Staying Active. Make it a Long Term Goal
As children, exercise was easy. Playing tag with a neighbor was second to breathing. But as we age, other activities take center stage and we find that exercise becomes a labor intensive duty that we have to muster up the energy to do.
As we grow into adults, exercise can become motivated by vanity. Avoiding weight gain becomes the main motivator in building good adult habits around exercise, but eventually it’s no longer about how we look on a superficial level; it becomes how we function.
The aging process kicks in and all of a sudden, key functions in our physiology begin to change and we find that the new physical goal is ‘just feeling good.’
Exercise for Balance: Prevent Falls and Other Benefits
A regular exercise habit helps maintain a healthy weight, makes us more sure-footed (no falling or balance issues), increases metabolism, makes the heart and lungs stronger, gives us increased energy, helps keep bones strong, helps your logical thinking and your mood, reduces blood pressure, and strengthens the immune system, to name a few.
From the viewpoint of aging well, exercise is the Swiss Army knife of best tools for healthy living.
Our Bodies Begins to Decline in Our 40’s
We start to lose around 8 percent of muscle mass starting in our 40’s. Referred to as Sarcopenia, age-related loss of muscle mass becomes something we need to think about. By your 50’s the rate of muscle mass decline begins to outpace the rate of muscle gain. Contributing factors include lack of exercise, poor nutrition, hormonal changes, and inflammation.
Muscle deterioration doesn’t have to be inevitable. Continued exercise regimens can halt deterioration and help build and maintain muscle as well as maintain healthy bone density.
As little as 30 minutes a day, at least 3 days a week, of committed activity can make a difference.
Enjoy a variety of activities
Exercise with a friend and make it social
Go for a walk and enjoy the outdoors
Try something low impact like yoga or swimming
Do light housework
Take the stairs
Stretch
Do 10 wall push-ups (Stand at an angle to a wall, place your hands on the wall and lean into the wall face-first)
Maintaining Balance is Important
Considering the possibility of falling due to balance issues, the National Institute of Health suggests easy exercises to increase your balance.
After about 6 weeks of continued practice, the exercise routine should feel natural. If you find that your strength increases, add small degrees of endurance or more repetitions. You will find, overall, that you feel better and sleep better and keep it up… as a consequence it will be difficult for you not to want to exercise.
Broad Street Home Care, can help you by actively supporting a new exercise routine with the help of our personal assistants who will help monitor your progress and help motivate you to stay on track and set new goals.