Clean Eating & Exercise Makes a Difference! What will you choose?


It is imperative that we maintain some type of physical activity and regular exercise every day as we age especially older adults.  According to health experts, physical activity helps maintain your health and allows you to continue to do things as you age and live independently longer.

Here are the Top 5 Benefits of Staying Active and Exercising as You Age:

  1. Helps maintain and improve your physical strength and fitness;
  2. Improves your balance;
  3. Helps manage and prevent diseases like diabetes, heart disease, breast and colon cancer and osteoporosis;
  4. Helps reduce feelings of depression, which may improve mood and overall well-being; and
  5. Improves or maintains some type of aspects of cognitive function.

So, what are some ways to gradually increase your daily physical activity? Here they are:  Endurance, Muscle Strengthening, Balance and Stretching activities are a good way to start.  These exercises will most likely improve the health of your heart, lungs and circulatory system.  They also help delay or prevent many diseases that are common in older adults.

Endurance activities: brisk walking; yard work; dancing; jogging; swimming; climbing stairs or hills and playing tennis.  These activities increase your breathing and heart rate.

Weight Strengthening and Resistance Activities: lifting weights; using stretch bands or other forms of resistance equipment like medicine balls and cable machines.  These all work to improve your muscle strength and stamina which will give you more energy and endurance throughout the day.

Balance and Stretching exercises: Standing on one foot for increasing lengths of time; heel-to-toe walking; Tai Chi flexibility stretching; shoulder and upper arm stretches; calf stretches and yoga.  These exercises will help prevent falls which is a common problem in order adults.

Find something you enjoy and get moving!!!  For more information, check out “Go4Life” at https://go4life.nia.nih.gov/

 

*Disclaimer: The author of this blog post is not a medical doctor and this blog post is not intended as medical advice and should not be relied upon without consulting a doctor!!