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5 Myths About Exercise and Older Adults

5 Myths about Exercise and Older Adults

Myth 1: There’s no point to exercising. I’m going to get old anyway.

Fact: Exercise and strength training helps you look and feel younger and stay active longer. Regular physical activity lowers your risk for a variety of conditions, including Alzheimer’s and dementia, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, high blood pressure, and obesity.

Myth 2: Elderly people shouldn’t exercise. They should save their strength and rest.

Fact: Research shows that a sedentary lifestyle is unhealthy for the elderly. Period. Inactivity often causes seniors to lose the ability to do things on their own and can lead to more hospitalizations, doctor visits, and use of medicines for illnesses.

Myth 3: Exercise puts me at risk of falling down.

Fact: Regular exercise, by building strength and stamina, prevents loss of bone mass and improves balance, actually reducing your risk of falling.

Myth 4: It’s too late. I’m already too old to start exercising

Fact: You’re never too old to exercise! If you’ve never exercised before, or it’s been a while, start with light walking and other gentle activities.

Myth 5: I’m disabled. I can’t exercise sitting down.

Fact: Chair-bound people face special challenges but can lift light weights, stretch, and do chair aerobics to increase range of motion, improve muscle tone, and promote cardiovascular health.

Whole Body Benefits of Exercise for Seniors

The whole-body benefits of exercise for seniors

As you age, regular exercise is more important than ever to your body and mind.

Physical health benefits of senior exercise and fitness

• Exercise helps seniors maintain or lose weight. 

As metabolism naturally slows with age, maintaining a healthy weight is a challenge. Exercise helps increase metabolism and builds muscle mass, helping to burn more calories. When your body reaches a healthy weight, overall wellness improves.

• Exercise reduces the impact of illness and chronic disease. 

Among the many benefits of exercise for seniors include improved immune function, better heart health and blood pressure, better bone density, and better digestive functioning. Seniors who exercise also have a lowered risk of several chronic conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and colon cancer.

• Exercise enhances mobility, flexibility, and balance in seniors. 

Exercise improves your strength, flexibility and posture, which in turn will help with balance, coordination, and reducing the risk of falls. Strength training also helps alleviate the symptoms of chronic conditions such as arthritis.

Mental health benefits of senior exercise and fitness

• Exercise improves your sleep. 

Poor sleep is not an automatic consequence of aging and quality sleep is important for your overall health. Exercise often improves sleep, helping you fall asleep more quickly and sleep more deeply.

• Exercise boosts mood and self-confidence. 

Endorphins produced by exercise can actually help you feel better and reduce feelings of sadness or depression. Being active and feeling strong naturally helps you feel more self-confident and sure of yourself.

• Exercise is good for the brain. 

Exercise benefits regular brain functions and can help keep the brain active, which can prevent memory loss, cognitive decline, and dementia. Exercise may even help slow the progression of brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The Medical Perspective and Things to Consider

The Medical Perspective

• Get medical clearance from your doctor before starting an exercise program, especially if you have a preexisting condition. Ask if there are any activities you should avoid.
• Consider health concerns. Keep in mind how your ongoing health problems affect your workouts. For example, diabetics may need to adjust the timing of medication and meal plans when setting an exercise schedule. Above all, if something feels wrong, such as sharp pain or unusual shortness of breath, simply stop. You may need to scale back or try another activity.
• Start slow. If you haven’t been active in a while, it can be harmful to go “all out.” Instead, build up your exercise program little by little. Try spacing workouts in ten-minute increments twice a day. Or try just one class each week.  Prevent crash-and-burn fatigue by warming up, cooling down, and keeping water handy.
• Commit to an exercise schedule for at least 3 or 4 weeks so that it becomes habit, and force yourself to stick with it.
• Stay motivated by focusing on short-term goals, such as improving your mood and energy levels and reducing stress, rather than goals such as weight loss, which can take longer to achieve.
• Recognize problems. Exercise should never hurt or make you feel lousy. Stop exercising immediately and call your doctor if you feel dizzy or short of breath, develop chest pain or pressure, break out in a cold sweat, or experience pain. Also stop if a joint is red, swollen, or tender to touch.

