Exercise and physical activity is good for pretty much everyone, including older adults. Exercise can help you live a long and happy lifestyle, allowing you to be there for your family and loved ones. Staying active is important later in life, not only will it help you stay healthy and live longer, it will make daily life easier. Improving things like endurance, balance, strength, and flexibility can help you perform day-to-day tasks like getting around the house, getting out of bed, shopping and more.
Four Types of Exercises
Maintaining a healthy weight and and keeping physical health in check will help you live independently later in life. There are four types of exercises that can go a long way to improve overall health and help you in your everyday life.
Endurance Exercises for Seniors
Endurance exercises will increase your breathing and heart rate and are important for heart and cardiovascular health. Some common examples of endurance exercises include walking, jogging, swimming, raking, dancing, and more. Participating in sports activities like tennis is another good endurance exercise that can help to improve heart health and regulate weight.
Strength Exercises for Seniors
One of the best ways to keep the muscles healthy and strong is through strength training, common strength training exercises include weight lifting and resistance-based exercises. While building strength is important, your safety is more important, so make sure that strength training is an option for you. Talk with a doctor if you have health concerns. Remember, when it comes to strength training, and all exercise for that matter, it is better to start out small and work your way up. Sometimes it is best to do an exercise program without the use of weights at first and slowly work your way up to using small weights like 2-3 pound dumbbells.
Balance Exercises for Seniors
In the United States, falls are one of the leading causes of injury and death for senior citizens. Balance exercises can help to prevent senior falls, a problem that hospitalizes over 800,000 people each year. There are a number of at-home exercises that you can do to help strengthen your balance skills. For example, you can use a chair to provide balance for yourself while you do exercises like toe lifts and leg raises, both of which will help to improve your day-to-day balance and, hopefully, avoid falls in the future.
Flexibility Exercises for Seniors
Flexibility is a component of physical health that is often overlooked. However, some type of flexibility is incredibly important for people, especially older individuals. Flexibility will not only help senior adult move around, it will help with day-to-day tasks like washing themselves and putting on clothing. There are a variety of exercises that older adults can participate in to help improve flexibility, however, one of the best all-around exercises that you can participate in that will help flexibility is yoga.
Along with improving physical health and regulating weight, exercise will help to improve your mental health as well. It can also have many positive effects on mood states such as anxiety, stress, and depression.
Guest Post: About The Author
Matthew Boyle is the Chief Operating Officer at Landmark Senior Living, a series of top rated Assisted Living Facilities in the midwestern United States. He has been working in the healthcare space for 7 years and graduated from Duke University in 2011 Summa Cum Laude. Guided by a relentless pursuit of excellence, Matthew and the team at Landmark are dedicated to creating a supportive environment for the elderly.