9 Tips to Stay Happy and Healthy After Retirement

Life After Retirement

Many picture the “retirement lifestyle” to be full of relaxation and don’t think about retirement planning. After all, you’ve just closed the chapter of your life where work was your routine. Now, it’s time to finally kick your feet up. But this is a major change in lifestyle—it’s important to maintain a healthy and happy way of life as you make this transition. Planning for where you’ll be spending your days after retirement and in later stages of life can ensure you’ll maintain your good health and happiness.

9 Top Tips for a Happy and Healthy Retirement Lifestyle

After years of hard work, it’s not uncommon for challenges such as stress, anxiety, or depression to set in during this time. Here are the top, proven ways to make sure your body and mind are getting the most value from retirement and senior living, find a new purpose, and thrive in your new environment and routines.

1. Stay in Touch

Loss of the structure that work provides for each day or the social aspect of having co-workers can cause loneliness for people experiencing retirement. Loneliness or social isolation can lead to significant health issues for older adults. It’s important to establish connections with others around you who are experiencing the same transition and regularly check in with the people you’re used to talking with.

At Homestead Village, a Life Plan Community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we proudly offer a wide variety of life enrichment programs for our residents. Many of these groups and clubs are resident-led, providing a multitude of opportunities to connect with other residents in the Village and stay involved.

2. Stay Active

Exercise is very important throughout your entire life, but especially for older adults. The benefits of staying active after the age of  62 include improvements to:

• Strength
• Flexibility and joint mobility
• Independence
• Balance
• Energy levels
• Mood (can help fight depression)
• Cognitive function
• Overall health (can prevent or delay diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, or osteoporosis)

Taking advantage of a fitness program that is specifically designed for older adults and aligned with your exact health levels and needs can be tremendously beneficial. Chair exercise or gentle yoga programs are perfect if you have more limited abilities.   For those who want more vigorous exercise regimens, outdoor activities such as biking or walking are great ways to combine the benefits of exercise with Vitamin D from the sun! Homestead Village makes fitness a priority for its residents. Learn more about the full range of options and amenities we have available here.

3. Keep a Balanced Diet

For older adults, eating healthy looks a little different than it does in previous stages of life. For example, our metabolism slows down as we grow older, and our bodies need different levels of various nutrients than they did before. It’s a vital part of healthy retirement living to fuel your body with the right foods to help stay happy and healthy. Homestead Village understands these needs for the residents within our Life Plan Community. We proudly offer dining options that suit various lifestyles and dietary needs so our residents can easily maintain a healthy diet.

4. Volunteer

When it comes to life after leaving your job, you may find yourself missing the sense of identity, meaning, and purpose that came with it. This is a completely normal feeling to experience during the transition to retirement. It just means that you have to adjust what your purpose is. A very rewarding and fulfilling way to do so is by devoting your new time and energy to helping others. Volunteering can serve a dual purpose of staying socially connected with others as well as overcoming the sense of “aimlessness” that can sometimes set in. Additionally, research has proven that it helps with mental and physical health throughout later stages in life.

Our residents volunteer at many Lancaster County non-profit organizations including but not limited to Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development, Samaritan Counseling Center,  Church World Service, The Hempfield Food Pantry Advantage Lancaster, and more.  Other residents are members of service organizations such as Rotary,  Sertoma, The Junior League, and DAR.

Many residents also serve right here within Homestead Village in capacities such as the Gift Shop, Library, Auxiliary, and even Pet Therapy.

Dive into the top tips on getting the most value from volunteering during retirement here.

5. Continue Education

It’s important to keep your brain active during this time of life in order to maintain your mental health. Have you ever heard the advice to “never stop learning”? It’s true. Opening your mind to new ways of thinking through various educational opportunities (which don’t have to be formal or standard education methods) can be a very valuable part of a retirement lifestyle. Homestead Village offers an Education Committee, which develops classes, events, trips, and more to provide a plethora of opportunities for our senior living community members to learn and engage in furthering their education, keeping their minds sharp.

