Most senior citizens tend to avoid exercising because of an underlying fear that they may get hurt, though the fact remains that it is necessary for a healthy mind and body. Read on to know more...
Aging is a natural process that brings about lots of changes in your body. You can see wrinkles appear on your skin and your hair turns gray. Then the muscle mass decreases and you lose strength in your limbs. Bones get degenerated due to loss of calcium. It results in loss of weight and stooped posture. As these changes occur, your movements, body balance and coordination get affected and you lose confidence in yourself. You can cope up with all these age related problems in a much better manner and regain your lost confidence with the help of exercises.
Impact of Exercising on the Elderly
Exercising has an amazing effect on the overall functioning of the body. It improves mobility and flexibility of the body. It can also alleviate symptoms of various chronic ailments. Some important points on benefits of exercises for seniors are discussed here:
- Regular exercises improve immunity of the body. As a result, the immune system fights off infection causing pathogens well and ensures faster recovery from various illnesses.
- It brings about improvement in the condition of cardiovascular health and enables your heart work properly and reduces the chances of cardiac problems. It also plays a vital role in lowering blood pressure.
- It is good for digestive health. It improves digestion and eliminates unwanted toxins from the body and thus, keeps your body free from diseases.
- Exercises increase the strength of the muscles. This in turn makes your daily activities like standing, walking, lifting objects, etc., much easier for you.
- It prevents deterioration of bone density. Thus, it reduces the risk of fractured bones and provides protection from osteoporosis.
- It lowers the risk of a number of age related chronic ailments that include dementia, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, arthritis, colon cancer and many more.
- Increase in physical activity improves stamina and helps to get rid of fatigue and weakness. You start feeling good about yourself. This makes you more confident and you can live independently.
- It provides relief from unwanted stress and anxiety. When your mind and body is relaxed, then you can sleep better.
- If you go to the gym or go to the park for walking, you get the scope to meet with other people. This improves your social interaction which is good for your psychological health.
Exercises for Senior Citizens
People irrespective of their age and health condition can do exercises. Some suitable exercises are given below:
Flexibility Exercises
As the name suggests, these exercises stretch the muscles and improve their flexibility. Thus, these exercises help to get rid of muscle soreness and joint stiffness which are quite common among elderly and promote mobility. They also protect the muscles and the joints from injury. Yoga, tai chi and Pilates are some well-known flexibility exercises for older adults. However, those elderly people who cannot move their body or have body balance problems can perform some light stretching exercises sitting on a chair or bench. Like, opening and closing of the hands repeatedly or raising the feet above the ground and getting up from the chair without support are some good stretching exercise that can be done by everybody.
Aerobic Exercises
These exercises increase heart rate which enables the body to supply adequate amount of oxygen and nutrients to the tissues present in various part of the body. Moreover, it burns off extra calories. Walking, swimming, climbing stairs and cycling are few simple aerobic exercises that can be performed by elderly people. Doctors recommend 30 minutes of daily aerobic exercises. However, those of you who cannot do it for 30 minutes at a stretch, take small breaks after every 10 minutes while performing them.
Strength Training
Such exercises helps in improving the strength of the muscle with the help of repetitive movements. Push-ups and lifting weights are two strength training exercises. Initially, the number of push ups or the size of weights should be kept low. As the body gets used to it, you can increase them slowly. However, those with high blood pressure or any such health problems are advised to avoid strength training exercises.
Before starting your exercise regime, talk to your doctor once. They can provide you with suitable guidelines according to your medical history that you need to follow while exercising. Proper warm up and cool down is a must to avoid injuries. Select the right kind of exercises so that you can feel the interest to stick to it for a long time. If you do not like to exercise alone, then team up with a friend and workout in pairs.
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