When you’re young, you probably aren’t going to need many medications or supplements unless you happen to have a particular medical issue at birth. Most young people can eat whatever they want, and they feel like their young bodies are invincible. As you get older, though, and you start to accumulate some more mileage, you’re probably going to need more supplements and medications.
Let’s look at five of the more common ones right now. Not everyone needs everything on this list, but you’ll find them in many households.
Multivitamins
As you get to be a little bit older, you might start looking into vitamin supplements. You can speak to your doctor about which ones are best, but generally, you’ll want them on hand if you don’t eat as well balanced of a diet as you should.
You can certainly modify your diet as you age, and it makes sense to do so. At the same time, though, you can start buying and ingesting Centrum or a similar multivitamin. You can find them at grocery or drug stores, and they don’t cost too much for a several-month supply.
You can get the general Centrum or knockoff brand, but you should also look into buying the gender-specific ones. There are ones that say on the bottle whether they work best for the male or female physiology. You can also get the Centrum Silver ones or the equivalent that have the right vitamins and minerals for you as you pass age fifty.
Acetaminophen
Acetaminophen is cheap and easy to get, and it can help you with pain management. If you have some pains and aches as you get older, as so many people do, you may want to keep a big bottle of this in the house.
Make sure that you only use it according to the bottle’s directions. You’re supposed to eat it with food. If you consume it on an empty stomach, it can cause stomach irritation or even stomach lining bleeding if you’re eating a lot of it.
If you have more severe pain, you’ll need to talk to a doctor about it. Over-the-counter pain meds can help you to some degree, but if you’re finding they’re not enough, you may need to figure out another solution.
Lisinopril
Lisinopril is not an over-the-counter drug. You do need a doctor’s prescription to get it, but you’ll find it in many households.
Doctors prescribe it for high blood pressure. Some people deal with high blood pressure because they’re overweight or obese.
However, you might not be aware that some individuals need it because of hereditary high blood pressure. They might be perfectly height-weight proportionate, but they still deal with high blood pressure that they need meds to control.
Fish Oil Supplements
You might go to someone’s house and find a big bottle of fish oil pills in the fridge. If you’ve never seen them before, you may wonder about their use.
Fish oil has a ton of Omega-3s. These contribute to eye and brain development. If you continue to use them as you age, some doctors and dieticians believe that they can fight vision deterioration, and they can also keep you mentally sharp.
If you have individuals with cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s in your family, you need every extra edge that you can get. This is another reason why many doctors say that eating fish is healthy for you, but a fish oil pill gives you the same nutrients without you having to start every day with a big plate of halibut.
Vitamin D
You might also find Vitamin D in a lot of medicine cabinets. Humans need Vitamin D because it helps them absorb calcium.
When you’re young, your parents might have told you to drink a couple of big glasses of milk every day to stimulate bone growth and development. As you get older, though, you might not want to drink that much milk. You may not digest it as easily, and a Vitamin D supplement can give you the same effect.
Also, even though you need calcium to help you grow as a teenager, you still need it later in adulthood because it helps fight off osteoporosis. As you age and your bones get brittle, you’re more likely to break them if you fall. Consuming a couple of Vitamin D tablets each day can help prevent that.
It shouldn’t surprise you if the longer you live, the more pills you need.