Growing up, we’ve all heard our elders tell us the importance of regular exercise. For people of all age groups, daily exercise is vital to maintain a healthy metabolism. By subjecting our bodies to consistent movement through exercise or moderately intensive chores, we can keep the hormone balance in our bodies at a normal level. This aids in regulating hormones that induce sleep and feelings of happiness. An imbalance in hormones can lead to several emotional and physical problems such as inability to sleep, feeling irritated, and feeling low on energy or drowsy. Needless to say, daily exercise is essential to lead truly content lives.
What are the key benefits of regular physical activity?
Individuals who are insufficiently active are at a 20% to 30% increased risk of death as opposed to individuals who are sufficiently active.
Source: World Health Organization
Exercises for elders aged 65 and above
Daily walk
A simple walk in your garden or the community park can do wonders for your elders’ wellbeing. Walking is especially beneficial for seniors who are diabetic or those who have different types of heart problems. Your elder loved one can pair up these walks with deep breathing exercises and stretching routines.
Strength Training
With old age, muscle loss causes one to become weaker. Problems such as inability to carry groceries, bending down, or climbing stairs occur due to muscle loss. This can be remediated through strength training. It is one the best ways to reduce symptoms of arthritis, back pain, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases.
Yoga
Yoga is one physical activity that deeply heals the body from within. For older adults, yoga not only helps in ensuring physical wellness, it also fills their mind with a sense of calm and positive energy. You can enroll your elderly in yoga classes so that they do it under the right supervision and guidance.
Stretching
Greater body flexibility can help to relax our elderly’s muscles. Stretching exercises can also help senior citizens to train their bodies to maintain balance and to improve bodily flexibility. Chest stretch, triceps stretch, neck stretch, shoulder stretch, wrist stretch, and interlaced finger stretch are some stretching exercises that are suitable for older adults.
Balance Training
In old age, people are prone to easily losing one’s balance which becomes the reason for many fatal injuries. Balance
training exercises can prevent falls and, therefore, should be incorporated in the exercise routine of our elderly.
These include single leg stand, standing side kick, standing kick, tandem standing are some balance training exercises
that the eldery can do, but initially, they should always have an object around them for assistance and support.
We can’t stress enough about the importance of regular physical activity for older adults. So make sure you help
your older loved ones to move more and sit less. We can enable your older relatives, friends, or parents to exercise daily.
Our team of certified experts also offers physiotherapy sessions for adults. You can read more about our services here.
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