11 Health & Wellness Tips for Healthy Aging

As we age, it’s common to look for ways to support our immune system, muscles, and overall well-being. Aging is natural and unavoidable, but with proper planning, whole body support, and healthy lifestyle choices, you can aim to age gracefully. Sometimes we wish we could stop the clock, but healthy aging is about small changes that create healthy daily habits to support your body and mind for overall wellness.

We’ll break down top evidence-backed health and wellness tips for how to live a healthy lifestyle, from nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress, and we’ll explain how dietary supplements can play a role in supporting key areas of healthy aging when paired with a balanced lifestyle.^†

1. Prioritize Balanced Nutrition in Your Daily Diet

A balanced diet filled with nutrient-dense foods is an important way to support healthy aging and overall wellness. Focus on whole foods, avoid overly processed products, and be sure to include lean proteins, dark leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. For example, you can add spinach to your smoothie for an easy way to add some key nutrients.

Aiming for a balanced diet is always the best way to provide your body with nutritional support, but sometimes it can be difficult to hit all of your nutrient goals through food alone. Dietary supplements can help bridge potential nutrient gaps, providing your body with a consistent source of essential vitamins and nutrients in a convenient daily package.^†

2. Support Your Body with Daily Movement

We all know that exercise is good for us, but it’s important to remember that you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to be healthy. Aim for consistent activities that meet your abilities to help support your physical health. Take the stairs, take a walk around the neighborhood, practice some relaxing yoga, or swimming, strength and resistance training, or sports like tennis or pickleball.

Aim for realistic goals: you get a lot more benefit from exercise when you stick to it. Talk to your healthcare provider to help you devise an exercise program that works for you.

3. Make Sleep a Non-Negotiable Part of Your Routine

Sleep can often slip away from us. Reading one more article, watching one more video, and soon enough, you’re way past your bedtime. Sleep quality supports cognitive function, mood, and physical recovery: it’s the time your brain and body need to recharge for the next day.^[1]

You can help yourself get better sleep by switching up your evening routine to incorporate simple sleep hygiene strategies, such as keeping a consistent bedtime, keeping your room dark and at a temperature you prefer, and limiting your screen time in the hours before bed. The blue light from screens can mimic daylight, suppressing your body’s melatonin production, making it more difficult to fall asleep.

Nature Made Melatonin Supplements can provide occasional sleep support, helping you to reset your sleep cycle after disruption.^†

4. Stay Hydrated Throughout the Day

In real estate, they say: location, location, location. In healthy aging, we say: hydration, hydration, hydration. Keeping your body hydrated with an adequate supply of water is essential to almost all the body’s functions.

Here are some tips for increasing your water intake: keep a refillable water bottle with you and hydrate more on hot days or when you’re physically active. If you’re not a huge fan of water’s flavor (or lack thereof), slice up a citrus fruit, watermelon, or any fruit or vegetable you love, and let your water soak up your favorite flavors. Hydration doesn’t just come from drinking; melons, cucumbers, and other high-water-content fruits and vegetables can help you keep your body hydrated.^[2]

5. Manage Stress in Sustainable Ways

We can’t always avoid the stress of modern living, but we can choose how to manage it. Stress, particularly chronic stress, can affect the body, particularly the immune system.^[3] Stop and breathe: incorporating healthy habits for stress management like mindfulness, meditation, deep breathing exercises, journaling, and calming exercises like yoga can help you reduce stress that’s weighing on you and approach the day with renewed focus.

Nature Made offers adaptogenic supplements to help the body adapt to stressors, like our Ashwagandha Capsules, which contain clinically studied ashwagandha to help reduce feelings of stress and occasional anxiety.^‡ Also, check out our Ashwagandha + Reishi Mushroom Capsules, with a clinically studied adaptogenic blend of ashwagandha and reishi mushroom helps reduce stress while promoting calm, relaxation, and a healthy mood.^†

6. Support Cognitive Health with Brain-Supporting Habits

While focusing on supporting your body, don’t forget to support your brain! Keeping your brain active and engaged is a key factor in supporting cognitive health as you age.^[3] Engaging in meaningful activities, such as creative pursuits, artistic endeavors, and hobbies, can support your brain’s daily wellness. If you find yourself getting bored with the daily routine, try a new activity, you might find a new passion.

