Q. I’ve been told I should exercise more, but I’m afraid that at my age
(73), I might damage something. Am I safer as a couch potato? All the current scientific evidence shows that seniors should exercise, even though many older adults think it could harm them. Study after study demonstrates that seniors hurt their health a lot more by being sedentary.
If you’re inactive, you deteriorate. Physical activity can help restore your capacity. Older adults, regardless of age or condition, will benefit from increasing physical activity to a moderate level.
Four types of exercise important for maintaining a healthy body include: strength, balance, stretching and endurance.
Strength exercises build muscle and raise your metabolism. Doing these exercises will help to keep your weight down.
Balance exercises help prevent falls and, therefore, will keep you from breaking yourself and losing your independence. Each year, U.S. hospitals in the United States have average 300,000 admissions for broken hips.; mMany of them are the result of falls.
Stretching exercises give you more freedom of movement. And endurance exercises increaseraise your pulse and breathing.
Here are 10 tips to make any exercise program safe:
- Don't hold your breath during strength exercises. This could affect your blood pressure.
- When lifting weights, use smooth, steady movements. Breathe out as you lift or push a weight, and breathe in as you relax.
- Avoid jerking or thrusting movements.
- Avoid locking the joints of your arms and legs into a strained position.
- Some soreness and slight fatigue are normal after muscle-building exercises. Exhaustion, sore joints, and painful muscle pulls are not normal.
- Always warm up before stretching exercises.
- Stretching should never cause pain, especially joint pain.
- Never bounce into a stretch; make slow steady movements instead.
- To prevent injuries, use safety equipment such as helmets for biking.
- You should be able to talk during endurance exercises.
Measuring your progress can motivate you. Test yourself before starting to exercise to get a baseline score. Test and record your scores each month. The following are some tests you can use, if your doctor approves.
For endurance, see how far you can walk in exactly six minutes. For lower-body strength, time yourself as you walk up a flight of stairs as fast as you can safely. For upper-body strength, record how much weight you lift and how many times you lift that weight. For balance, time yourself as you stand on one foot, without support, for as long as possible. Have someone stand near you in case you lose your balance. Repeat the test while standing on the other foot.
Remember, above all, exercise should make you feel better.
With experience as a freelance writer and publicist for major pharmaceutical companies, such as Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer, Fred Cicetti is now a New Jersey-based columnist writing about a variety of senior health issues. His opinions and views do not necessarily reflect those of Therapy Times or Valley Forge Publishing Group. Questions or comments can be directed to editorial@TherapyTimes.com.
All Rights Reserved © 2006 by Fred Cicetti
