Everyone, no matter what age, can benefit from exercise,
but it is especially important for seniors.
From age forty, you can lose three to five percent from your muscle mass
every decade. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Unted States Surgeon General note that by age 65, walking and gardening
are the most common physical activities. By age 75, nearly a third of men
and nearly halve of women take practice no physical activity at all.
Worldwide, circa 3.2 million deaths annually can be ascribed in some way
to inactivity.
Physical activity doesn’t have to be strenuous to be beneficial, and you
don’t have to do a lot of it.
The guidelines are for 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week or
75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week. Experts say that even a moderate
amount of daily activity can have significant health benefits.
The most important benefits are:
* Maintaining strong bones, muscles and joints
* Improving stamina and general level of energy
* Reducing arthritis-related swelling and pain
* Improving circulation and reduce blood pressure
* Improving mobility and balance, reducing the risk of falls
* Reducing the risk of death from heart disease,
high blood pressure, diabetes, and colon cancer
As a senior, you may have to adapt your activities.
One if the best exercises is walking. You don’t need special
equipment and you can do it right outside your front door.
You can walk for five minutes or one hour, depending on your
stamina
YOGA
Yoga is easy to start, you can work at your own pace.
All you may need is a yoga mat.
Yoga can help you to become more flexible, strengthen
muscles and bones, enhance your mobility and balance,
and relieve stress or anxiety. Additionally, chair yoga offers
an even lower-impact workout for seniors.
SENIOR-SPECIFIC CLASSES
There are organizations with fitness classes, specifically
designed for senior fitness, and led by instructors who
understand their needs. Like pool aerobics or chair exercise
classes. Many insurance plans cover all or part of gym and
community costs for people over 65.
WEIGHT TRAINING
Weight training doesn’t seem like a senior activity, but it
provides resistance, improves your strength, and helps
keep your bones strong. As with other kinds of exercise
programs, you need some guides at first and want to start
easy.
SWIMMING
Swimming in a pool or the sea is one of the best exercises
for seniors. There’s no impact, like there can be in other
aerobics or fitness classes. Also, the water provides its own
resistance, and you reap the same benefits as other exercises
in terms of heart health, flexibility, muscle and bone health,
and stress relief.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST FITNESS PROGRAM FOR YOU
There are some important factors you need to consider
when choosing a fitness program.
* Your current level of activity and fitness
* Any medical or health conditions
* The kind of exercise that appeal to you personally
* Whether you have any schedule limitations
* Whether you have physical limitations – which may mean
you need a personal trainer or instructor
EFFECTIVE FITNESS PROGRAMMING
When you are a member of a senior living community,
such as assisted living or long-term care, you could join
their senior fitness program, which benefit residents’
mental health and enhanced social connections.
ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING
It’s difficult to know for certain when it has become too much
for a senior to live independently. Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
are basic tasks you should be able to do without help.
How a senior handles these activities can give you an objective
way to gauge how capable you or a loved one may be.
Activities of daily living are:
Mobility, Eating, dressing and grooming, personal care, transfer
CDC statistics note that, as you’d expect, limitations in individuals’
abilities to accomplish the ADL’s are greater the older they get.
About two percent of those in the age range 45-64 struggle with ADL’s; that increases to about four percent between the ages 65-74
and about 11 percent in those over 75.
INSTRUMENTAL ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING (IADLs)
This is a higher category of ADLs, which require more thought,
planning and organization than the basic ADL’s, which include:
* Transportation and errands
* Money management
* Meal preparation
* Home maintenance and housekeeping
* Communication skills
* Managing medications