Physical activities are good for everyone, and the older age is not the reason to avoid training your body. In fact, aging is a strong argument for taking particular care of your heart, joints, and muscles. Age alone does not make you weak and sick. Your attitude towards aging either lets you become stronger, healthier, more confident and free in movements or limits you from any development. With a positive attitude, all you need is a good start with the help of a personal care assistant and according to the recommendations of your aged care provider. If you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, exercising your body is one of the musts. There are four types of physical activity that should take place in your schedule.
● Endurance activities. Like walking, jogging, swimming, dancing, biking, etc. Such exercises increase your breathing and make your heart beat faster. Doing them regularly will boost your endurance, develop your lungs, and strengthen your heart.
● Strength exercises (anaerobic ones). Like weights lifting and training with a resistance band. If you need to strengthen your back or neck, to build local muscles or just get stronger, such exercises will definitely help.
● Balance exercises. Like yoga, tai chi, Wushu, and others. Aging bones become fragile, and simple falling may cause breaking a bone. Taking care of your body balance and wearing safe shoes helps prevent accidental slips and falls.
● Flexibility exercises. Like yoga and stretching. These exercises stretch your muscles and make your body limber. As a result, it becomes resistant to the muscle and joint injuries like a torn ligament, dislocated joint, pinched nerve, etc. To gain important health benefits, older adults need around 1.5-2 hrs of moderate-intense endurance activities every week in combination with strengthening exercises. Increasing your endurance activities up to 3 hrs a week and continuing to strengthen your muscles is even better. However, remember to consult with your home care provider before increasing the amount and intensity of your exercises. Flexibility and balance exercises should take place every day. You can do them watching TV, working in the garden, warming up before the exercise session and cooling down after it. If you have a personal care assistant, he/she will help you with the exercises that you can do at home. As for the balance and stretching exercises, you can do them every day – in the morning, watching TV, warming up before any cardio exercises, etc. If you have a personal care assistant, he or she may help you when you need support in your daily exercises. Several tips before you start
● If you have never been active, start slowly. Moderate intensity of endurance activities means that you breathe harder, your heart beats faster, and you are still able to talk (but not to sing). There are no measures of the intensity of your exercises except for the way you feel. Remember this and don’t overwork yourself.
● Be attentive to your body, it signals if your activity becomes harmful. If you feel soreness in muscles and joints, you should lessen your exercise intensity until your body gets used to it.
● Consult with your personal care assistant and make changes in your diet according to the recommendations of your elderly care provider. As you start being active, you need to eat accordingly even if you have excess weight.
● Drink more water, it will maintain your metabolism in a good condition and increase your endurance.
● Never do exercises being sick or feeling unwell. If you have a sore throat or caught flu, don’t do exercises for a while. If you missed two weeks or more, start slowly.
