Exercise and Fitness Tips For Seniors

Fitness is crucial for all ages. For seniors, regular exercise can boost or perchance lengthen life. According to some proven studies, vital health gains are linked with exercise, and it turns more essential as we get older. Regardless of your age or physical health, it is not too late to start exercising and get into shape.  There are numerous gains of exercising for all ages, comprising a healthier heart, strengthened bones, and enhanced flexibility. 

When we get older, our muscle mass begins to decrease. After reaching forties, we lose about 3-5% of muscle mass with every decade ahead of life. Muscle is an important benefactor to our balance and bone structure; it remains strong and without it, our flexibility and self-government become compromised.

According to various researchers, when senior citizens walk three or more times per week, the happening of delirium is 35% less than those seniors who are not getting involved in any physical activity. 

Benefits of exercise for older adults

There are various reasons why we become slower and more desk-bound with age. It may be because of various health issues, weight or pain problems, or concerns about falling, or probably you believe that exercising is not for you. But as you get older, a lively lifestyle becomes more essential than ever to your health.

According to the most recent Swedish study, physical activity is the number one benefactor to durability and adds additional years to your life. But becoming active is not only about appending years to your life, it is about adding life to your years.

Remaining active can help foster your energy, sustain your freedom, safeguard your heart, and handle symptoms of illness or pain and your weight. It is not too late to discover easy and gratifying ways to get more active and boost your mood and outlook.

Physical health benefits

For seniors, exercise can help to:

1. Maintain or lose weight: As with age, the metabolism tends to slow down, and keeping a healthy weight can become a challenge. Regular exercise will not only help you to boost your metabolism and build muscle mass but also help your body to burn more calories.
2. Mitigate the impact of illness and chronic disease: People who perform regular exercise have good immune and digestive functioning, improved blood pressure and bone density, and a reduced risk of diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, osteoporosis, and various cancers.
3. Improve mobility, flexibility, and balance: Exercise enhances your strength, adaptability, and attitude, which can help with your coordination and balance, and lessen the risk of falls. It also reduces the symptoms of chronic situations such as arthritis. 

Mental health benefits

The following are some of the mental health gains of physical exercise.

1. Improve your sleep: Quality sleep is important for the entire health as we get older. Regular activity can help you to sleep faster and tighter, and make you feel more energetic and refreshed when you wake up.
2. Lift your mood and self-confidence: Exercise alleviates stress and produces endorphins which help to lessen the feelings of sadness, anxiety, and depression. Feeling strong and staying active also make you feel more self-confident.
3. Enhance your brain function: Different activities like crossword puzzles or Sudoku can help you to keep your brain active and help to prevent memory loss, cognitive decline, and dementia. Becoming active also slows the succession of brain disorders.

Four myths about activity and aging

Myth 1: “Exercise will increase risk of plops.”

Reality: Regular exercise prevents loss of bone mass and enhances balance, in fact reducing your risk of falling.

Myth 2: “It is pretty boring; I can't be as fit and active as I  once was.”

Reality: Changes in hormones, bone density, metabolism, and muscle mass implies that your strength and performance levels unavoidably decrease with age. But it does not mean that you can not gain a feeling of success from physical activity or cannot improve your health. The main thing is to set lifestyle objectives that are suitable for your age. 

Myth 3: “I'm very old to begin exercise.”

Reality: You are never really old to improve your health! Actually, seniors who get active later in life commonly show more physical and mental improvements than their younger colleagues. 

Myth 4: “I can't exercise as I’m crippled.”

Reality: If you are chair-bound, you evidently experience particular challenges. However, you can lift light weights, stretch, and perform chair yoga, chair aerobics,  and chair tai chi to boost your ROM (range of motion), enhance muscle tone and flexibility, and improve cardiovascular health. 

What if you hate to exercise?

Are you dread working out? If so, you are not alone. You can do different activities you like, while working out. Here we will tell you how you can include them into an exercise routine:

- Listen to music while lifting weights

- Can perform window shopping while walking

- Take photographs on a nature walk

- Communicate with people at a yoga class or fitness center

- Watch a TV show or movie while walking on the treadmill

- Chat with friends while walking, stretching, or strength training

- Instead of using a cart, walk the golf course 

- Play fetch or walk with a dog

- Go for walk, or cycle when feeling stressed

- Find an exercise mate whose company you really enjoy

Getting active safely

Becoming active is one of the finest decisions you can make as you get older, but it is vital to do it safely. Before starting an exercise program, you need to obtain a medical clearance from your doctor. You need to consider your health concerns and bear in mind how your current health problems influence your workouts.

Exercise will never hurt or make you feel crappy. But you need to stop exercising instantly and call your doctor when you feel giddy, short of breath, chest pain or pressure, or experience any other pain. If you habitually feel aches and pains after exercising, then you should do exercise for less time.

If you have not been active for a long time, grow your exercise program step by step. When you exercise, try to concentrate on how your body feels during the move—the tempo of your breathing or your muscles flexing.

In the end, I would suggest all the senior and old age people to take care of themselves and be fit by performing physical activities to live a healthy life. If you want to start your routine exercise from today, then you can purchase some of the best exercise equipment from TitanSports at a reasonable cost.