However, it doesn’t change the fact that our golden years are where we tend to experience the most health concerns. Some of the most common health risks to look out for include:

• Alzheimer’s
• Skin problems
• Cardiovascular disease
• Chronic pains (e.g. arthritis)
• Digestive problems
• Prostate issues
• Bladder issues
• Erectile dysfunction
• Thyroid issues
• Cancer
• Anxiety and depression
• Respiratory illness

If you’re informed and involved about what your health concerns could be, and take part in prevention rather than reacting to illness, your chances of spending huge amounts of time and money on healthcare can be reduced. Taking part in regular, comprehensive medical checkups are therefore another important component of healthy aging, and helps ensure that any health problems you may unknowingly have are detected and treated as early as possible.

5. Review your health insurance coverage

While health insurance doesn’t directly make you healthier, the right plan can help ensure that you have access to the best care you need. As we age, our health risks and needs change; so should your Thailand health insurance coverage. When reviewing your health insurance, you might find that the coverage benefits and limits may no longer be enough or fit you as well as it used to. Or perhaps you’re now more financially stable, and the prospect of a deductible or paying an additional premium to cover certain pre-existing conditions are no longer unaffordable.

When it comes to reviewing your health insurance options, the best thing to do is to engage the help of a health insurance expert like Pacific Prime Thailand. As Thailand’s leading broker, many of the clients we’ve worked with are in their golden years. To discover the best retiree health insurance plans in Thailand, contact us today.

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Jess

Content Strategist at Pacific Prime Thailand

Jessica Lindeman is a Content Strategist at Pacific Prime. She comes to work every day living and breathing the motto of "simplifying insurance", and injects her unbridled enthusiasm for health and insurance related topics into every article and piece of content she creates for Pacific Prime. When she's not typing away on her keyboard, she's reading poetry, fueling her insatiable wanderlust, getting her coffee fix, and perpetually browsing animal Instagram accounts.

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