Exercise for healthy aging

The days of ‘no pain, no gain’ are over. When we talk about exercise for healthy ageing this does not mean that we should indulge in strenuous activities. Apart from anything else, we know that strenuous exercise generates free radicals that can hasten the aging process if there are insufficient antioxidants to counteract them. If you are to initiate or continue physical exercise, and you intend carrying on with that exercise for the next few decades, it is vital that you choose activities that you enjoy - activities that are not boring, have variety and fit in with your daily routine.

Here are some of the essential Physical Activities to help with your healthy aging process:

Aerobic exercise - This means exercise that uses large muscles (leg muscles for walking, and arm muscles for rowing), lasts for at least 15 minutes without stopping, and allows you to breathe deeply but still talk normally. Since aerobic fitness protects the heart, it is also called cardiovascular fitness.

Top five aerobic activities

1. Walking
2. Cycling
3. Swimming
4. Racquet sports
5. Cross-Country skiing

Muscle strengthening - In order to combat age-related loss of muscle, there are various muscle groups in the body that need to be strengthened. The term ‘sarcopenia’ is used to describe loss of muscle, as well as decreased quality of muscle tissue in older adults.

Top five muscle-strengthening activities

1. Resistance training in the gym
2. Aquacize
3. Pilates
4. Elastic bands or tubing
5. Golf

Flexibility - As you age, ligaments and tendons shorten. This is known as ‘adaptive shortening’. If this happens, the joints become stiff and your range of movement becomes limited. Middle-aged people often resort to analgesics for joint pains when they could prevent this simply by stretching. Daily stretching is essential and there is a variety of stretching exercises appropriate for everyday activities, for sports, for the office, or for travelling by plane.

Exercise to promote flexibility

1. Yoga
2. Pilates
3. Tai Chi

Balance and agility - As you age, you slowly begin to lose your sense of balance and co-ordination. This becomes important in elderly people, who might sustain a fracture if they fall, especially if they are osteoporotic. The good news is that there are specific exercises to improve balance. One of the most enjoyable is ball-room dancing. If you do not know how to samba, perhaps now is the time to learn.

Top activities for balance

1. Dancing
2. Tai Chi
3. Alpine skiing
4. Bowls/boules/petanque
5. Yoga

Back exercise - Care of the back is absolutely essential as you age. With degenerative changes of the spinal vertebrae and intervertebral spaces, as well as possible osteoporosis, you need to establish strong abdominal muscles, as well as strengthen the long sacrospinal muscles on either side of the spine in order to support the vertebral column.

Breathing - Everybody breathes in order to live, but so often people do not breathe properly. During your exercise programme, during meditation and relaxation, practice deep abdominal breathing to fill your lungs with revitalizing oxygen.

  

Also read healthy-stretching-exercises.