You can also support your brain health by choosing supplements that provide key nutrients such as Magnesium L-threonate, Choline, Iron, and Zinc. Explore our Brain Health Supplements to find options made with high-quality ingredients.^†

7. Prioritize Regular Preventive Health Checkups

Here’s one of the most important health and wellness tips: regular checkups with your primary care provider. The best thing you can do to support healthy aging is to arm yourself with knowledge, and doctors can provide you with personal knowledge to help you face any challenges well-equipped. Stay proactive with annual exams, screenings, and medical consultations; early awareness helps support planning for your long-term wellness.

8. Maintain Strong Social Connections

We all know it takes a village to raise a child, but just because you’re not a child anymore doesn’t mean you don’t need the village! Relationships and social engagement are foundational supports for emotional well-being and cognitive health in aging.

Today’s digital world can seem isolating, but seeking connections by joining clubs, finding a volunteer position, or spending time with family and friends will help you keep perspective and can support your mental health. Reach out and ask for help, you might be surprised to find how many people are happy to answer.

9. Build a Skincare Routine That Supports Healthy Aging

Our skin spends most of its time exposed to the elements, so it requires some special care. Using gentle cleansing products that aren’t harsh on your skin, wearing daily sunscreen, and providing your body with sources of antioxidants like vitamin E and vitamin C can help support your skin from within.^†

Nutritional support is an important part of any skincare routine. Nature Made’s Skin Hydration + Ceramides Gummies provide a clinically studied ingredient containing Ceramides^◆ to support skin hydration in 15 days and help with skin smoothness & firmness as you age.^▲ Explore our Supplements for Hair, Skin & Nails to help support your natural beauty from the inside out.^†

10. Support Cellular Health

Supporting cellular health with vitamin D contributes to healthy aging. Most vitamin D is produced by the body in response to sunlight, and Nature Made offers Vitamin D3 2000 IU Softgels to help raise and maintain healthy vitamin D levels in the body. A clinical study focused on vitamin D and cellular aging showed that older adults who consistently took softgels providing 2000 IU of vitamin D3 for 4 years could help prevent some shortening of leukocyte telomeres, which are DNA endcaps that indicate cellular age.^[4]†

11. Focus on Bone, Joint, and Muscle Support

With age, bone, joint, and muscle support become more important. Muscle mass, cartilage, and bone density tend to lessen with age, and all three are key to long-term mobility. It’s important to support them with physical exercise, including resistance training, regular stretching, and posture awareness, as well as nutritional support. Calcium is key to supporting bone health, and Nature Made’s Calcium + D3 Softgels pair this essential mineral with vitamin D, which aids the body’s absorption of calcium.^†

You can explore supporting your joint health with dietary supplements, for example, Glucosamine Chondroitin Complex with MSM Triple Strength^†† + Vitamin D3 contains glucosamine to help support healthy joint cartilage, chondroitin to help support joint cushioning, and MSM, a source of dietary sulfur, which is used in connective tissue and joint cartilage. Collagen Peptides Drink Mix Powder includes a clinically studied ingredient to support healthy joints in active young adults^▪️, along with Biotin for healthy hair, skin, and nails.^†

Putting Healthy Aging Strategies into Practice

Taking care of your health and wellness as you age doesn’t mean doing just one thing; it’s a combination of healthy habits including diet, lifestyle, and physical activity. High-quality dietary supplementation can help you support your daily wellness with key nutrients.^†

Don’t worry about doing it all at once; start small, with achievable steps that fit into your life: every step gets you closer to your goal. Talk with your doctor about ways to support healthy aging and discuss supplementation to support your nutritional needs.

‡Sensoril® is clinically studied to reduce cortisol and perceived stress.†

◆Clinically Studied Wheat Seed Extract

▲For adults with dry skin

††Contains: Glucosamine HCl 1500 mg, Chondroitin Sulfate Sodium 800 mg, MSM 750 mg, Vitamin D3 2000 IU (50 mcg) per 2 caplets.

▪️ Blend consists of two collagen peptide ingredients.

References

1. Wein H. Good Sleep for Good Health. NIH News in Health. Published April 2021. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/04/good-sleep-good-health
2. Reiland L. Tips for drinking more water. Mayo Clinic Health System. Published July 12, 2021. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/tips-for-drinking-more-water
3. Alotiby A. Immunology of Stress: A Review Article. J Clin Med. 2024;13(21):6394. Published 2024 Oct 25. doi:10.3390/jcm13216394
4. National Institute on Aging. Cognitive Health and Older Adults. National Institute on Aging. Published June 11, 2024. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/brain-health/cognitive-health-and-older-adults