Exercise for Seniors: Keeping Fit and Healthy After 50!

by Rebeca Schiller

Exercise for Seniors

It’s never too late to change bad habits into healthy ones. Before you make lifestyle changes concerning diet and activity, get a physical. Also take a proactive approach to your health and fitness levels. Ask questions, do your research. Determine (and be honest) whether the focus is to fit into those skinny jeans or preventive measures to avoid developing heart disease and diabetes, lowering your blood pressure or cholesterol. Once you’ve set your priorities and have expectations, it’s time to get moving.

In a WebMD article “The Baby Boomer Heart: Healing Fitness,” cardiologist Helene Greenglass, director of The Preventive Cardiology and Lipid Center at the Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia said, “The truth is that the greatest decrease in [heart disease] occurs for those who just take themselves out of the sedentary category with simple movement. In fact, just going from sedentary to moderately active gives you the greatest reduction in your risks.”

Exercise for seniors doesn’t mean you have to join fancy gyms or purchase expensive exercise equipment like treadmills or an elliptical. Just get out every day for a brisk walk either alone, with a friend, or your dog and if you don’t have one, adopt one! People with pets are overall healthier both physically and emotionally. Plus, you’re doing the right thing by adopting a dog that needs a forever home. It’s a win-win!

Other heart-pumping outside activities include gardening, going for a bike ride, or even climbing steps. If the weather isn’t cooperating and you need motivation to work out, there are a wide selection of exercise videos on YouTube like Rodney Yee’s AM Yoga for some easy stretches to ease your way into the morning. If you want to break a sweat, increase your heart rate and tone your muscles, try Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.

Diet for Seniors

So now that we have all this activity, it most likely will make you hungry. With the cornucopia of diets from Atkins to Paleo to South Beach, what should you be eating?

 AZ Central interviewed Johannah Uriri-Glover, PhD, MSCR, MNSc, RN, a clinical associate professor in the Arizona State University College of Nursing & Health Innovation’s Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence and the Center for Healthy Outcomes in Aging. She says that as we age, our caloric needs decrease, but our nutrient needs remain the same. The key to a healthy diet is one that is well-balanced. In other words, eat foods high in fiber, including grains, fresh fruits and veggies, but also foods high in calcium and vitamin D.

Uriri-Glover adds that for boomers ages 58 to 66 it’s important to “get enough protein to maintain energy levels.” She also notes that “Malnutrition becomes a risk factor as we age because of changes in sense of smell and taste, and many people may reduce food intake or eat food that do not have nutrients.”

 And the takeaway from all this? You may be older and wiser, but exercise for seniors is important, and you still have to eat your fruits and veggies to be healthy. Fitness for Seniors requires attention to both exercise and diet.

Source: http://boomerbaggage.com