Exercising to Age Well

As we get older, it’s essential to stay active and exercise. It helps us keep our muscle strength, maintain good balance and coordination, and lower the risk of falls. Exercise can also reduce your risk of disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis and extend your heart health, brain function, and longevity, which helps you stay mobile and independent for longer.

Here are a few benefits of staying active:

Reduce your risk of disease

Exercise can help prevent many diseases and conditions that lead to disability and premature death. These include heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and some types of cancer. It can also help with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline. Chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or joint pain can also be improved with the correct exercise.

Improve cardiovascular health

As we age, our blood vessels stiffen, making it more difficult for the blood vessels to expand and let a significant amount of blood pass through them. With regular exercise, the arteries become more flexible and pliable. The most flexible arteries are those of an athlete’s heart! Exercise helps make the heart pump blood more efficiently throughout the body, decreasing the workload on the heart and improving the oxygenation of tissues throughout your body (including your brain). It also helps prevent dangerous clots from forming in arteries that have narrowed over time.

Maintain Mobility

Exercise helps strengthen muscles and bones, which plays a significant role in preventing falls and injuries that are common in older populations. It can also help you maintain your balance, which is particularly important as we age. After age 40, our muscle mass begins to decrease, leading to reduced strength, endurance and balance. Regular physical activity can slow this process down. In addition, exercise burns calories and can help improve our metabolism, assisting with maintaining a healthy weight.

Getting the right amount of exercise can help:

Lower blood pressure and improve blood flow.
Reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.
Prevent falls and reduce injury from falls if you do fall. Falls are a leading cause of fractures, disability, loss of independence, and death among older adults. Weight-bearing exercises can help build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis.
Improve balance, flexibility, and coordination to help you stay active and independent.
Build muscle strength to improve joint function (such as knees or hips). Strong muscles also support joints that have been injured or damaged by arthritis or other conditions.
Maintain a healthy weight, which will alleviate stress on joints caused by excess body weight and gravity and reduce your risk for several chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
Boost your energy level so that you feel better mentally and physically

You should aim for 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most days of the week. For example, a brisk walk is a great way to meet this goal. If you cannot be physically active for 30 minutes at one time, you can do 10 minute bouts throughout the day.

The key to exercising as you get older is to choose activities that are easy on the joints but still challenging. Here are some ideas:

Walking indoors or outdoors — improve circulation.
Strength training or resistance exercises — improve strength.
Stretching — improve flexibility.
Yoga, Pilates or Tai Chi — improve balance.

It’s best to start slowly if you are new to being active or haven’t been active in a while. Talk with your doctor about what types of exercise are best for you before starting a new exercise program.