Medicines Two Choices for You

Doc Rick's Final Words

Your Solution

Dr. Huntoon has quite the successful track record at helping people eat healthy, lose weight and restoring their health.  He has helped more than one person lose more than 125 pounds without using any gimmicks, medicines or surgeries.  A consultation with Dr. Huntoon would be worth exploring.

Apply as many of these recommendations as possible into your life and make gradual changes to improve your overall health.  And if you need more help managing your health, consider contacting your Holistic Chiropractor for guidance and health maintenance.  Having the support of a trained holistic professional who looks at all the relationships to maintaining health is important.

And if you have questions, Please call (845)561-BACK or (845)561-2225 and set up a time for us to Consult and Evaluate you and the many Health Needs you or your family member may have.  Let us answer ALL your questions, most importantly, "WHY?" 

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Other Helpful Information for Seniors 

Senior fitness and exercise: Tips for building a balanced exercise plan

Staying active is not a science. Just remember that mixing different types of exercise helps both reduce monotony and improve your overall health. Here is an overview of the four building blocks of senior fitness and how they can help your body.

• The 1st building block of senior fitness: Cardio endurance exercise 

What is it: Uses large muscle groups in rhythmic motions over a period of time. This type of exercise increases your body’s ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues and to remove waste over sustained periods of time. Cardio workouts get your heart pumping and you may even feel a little short of breath.

Why it’s good for seniors: Helps lessen fatigue and shortness of breath. Promotes independence by improving endurance for daily activities such as walking, house cleaning, and errands. Cardio includes walking, stair climbing, swimming, hiking, cycling, rowing, tennis, and dancing.

• The 2nd building block of senior fitness: Strength training

What is it: Builds up muscle with repetitive motion using weight or external resistance from body weight, machines, or elastic bands.

Why it’s good for seniors: Helps elderly people prevent loss of bone mass, builds muscle, and improves balance—both important in staying active and preventing risk of falling. Building up strength will help seniors stay independent and make day-to-day activities easier such as opening a jar, getting in and out of a car, and lifting objects.

• The 3rd building block of senior fitness: Flexibility

What is it: Challenges the joint’s ability to move freely through a full range of motion. Can be done through static stretches (stationary), and ballistic stretches (moving or bouncing) to keep muscles and joints supple so they are less prone to injury.

Why it’s good for seniors: Helps body stay limber and increases range of movement for ordinary physical activities such as looking behind you while driving, tying shoes, shampooing your hair, and playing with grandchildren.

• The 4th building block of senior fitness: Balance

What is it: Maintains standing and stability under a variety of conditions including static (stationary) and dynamic (moving) balance.

Why it’s good for seniors: Improves balance, posture, and quality of walking. Also reduces risk of falling and fear of falls. Try yoga, Tai Chi, and posture exercises to gain confidence with balance.

Types of activities that are beneficial to seniors:

• Walking. Walking is a perfect way to start exercising. It requires no special equipment, aside from a pair of comfortable walking shoes, and can be done anywhere.
• Senior sports or fitness classes. Keeps motivation alive while also providing a source of fun, stress relief, and a place to meet friends.
• Water aerobics and water sports. Working out in water is wonderful for seniors because water reduces stress and strain on the body's joints.
• Yoga. Combines a series of poses with breathing. Moving through the poses works on strength, flexibility and balance. Yoga can be adapted to any level.
• Tai Chi and Qi Gong. Martial arts-inspired systems of movement that increase balance and strength. Classes for seniors are often available at your local YMCA or community center.

Senior fitness and exercise: Tips for frail or chair-bound seniors

If you are chair-bound, movement matters even more, and fitness is entirely achievable. Chair-bound seniors can reap the benefits of exercise with strength training, flexibility, and even some endurance movements. If being chair-bound has prevented you from trying exercise in the past, take heart knowing that when you become more physically active, the results will amaze you. Like any exercise program, a chair-bound fitness routine takes a little creativity and personalization.

