Exercise in the Elderly: Why is it Important?

Exercise in the Elderly: Why is it Important?
Exercise plays an important role in maintaining our body’s capacity to function effectively. It reduces the strain on our heart, increases the effectiveness of our breathing and keeps our muscles strong, powerful and flexible. Exercise also maintains our body’s capacity to function effectively and reduces the risk of falls, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As we age, the importance of being strong and mobile increases so that we can live active lives for longer to prevent these conditions, and also perform activities of daily living with ease.

For those who have exercised throughout their lives, their goal is simply to continue their physical activity incorporating strength, cardiovascular and flexibility training on most days of the week, and continually improve their fitness by setting new goals once their previous goals are reached.

Those people who have been inactive need to ease back into exercise under supervision by an Exercise Physiologist. They also need to incorporate strength, cardiovascular and flexibility training into their program progressing onto harder exercises gradually. Strength training should focus on triceps, abdominals and quadriceps, which are all important muscles for getting off the floor, out of a chair and sitting up. Cardiovascular training can include walking and swimming and flexibility training should include stretching of all major muscles groups.

By implementing this exercise, benefits will be seen in simple tasks like getting out of chairs, shopping and looking after their grandchildren. It will also help prevent conditions such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and give them extra years of their life to enjoy with their friends and family.