At the Personal Finance/Investment Frontiers Retire Rich seminar, medical
practitioner Dr Mark Oliver, spoke about what it will take to stay healthy
and wealthy before and after your retirement. Esann de Kock reports.
If you are planning your retirement and your healthcare needs in
retirement, it is important to take note of those factors that can
influence how much risk you carry with regard to your health.
This, says Mark Oliver, requires an intensive pre-retirement preventative
medical which includes a general medical check-up and physical examination
including a blood pressure reading.
It also requires a range of blood, urine and stool tests; a liver function
test, renal function test (especially if you enjoy alcohol), a blood
glucose test, prostate tests for men and a test of hormone levels -
including thyroid - for women.
Then, he says, you need to have a cardiac evaluation involving blood
pressure, a pulmonary assessment for asthmatics, smokers and chronic
bronchitis.
Women, in particular, he says should undergo mammogram and sonar tests as
well as a gynaecological visit for a pap smear and coloscopy (especially if
you have a family history of gastro-intestinal cancer, a history of polyps
or if your bowel habits have changed).
The overall medical examination should also include an optometric
assessment and a hearing assessment and X-rays of your knees, hips and back
to test for osteoarthritis or joint problems.
Oliver says, however, that staying healthy is the first rule if you want to
minimise any risk factors.
He recommends the following habits:
* Exercise: A combination of aerobic (where you reach a heart rate of 120
to 150 beats a minute) and anaerobic exercise (heart rate between 150 and
190 beats a minute) is necessary.
Ideal exercise, he says, involves maintaining your heart rate at 140 for 40
minutes three times a week on alternate days and twice a week at 150 to 190
beats a minute for 30 to 40 minutes.
In fact, Oliver says exercise should be a way of life for everyone. He
points out that the United States has the biggest population of people
exercising over 60 years of age and the country is reaping the benefits of
reduced cardiovascular disease.
Exercise reduces your blood pressure and your pulse rate; it reduces
cholesterol and your body fat ratio and, ultimately, reduces mortality.
* Look after your diet: Diet and nutrition, says Oliver, are important risk
factors when it comes to looking after your health. A diet of mainly fish,
fibre, fowl, fruits, fresh vegetables and fat-free dairy is important.
Good health, he says, requires that you eat a combination of these foods
every day and that you take a daily supplement of vitamin C, vitamin B and
magnesium/zinc for maximum anti-oxidant effect.
If you want to avoid cholesterol and therefore heart attack, stroke and
high blood pressure, cut out animal fats, refined sugars, full cream dairy
products and oily foods. But it is all right to add some vegetable fats
like olive oil and sunflower oil to your diet as well as grilled and baked
foods and lean red meat.
* Stop smoking: Smoking, in short, causes all sorts of illnesses from
cancer to raised blood pressure, heart disease and limb amputation. So cut
it out - or don`t start.
* Don`t use excessive alcohol: Two glasses of wine a day are good for you,
but don`t ever binge, warns Oliver.
* Minimise your use of prescription drugs: For optimal use of prescription
drugs, he suggests you question your doctor on the possible side effects of
medicines - ranging from depression to sedation and exercise inhibition.
He says you should also avoid using multiple drugs.
It is often possible to
use one pill for all ailments rather than five conflicting ones.
Finally, he says, in terms of maintaining your medical expenditure and
insuring your risk, you have two options of medical cover: Comprehensive
hospital cover will cost you between R800 and R1 000 a month per couple;
whereas fully comprehensive medical cover will cost you between R2 000 and
R2 600 a month per couple.