Chair-bound Fitness: Tips for Seniors

• Strength: Use free weights (otherwise known as “dumbbells”) to do repetitive sets of lifting. Don’t have weights? Use anything that is weighted and fits in your hand, like soup cans.
• Resistance: Resistance bands are like giant rubber bands designed to give your muscles a good workout when stretched and pulled.  Resistance bands can be attached to furniture, a doorknob, or even your chair.  Use these for pull-downs, shoulder rotations, and arm and leg-extensions.
• Flexibility: By practicing mindful breathing and slowly stretching, bending, and twisting, you can limber up and improve your range of motion. Some of these exercises can also be done lying down. Ask your doctor or search online for chair-yoga possibilities.
• Endurance: Check out pool-therapy programs designed for wheelchair-bound seniors. Also, wheelchair-training machines make arm-bicycling and rowing possible. If you lack access to special machines or pools, repetitive movements (like rapid leg lifts or sitting pushups) work just as well to raise your heart rate.

Talk to your doctor or physical therapist about chair-bound exercise programs

Senior fitness and exercise: Tips for getting more active—and liking it

If you dread working out, it’s time for a mental makeover. Consider physical activity part of your lifestyle instead of a bothersome task to check off your “to do” list. There are plenty of ways for seniors to make exercise a pleasurable part of everyday life—here are just a few.

Choose activities and exercises you enjoy

• Think about activities that you enjoy and how you can incorporate them into an exercise routine.
• Listen to music while lifting weights
• Window shop while walking laps at the mall
• Get competitive while playing tennis
• Take photographs on a nature hike
• Meet new people at a yoga class
• Watch a favorite movie while on the treadmill
• Chat with a friend while walking, stretching, or strength training

Find easy ways to add more physical activity to your day

Being active doesn’t have to be limited to your workout times.  There are plenty of ways to become more active as you go about your day.

Active on the go: Always choose stairs over the elevator, park at the far end of the parking lot when arriving at appointments and meetings, walk down every isle of the grocery store while shopping, practice balancing skills while standing in line, do neck rolls while waiting at a stoplight.

Active at home: Do a set of wall pushups while waiting for water to boil, vigorously vacuum, tend to the garden, sweep the sidewalk, rake leaves, lift weights while watching the news, try toe-raises while talking on the phone, do knee bends after sitting for a long period of time.

Focus on the benefits in your daily life

The most rewarding part of beginning a fitness routine is noticing the difference it makes in the rest of your life. Even if you begin exercising with a few simple stretches while seated or a short walk around the block, you’ll notice an improvement in how you feel as you go about your day.

• House cleaning, gardening, shopping, and errands. Want to feel less winded while vacuuming or rushing to and from appointments? Doing just 15 to 20 minutes of heart-healthy cardio each day, such as walking, biking, swimming, or water aerobics will help give you the stamina you need.
• Lifting grandchildren, carrying groceries, household chores. Building muscle mass a few times each week through weight lifting, resistance exercises, and nautilus machines will help give you more strength.
• Tying shoes, looking behind you while driving, navigating steps. Incorporating basic stretching—even while seated—into your fitness routine will make the most ordinary movements easier. Try yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, or Qi Gong to limber up. 

Exercise doesn’t have to break the bank

A senior fitness program does not depend on costly gym memberships and fancy exercise equipment. Like the best things in life, staying fit can be completely free. Work out the wallet-friendly way:

• Do neck rolls and light stretching while watching TV
• No weights? Use food cans or water bottles
• Rent exercise videos from the library

• Mow the lawn, rake leaves, and weed
• Climb stairs
• Enjoy a walk in a new park or neighborhood

Senior exercise and fitness: Tips for staying active for life

The more you exercise, the more you will reap the benefits, so it’s important to stay motivated when life’s challenges get in the way.

Keep a log. Writing down your activities in an exercise journal not only holds you accountable, but also is a reminder of your accomplishments.

Stay inspired. Reading health magazines or watching sports shows can help remind you how great it feels to take care of your body.

Get support. It’s easier to keep going with support. Consider taking a class or exercising with your spouse or a buddy.

Exercise safely. Nothing derails an exercise plan like an injury. Use common sense and don’t exercise if you are ill. Wear brightly colored clothing to be visible on the roads. When the weather brings slippery conditions, walk at a mall indoors to prevent falling.

The best thing about working out is that it gives you energy for more activities. When it becomes habit, you’ll never want to give it up.