Physical exercise will help you remain healthy, energetic, and independent and improve your strength and balance as you get older.
Most people aged 65 and over spend an average of 10 hours or more per day sitting or lying down. This makes them the most sedentary age group. They pay a high price for their inactivity, with increased falls, obesity, and heart failure.
When you get older, it becomes much more important to remain active. Hence, this will help you to stay healthy and stay independent.
If you don’t stay active, all the things you’ve always enjoyed doing and taking for granted may start to get a little bit harder. You may fail to pursue simple pleasures. These include playing with grandchildren, walking through the shops, having fun, etc.
You might start to get aches and pains you’ve never had before and have less motivation to get out. So, you could be more vulnerable to falling, too. Also, this will all lead to less desire to take care of yourself and do the things you love.
Strong evidence
There is strong evidence that healthy individuals are at a reduced risk of several diseases. These include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, tumours, depression, and dementia.
You have to keep moving if you want to remain pain-free, reduce the chances of mental illness, and be able to go out and be independent well into old age.
Recent research indicates that regular exercise can reduce the risk of falling in older adults. It’s just that simple. There are a lot of ways you can get active, and it’s not just exercise.
“People get older, and their bodies decline in function. Physical activity helps to slow that decline,” says Dr. Nick Cavill, a health education specialist. It’s crucial they remain active or even raise their activity as they get older.
How Can Exercise Help Seniors Improve Strength and Balance
Here are some benefits of exercises that show How Can Exercise Help Senior Improve Strength and Balance:
1. Maintain or lose weight
As the metabolism naturally slows down with age, keeping a healthy weight is challenging. Regular exercise helps improve your strength and balance your metabolism. It also develops muscle mass, making your body burn more calories.
2. Decrease the occurrence of cancer and chronic illness.
People who exercise appear to have improved immune and digestive function. They also have better blood pressure and bone density, and a low risk of Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and some cancers.
3. Enhance mobility, flexibility, and balance.
Exercise strengthens your strength, flexibility, and posture. This will help you balance and balance and reduce your risk of falling. Physical exercise can also help to ease symptoms of chronic diseases such as arthritis.
4. Improved healing and function
Daily exercise by seniors can reduce the time it takes for wounds to heal by 25%. A healthy, active body can help combat infection and recover from disease or injury easier.
5. Improved Quality of Life and Increased Life Expectancy Strength and Balance
New studies have shown that seniors who exercise improve strength physical health and have also experienced psychological benefits. Exercise can help to relieve the symptoms of depression and improve mood in general. Increased mobility from regular, moderate exercise will help a senior maintain his independence. Here consistency is much more important than intensity.
6. Prevent Falls
Improving muscle strength can help reduce the risk of falling and improve strength and balance. WHO claims that regular exercise can minimize the risk of hip fracture by 40%.
7. Reduced risk of stroke or heart attack
Daily cardiovascular exercise will improve the flow of blood to the heart and boost your health. These include fast walking, cycling, or light housework-anything that boosts the heart rate.
8. Reduced risk of development of dementia
Sedentary, in later years, may raise the risk of developing dementia. This is according to a recent report published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. This study analyzed more than 1,600 older adults over five years. It showed that people who did not exercise were more likely to develop dementia than those who did.
9. Improve Strength and Balance and Give Yourself more confidence
Research by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society examined exercise in older adults. It found that exercise contributed to improvements in functional reach and balance and decreased risk of falling among participants.
10. Prevent Cancer
Exercise decreases cancer’s overall risk in a number of different types of cancer. Studies have shown a 30 to 40 percent reduction in the risk of breast cancer among women doing moderate to regular exercise
11. Prevent Hypertension
Exercise can help decrease systolic blood pressure significantly by moderate-intensity physical exercise. Try to exercise three times a day, lasting at least 10 minutes each time. Then you will get blood-pressure-lowering effects.
12. Depression
Exercise can have a beneficial effect on your mood. Research suggests that group exercise classes for older adults can help reduce the symptoms of depression by 30% or more in older adults exercise. A modest improvement in depression can help maintain greater vitality later in life. It can also help prevent negative emotions or thoughts common to ageing.
13. Improve Quality of life and Improve Strength and Balance
Maintaining independent freedom is something that many older adults want. Regular exercise, like strength and balance exercises, can help you do this. Try to be physically active for 30 minutes per day. Also, practice for strength for at least two non-consecutive days a week.
14. Insomnia
Certain medicines and life events can prevent the body from getting sleep. Higher exercise levels will exhaust the body to put it in a night of restful and lasting sleep. Avoid strenuous workouts two hours before bed to achieve these advantages.
15. All-cause mortality
Exercise is known to minimize all-cause death. A recent study found a 30 to 80 percent reduction in all-cause mortality when individuals exercise at an intensity of more than 4 METS. This suggests that exercise can help delay premature death from many causes.
16. Arthritis
Exercise is one of the most effective options for treating arthritis. Regular exercise helps lubricate the joints and decreases overall pain in individuals with arthritis. Also, obesity is a risk factor for the disease. And increasing physical exercise can better manage debilitating arthritis symptoms.
The Bottom Line
On average, the elderly spend 10 hours or more a day sitting or lying down. This makes them the most sedentary group. And this number is likely to increase during lockdown and self-isolation.
Going from inactive to active and incorporating regular exercise into the everyday routine (whether it’s as little as 10 minutes a day) can positively affect seniors’ health and well-being and enhance their Quality of life.
We hope you’ve found these reasons How Can Exercise Help Senior Improve Strength and Balance. And why older adults should stay fit and active.
