It’s important to take care of our health and what our individual bodies need, but sometimes, we develop such habits later rather than sooner. Recently, Redditor r/choodleficken asked the older adults of the Reddit Community to share the one health tip they wish they’d followed when they were younger, and the answers are incredibly informative. Here are some health-related tips you might just start implementing into your daily life (if you don’t already):
1.“I wish I’d appreciated the value of sleep when I was younger. I often stayed up late and thought I could function on little rest. However, I learned that good sleep is crucial for overall health and well-being.”
2.“Avoid loud music and rock concerts and while wearing headphones. Tinnitus and hearing loss are real.”
3.“Wearing sunscreen. I spent the majority of my 51 years never wearing it, despite living in the South and spending a ton of time outdoors. I’ve always loved tanning and getting as tan as I can. While I by no means have ‘bad’ skin, I know that my face would be in better shape had I started applying sunscreen earlier in life. As a parent now, I’m constantly having my kids apply it.”
4.“Wearing sunglasses for cataract prevention. Listen to older folks — they’ve been through things you will eventually go through.”
5.“I wish, as a woman, I’d been more of an advocate for myself and told the doctors to listen to me more. I can’t count the number of times I was told my symptoms were ‘nothing’ and that I should ‘relax more’ because it’s ‘just anxiety.’ I wouldn’t have ended up in the ER or constantly telling doctor after doctor that what I was feeling wasn’t caused by anxiety. Maybe, instead, I wish doctors were trained to listen to women.”
6.“Drinking excessively. If you have a problem, seek help as soon as possible.”
7.“I wish I’d known how important it was to manage stress early on. I often brushed off my anxiety, thinking it was just part of life. Learning to cope with stress would have made a big difference in my overall health.”
8.“I wish I did more strength training and less computer stuff before college. The time I spent programming in middle school and high school didn’t actually end up paying off much. But strength training gives you an asset that keeps paying dividends and that you can continue building on for life.”
9.“I wish I’d never smoked a cigarette.”
10.“Eat fiber and hydrate. My gut health was in shambles before taking that seriously.”
11.“Drinking plenty of water. Every day. For your entire life. I used to drink A LOT of water when I was in my 20s and 30s, and then just got out of the habit. I just had a pre-op physical, and my blood tests and urine results were odd and didn’t make sense. After doing some research on the numbers, it hit me: I’m dehydrated. I asked myself, When did I stop drinking my 8–10 cups of water? It’s been years, so I’m ramping up my intake slowly. I remember my dad telling me the importance of drinking plenty of water, and now I know why!”
12.“Watch your blood pressure. I ignored mine until I had a stroke.”
13.“Take care of your teeth! Between the ages of 18–24, I didn’t go to the dentist. I was young, and my teeth felt fine, so I didn’t do it. When I turned 25, one of my molars became sensitive, so I got some toothpaste for sensitive teeth, but the feeling didn’t go away. When I finally went to the dentist, I was told that my back molar was totally rotten and needed to be removed. I can still remember the smell of my rotten tooth when they ripped it out to this day. It smelled like death. Now, I go to the dentist every year without fail. Sure, it costs money, but I get a clean bill of health and peace of mind.”
14.“Getting a water pick for your teeth and a bidet for your butt!”
15.“Stretching. Flexibility as we age is so important.”
16.“I wish I’d chosen to wear quality shoes while I worked. They were expensive, but my pain would be more tolerable now if I had.”
17.Lastly: “Wearing a night guard. I grind my teeth when I sleep but didn’t wear one. Fast-forward 30 years, and, like, 75% of my teeth are cracked. I’ve had five root canals in the past year, along with expensive crowns that they’ve put on literally all of my molars to hold them together as a temporary measure. Someday, the cracks on my teeth will spread too far past the gum line, and my teeth will have to be pulled one by one.”
As someone who just started regularly flossing this year, to no one’s surprise, my hygienist is right: it makes a big difference in oral health. So, especially after reading some of these stories, I’ll definitely continue doing it! If you’re an older adult, what health-related advice do you wish you’d followed more when you were younger? Let me know in the comments, or you can anonymously submit your story using this form!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.
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