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Exercise Tips to Expand Your “HealthSpan”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older adults can benefit from regular, moderate physical activity.
This is true even for people with medical conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
We know the value and benefits of regular exercise activity. The thing is, we often associate exercise with formal programs, expensive equipment, and routines that can be difficult to maintain. While staying active is crucial, you don’t necessarily need machines and regimens to make an impact – everyday tasks and mindful activities contribute immensely to overall health.
Key benefits to exercise for seniors
- Slows/prevents bone loss
- Relieves pain from osteoarthritis
- Prevents/relieves chronic pain
- Boosts immunity
- Improves mood
Make it matter
If you decide to exercise, mean it. While the gym, the yoga studio, or your daily walk can be a social outing, don’t forget the focus: your health and fitness. Thirty productive minutes at the gym beats an hour leaning on an exercise machine and talking to your friends.
Make it fun
Speaking of fun, creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle in your silver and golden years means finding something you like to do. If you dread the idea of spending your workout time pushing and pulling on machines or lifting weights, consider creating “active habits,” and center your movement around things you like to do. The “fun factor” can significantly increase your commitment to regular exercise.
Make it sustainable
Setting goals is great, but make sure they’re reasonable, safe, and include activities you can commit to without regret or procrastination. Set small, short-term goals for long-term health.
Make it a group effort
Friends and peers with similar interests and goals can provide a huge boost to your motivation and overall attitude toward exercise. If you can’t decide what to do, or you’re having trouble getting motivated, talk to your friends to see what they’re doing.
Make it flexible
Flexibility and balance are critical to staying healthy as we get older. But stretching and flexibility exercises shouldn’t be painful. Slow, gentle stretches that focus on all parts of your body improve posture, circulation, and range of motion while mitigating the risk of injury and reducing chronic pain.
Make it functional
Functional fitness exercises mimic everyday movements and can help make daily tasks easier. Some examples include squats (with light or no weight), lunges, wall push-ups, “sit-to-stand” exercises, ankle circles, and more.
Make it productive
You don’t need an organized program or workout regimen to stay fit. Everyday activities provide a great source of exercise: gardening, running errands (and parking across the parking lot from stores to increase your daily step count), doing chores around the house, or walking the dog. It all adds up.
Make memory a priority
Exercise from the neck down is important, but don’t forget that three-pound computer you carry on your shoulders. Your brain needs exercise too, just like every other part of your body. Give it what it needs every day, by reading, visiting with friends, doing word puzzles, playing games, or keeping a daily journal.
Whether your exercise of choice involves a trip to the gym, “oms and aahs” on a yoga mat, pickleball matches, or physical work around the house, staying active and working our joints, muscles, and bones makes us feel good and increases both our lifespan and our “healthspan.”
At The Chateau Girardeau, we want you to enjoy a long, healthy active life. And as always, we’re here to answer any questions you have.
Note: Consult your physician before beginning an exercise program or activity.
Sources:
National Council on Aging