Health insurance for seniors: Staying active and engaged

As we age, the importance of health and wellness only grows. Taking care of your health into your senior years can lengthen your retirement years spent traveling, relaxing, or with grandchildren. It’s time to focus on health and wellness tips for seniors, including preventive care and how you can tailor your Saskatchewan Blue Cross plan for your life as an older adult.

Health insurance for seniors

Personal health insurance plans can help seniors overcome health issues, such as poor eyesight, existing medication prescriptions, aches and pains, and more.  If you have a pre-existing health condition, choosing a plan that does not require you to complete a medical questionnaire can help you to get coverage. If you’re approaching retirement, the Conversion plan offers guaranteed coverage when you apply within 60 days of leaving your group benefits plan. The Guaranteed Acceptance plan offers guaranteed coverage with no medical questionnaire at any time. A personal health insurance plan can support you in taking care of your health for years to come. 

How to stay active as a senior

An important part of caring for your health as you age is keeping your body active. As a senior, here’s what you should be aiming for to remain healthy and active:

• Complete 150 minutes of moderate activity per week. That’s just thirty minutes of activity, five times during the week – you can even break it down into smaller chunks of time as you ease into the activity. Start slowly if you weren’t this active before, and work up to this goal.
• Choose activities that will raise your heart rate and keep it steady.
• Train your muscles at least twice a week. These will be the activities with weights, carrying things, or squatting up and down.
• Mix up the exercises. If you’re going for a walk, you don’t just need to focus on cardio. Go for a walk and add something to it, such as lunges to strengthen your muscles at the same time.
• Don’t neglect balance. Age can have an impact on balance, so each time you’re being active, add a balance exercise.

Remember to consult your doctor before starting any new exercise program.

Incorporate activity into your time with your grandchildren

If you have grandchildren and enjoy spending time with them, keeping up with them is a great way to get active! Grandchildren can help keep you young and there’s no shortage of activities to do with them that will keep you fit and mobile, avoiding potential injuries in the future!

The youngest ones

With infants and toddlers, try a walk with a stroller or a bike ride. If you have any mobility challenges, a stroller can act as support if walking is sometimes tiring or challenging for your muscles and joints. A bike can take the stress off some parts of the body and put it somewhere else that might feel stronger.

Play games that inspire movement, such as Hide-and-Seek. Or, go looking for insects, pretty rocks, or colourful leaves. Games like these don’t require agility, but they give kids an activity to focus on and keep you all moving.

Try a swim class, baby yoga, or another type of kid-friendly exercise class. These options have senior-friendly options so you can do what your body allows. It also creates meaningful time spent with family.

Children

As children grow, add more outdoor activities to the mix: swings, jump rope, chalk, basketball, and more. Build forts out of snow or rake leaves into a big pile together. Practice sports skills, such as catching, hitting, kicking, and throwing. Go swimming, biking, or hiking together.

Teenagers

The older your grandkids get, the more they can do on their own, and spending active time with them becomes less about monitoring and more about interacting and spending time together. There are plenty of options to explore here: tennis, ping pong, and kayaking are a few. Make it a group event and go bowling, mini-golfing, or on a scavenger hunt!

Seasonal activities

As we know, Saskatchewan has beautiful summers, but they sure are short! You don’t have to limit outdoor activities to the summer months alone – here are a couple of activities to keep you active throughout each of the seasons.

Summer

• Go swimming at the beach, a river, or your local community pool. Check out a water aerobics class specifically developed for seniors. If you experience pain, being in water can take a lot of pressure off the body.
• Spend extra time with grandchildren while they’re out of school for the summer. Walk them to the park and play with them on the playground. 

• Plan backyard games, such as lawn bowling, horseshoes, beanbag toss, or bocce ball.

Fall

• Find your local pumpkin patch and walk the rows to find your perfect fall pumpkin for carving.
• Gather your family for an afternoon navigating a corn maze. 
• Find a local tai chi class, which both improves balance and strength in the body as well as improves relaxation and mindfulness.

Winter

• Build snowmen, forts, or an igloo with your family.
• Try a mall-walking group to avoid the cold or slippery sidewalks. 
• Take advantage of holiday deals at a fitness center to keep up your activity once it’s time to move inside.
• Explore dance classes with a friend.
• Embrace the chill by skating, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing.

Spring

• Start preparing your garden and your yard for the summer. 
• Go for a bike ride to enjoy the warmer spring air.
• Go for nature walks with family and friends.

Use preventative care resources

To accomplish all of these activities and be able to continue them, take advantage of personal health insurance for seniors that offers preventative care. Address a minor issue before it becomes a debilitating problem. Use massage benefits to help your muscles heal. Use chiropractic to keep your body mobile and moving as it should. Explore Saskatchewan Blue Cross personal health plans to find the right fit for you. 

Supporting seniors’ health literacy

As part of our mission at Saskatchewan Blue Cross, we strive to improve health literacy in our community by providing resources on wellness, physical health, and health insurance. We proudly support key partnerships to support the actively aging, including the Sasaktoon Council on Aging, Saskatchewan Seniors’ Association, Regina YMCA, and more. Learn more here.

Beneficial health insurance plans for seniors

From new students to new retirees, Saskatchewan Blue Cross has quality health insurance plans that offer our members the benefits they need when they need it. If you’re nearing retirement, take a look at the Conversion plan. Apply to this plan within sixty days of leaving a group benefits plan and you’ll be eligible for coverage with no medical questions asked. If you retired more than sixty days ago and still require coverage with no medical questions or exclusions, check out the Guaranteed Acceptance plan.