6. Learn New Skills

Very similarly, this can be the perfect time to learn new skills. Not only broadening your horizons for your mental strength and abilities but also adding to your physical capabilities can be a way to stay happy and healthy during retirement. Maybe you’ve always wanted to become better at gardening, painting, crafting—the list goes on. Now, you finally have the time to do so.

7. Eliminate the Burden of Home Maintenance

To stay happy and healthy, retirement is not the time in your life that should be dominated by worries related to home maintenance. In later stages of life, you may not be physically able to do some of the items needed to maintain and secure your home. At Homestead Village, our residents can completely eliminate these burdens, receiving:

• 24-hour security
• Emergency call system and optional check-in program
• Complimentary transportation to doctor appointments within a 5-mile radius
• Landscaping and grounds care
• Snow removal
• Trash removal, water, sewer
• Appliance repair and replacement
• Interior and exterior maintenance
• Weekly linen service (apartment residents)
• Housekeeping every other week (apartment residents)

Our Life Plan Community residents are truly able to thrive where they are, without needing to worry about burdensome home maintenance duties.

8. Have Reliable In-Home Care and Services

For older adults, it’s important to consider caregiving services when developing your plans for retirement, even if they aren’t immediately needed. Having a plan lined up in case something happens to your health is essential—giving you and your family the peace of mind that you’ll always be properly taken care of.

Our mentality at Homestead Village is that it’s vital that our residents are able to enjoy the Thrive Where You Are® lifestyle—having the ability to live happily, actively, healthily, and independently in their own homes. This means that our Home Care services range from simple housekeeping or cooking to fully-trained caregivers who are there to ensure your safety in everyday activities and help you maintain specific medication schedules or requirements.

For residents who choose to downsize to an apartment, each of our 111 apartments is dual-licensed for personal care, so when someone needs some extra help, they can enroll in Supportive Services without the extra move! This is also a huge benefit to couples who wish to live together despite different levels of care needs.

“Among the Life Plan Communities in Lancaster County, I feel that Homestead offers one of the most robust menus of care options that can be brought into your campus home,” comments Angie R. Sherwood, MS, CCC-SLP/DOR, Director of Rehabilitation at Genesis Rehab Services.

9. Make It Easy for Friends and Family to Visit

Family and friends are going to want to stay in touch with you as you make this major change in lifestyle. Make sure you’ll be at a place where they can easily visit, as well as know that you’re properly taken care of—giving you both the peace of mind necessary for a happy and healthy retirement.  Homestead Village’s location is just minutes from Route 30, 283, and other major roads that make travel easy.

How to Plan for a Happy, Healthy Retirement at Homestead Village

When it’s time to sit down and plan for your retirement, it’s of utmost importance to be confident in where you’ll be living and the daily life this environment will provide. 

Make sure to consider life at Homestead Village. It’s our mission to provide a retirement community that fosters healthy and happy living throughout later stages of life. Take a tour of our beautiful, 90-acre, tree-lined campus—full of the perfect activities and serenity you need to maintain top emotional, physical, and mental health—today!

Continuing Care Retirement Community FAQ

How do I create a retirement plan?

1. Determine where you want to retire
2. Tour various communities and get an understanding of their options and entrance fee plans and talk with a financial advisor about retirement planning.
3. List the features of each community that are most important to you
4. Join wait lists at your favorite communities
5. Start to downsize personal keepsakes and belongings sooner than later – you’ll be glad you did!
6. Make a checklist of all the things you’d like to accomplish before, during, and after your move.
7. Let us help!  Homestead Village staff are happy to discuss your future plans to see if our community can help you live your best future!

When should you begin your retirement planning?

Ideally, your retirement plans should begin in your 20’s but as you get closer to retirement age it’s more than just financial planning. Deciding where you will live after retirement and how you want to spend your golden years is best decided in your 50’s or earlier.  We recommend touring CCRC’s in your mid-to-late 50’s and joining waitlists at your top choices.  This way, when you’re finally ready to make the move, there is a greater chance that you’ll get to move to your top choice!