A Guide to Senior-Friendly Fitness Activities: Low-Impact Exercises
A Guide to Senior-Friendly Fitness Activities:
Low-Impact Exercises for Older Adults
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The benefits of staying healthy while getting older
As you get older, you need to still work on your health and fitness to make sure that your body continues to perform well or to reduce the symptoms of illnesses that becomes more prevalent with age.
By following these few steps, we will help you become more active and more focused on your health and wellness.
Importance of Staying Active
As you get older you need to stay active, as it can lower the chances of developing diseases and illnesses that develop due to age.
Staying active has a lot of benefits which includes you feeling less pain, which will be able to put you in a better state of mind. In addition to improving your moods, it can also help you decrease the chances of experiencing depression and anxiety. In turn, it will also improve your sleep, your confidence, and brain functionality.
By staying active you improve your balance and strength that will reduce your risk of falling or sustaining other injuries caused by instability.
These exercises can also promote a long life and boost your energy. Additionally, these activities can also help you become more social and make friends which will also add to experiencing a better mood and outlook on life.
What to Consult Doctors About
Before you start exercising, you should speak to a doctor about the types of exercises that are suitable for you to engage in, as you may have conditions that are not suitable for performing certain techniques.
You also need to consult a doctor about the foods that you can eat as some illnesses require certain diets to follow.
Workouts to Use:
The key to working out in older age is to start slowly and get in a little bit of activity each day until you reach spending 150 minutes (2 and a half hours) a week on exercise. Exercises that should be considered need to raise your heart rate moderately and promote balance, strength and flexibility of the body.
Some exercises that you can include in your workout are walking, aerobics, and swimming.
Swimming is a great option, as it includes aerobics, strength and flexibility training all in one. The buoyancy of the water helps the seniors perform activities better.
Yoga is an activity that is good for balance and for flexibility, it can also help you build more strength. Poses that can be used are the mountain pose, the standing deltoid stretch, shoulder rolls, neck rotation, standing side bend pose, and standing side stretch.
Cardio exercise is a good option to include in your routine. There are many suitable activities that can be used to help seniors build up on walking exercises.
How to Stay Motivated:
Exercises are not always an easy thing to commit to especially when you get older.
Some ways you can keep yourself motivated is by listening to music, meeting new people and being able to regain energy to do other activities.
You can also make activities more enjoyable, by using a cardio machine while watching a tv show or while chatting with your friends.
Nutrition to Include in Your Exercises
In addition to exercising, you need to make sure that your diet is on par to keeping your health up.
You need to eat more fruit and vegetables, more protein and more carbohydrates. You also need to make sure that you have enough fiber in your diet as well. This will also help you reduce the symptoms of chronic illness and pick up your energy and stamina.
Remember to consult a doctor to find the foods most suitable for you to eat based on your specific conditions.
Summary
Exercising is good for your health, and as you get older, it becomes more important for you to include low impact workout routines and to add a good diet to your routines. This not only minimizes the effects of illness, it can also help you be more physical and active in your day to day life.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Barbara Olsen/Pexels)
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Alternatives for Seniors helps seniors, senior care professionals, and senior living communities nationwide.
Contact us today to find out more! (888) 904-1990
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Thank You to Our Guest Blog Writer:
Sean Lynam
Sean is a fitness enthusiast and personal trainer by profession, and a freelance writer by passion.
Sean writes and shares his knowledge for a range of fitness publications and nutrition brands.
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