Don't wait: By the time you need a living will or green funeral, it will be to late to plan one.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Even if you’re healthy as an ox and strong like a bull, you still should take a few minutes today, National Healthcare Decisions Day, to think about death. Not to get all dark and depressing on you (hey, part of living is dying—and what’s more natural than that?), but none of us has the power to know when our time will be up. So it’s best to prepare a living will and other advanced directives now, to help your family honor your wishes if you’re incapacitated from an illness or accident. It’s also not a bad idea to put your funeral and burial wishes in your last will and testament, particularly if you’ve made the choice for an ecofriendly, or “green,” burial, which may not be familiar to your loved ones.

THE DETAILS: “Ideally, every adult should have an advance directive,” says Theresa Kristopaitis, MD, medical director of Loyola’s Center for Home Care & Hospice. “Even if you are young and healthy today, it is important that you take the time to think about and discuss your wishes with a physician and loved ones.”

There are several forms that will help your loved ones know what you’d like doctors to do if you’re facing death:

Health Care Power of Attorney: This document allows you to designate someone to make health-care decisions for you if you can’t communicate with doctors.

Living Will: If you become terminally ill, your living will is activated. This is the document that states your choices about procedures like life support, feeding tubes, and dialysis that might prolong the dying process.

Do-Not-Resuscitate Order: This advanced directive notes that you don’t want CPR performed if your heart stops and you stop breathing. Measures will be taken to make sure you are comfortable and die with dignity.

Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration: If you become incapacitated because of a mental illness, this order states whether you’d want to receive electroconvulsive treatment or psychotropic medicine.

WHAT IT MEANS: If you take some time to do the paperwork now, you not only ensure that your wishes are fulfilled at the end of your life, you’ll alleviate some of the stress and anxiety your family may feel at a difficult time.

Here’s how to get started: