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How Veterans Can Stay In Good Health Back Home

Veterans returning from tours or at the end of their military career often struggle with a number of health concerns and complications related to their service. These are some of the ways in which veterans can manage these issues and stay in good health when they’re back home:

By Laura MayPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Stay active

A military career can be intense and often requires high fitness levels, but when you’re back home it’s easy to fall into bad habits and a far less active lifestyle. You should try to incorporate some level of exercise into your weekly schedule - maybe two or three times a week - so that you can stay in good health.

Working out won’t just keep you in shape; it cuts the risk of diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and some cancers, plus it’s also really good for your mental health. It releases endorphins and serotonin that helps you feel more positive and less stressed, plus it gives you something that’s within your control to focus on.

If you don’t know how to start getting back into fitness, there are a number of organizations that offer help for veterans. Military.com offers dedicated advice on military fitness, that has advice on getting back into fitness, exercising after an injury, or how to work out with a disability.

If you’re looking for more than the occasional workout, then the FitOps Foundation is a non-profit organization that trains and certifies veterans as personal trainers.

Access VA disability benefits

As a veteran, you may be eligible for certain health benefits such as inpatient and outpatient care, mental health care, prescription drugs, and long term care. The level of benefits you’re eligible for depends on a number of things including your priority group and the advice of your doctors.

If you have an illness or injury that was caused during or made worse by active-duty, then you may be eligible for disability benefits.

Proving your eligibility and accessing these benefits can be quite complicated, so it could be worth talking to a specialized company such as Vet Comp & Pen that offers evidence-based medical consulting to help connect symptoms and diagnoses to your military service. They are a veteran-owned and operated company that can help get you the right disability benefits you need and deserve.

Eat well

A well balanced diet is key to reducing or avoiding physical and mental health problems when you’re back home. As you get older it becomes even more important that you’re getting enough nutrients like calcium and iron to stay strong and healthy.

Start by improving your diet and eating more fruit, vegetables, and non-processed foods. Take some time to plan and prepare what you eat, and try to avoid fast food and take out. You could also take supplements (when recommended to by a doctor) if you are deficient in specific vitamins and minerals.

You can find lots of resources online to help plan out a healthier approach to food, such as HelpGuide’s healthy eating guides. Project New Hope also organizes retreats that include a nutrition education program that’s designed to teach military service members and veterans about healthy eating.

Ask for help

Some veterans find that they experience PTSD or other problems with their mental health when they get back home. It’s important to ask for help when you need it, these problems won’t resolve themselves and there are a number of organizations that are able to offer mental health support and advice. The National Alliance on Mental Illness has a good list of resources, information, and helplines to access if you need help.

Avoid unhealthy habits

Some of the things that you might take comfort in such as alcohol or smoking are going to have a negative impact on your health in the long term. Not only does smoking damage your lungs and make it harder for you to stay fit and healthy, but it also increases your risk of cancer and your risk of developing dementia.

And alcohol might make you feel more relaxed or happier initially, but it’s a depressant that lowers your mood - plus it impacts your sleeping pattern. Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important ways to support your physical and mental health.

As a veteran, you can stay in good health by taking the time to look after yourself, ask for help when you need it, and find out what benefits and support you are entitled to.

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