A longer life brings with it opportunities, not only for older people and their families, but also for societies as a whole. Additional years is said to provide the chance to pursue new activities such as further education, a new career or a long-neglected passion.
Older people also contribute in many ways to their families and communities. Yet the extent of these opportunities and contributions depends heavily on one factor: health.
Common conditions in older age include hearing loss, cataracts and refractive errors, back and neck pain and osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, depression and dementia. As people age, they are more likely to experience several conditions at the same time.
In a bid to ensure ensure longer and healthier lives for aging people in Nigeria, Adenrele Owoyemi, one of Nigeria’s leading photographers with a passion for documenting timeless memories and facilitating healthy communities, held her inaugural event for Celebrating Senior Citizens 2024 tagged “Aging Like Fine Wine”.
The event designed to spotlight the unique experiences of individuals aged 50 and above, by focusing on key areas such as health, wealth, and social wellness provided a serene environment where health experts discussed how maintain healthy behaviours throughout life, particularly eating a balanced diet, engaging in regular physical activity and refraining from tobacco use, which all contribute to reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases, improving physical and mental capacity and delaying care dependency.
Funsho Owoyemi, during his keynote presentation on ‘Healthy Aging: Tips for Staying Active and Engaged,’ said as people age, they have a responsibility to be conscious of their lifestyle; what you eat and drink amongst others.
“As you age, you may be vulnerable to cancer, and heart disease amongst others. I was hypertensive as a young man. I had to start exercising. I couldn’t reverse my diabetic status. I have to take my drugs to the end of time. We are all exposed to potential to have cancer and I know the danger.
“Avoid carbohydrates. Take care of your life. Slow down on the consumption of sugar. We have to reduce certain diets that stress our internal organ and once the kidney is replaced, it is a palliative and not a solution. Avoid intake of alcohol. This is dangerous. you need to look at how you can help your system. We have limited time. Touch lives,” Oweyemi told the older citizens who attended the event.
He also stressed on the need to live a life that would be impactful to people and glorify God.
He hinted that forgiveness is a great solution to stress relief, adding that when people forgive those who offended them, they also forgive themselves.
On financial management, he said, “We need to be careful of our finances because your wealth and comfort doesn’t come in the acceleration that your body wants when you are old.”
Monisola Adanijo a consultant cardiologist during her interactive discussion on Mindfulness and Stress Management said aging is a normal part of life as everybody is going to age.
Adanijo said this is why it is important that as people get older, they take care of their health because everyone prays for long life in good health.
Speaking earlier, she said her discussion at the event would centre around mindfulness, how people’s habits affect their health and how people can improve habits such that they can age well and be happy in old age.
“What older adults do that affect their health includes habits such as not eating right, not exercising, allowing stress to get to us, not sleeping well,” she added.
Adenrele Owoyemi, the organiser of the event and the Head and creative lead of Rele Oweyemi Photography said ‘Aging like fine wine’ is an event that she put together for the older citizens.
“We realised that these people are hardly celebrated. There is Children’s Day, there is Mother’s Day, there is Father’s Day but there is nothing like bringing these older generation together. So, we thought of bringing them together and we just included health and wellness.
“It is more like coming together to learn, unlearn and relearn, especially regarding their health. There are so many health factors that come into play when it gets to this age and it always skyrocket immediately when they get to their 70s.
“So we got professionals that would talk to them about things like high blood pressure, arthritis, wear and tear of the bone, eye sight amongst others. They are also able to network here,” Owoyemi said.
She said the event an open event but she leverage her clients as a photographer to get older citizens to attend as well as referrals, social media and word of mouth.
“I feel fulfilled that I’m doing this, especially as I see these older people happy. This is just the beginning as I see this growing and getting to larger crowd. We are grateful to our sponsors who saw the value in it and wanted to be a part if it.
“I see this event to be really large, especially having big financial and health institutions partnering with us to cater for about 500 to 1,000 older people meeting together and from there form clubs and groups and live a healthier and longer life,” Owoyemi said.
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