Inspiring Functionality for Baby Boomers
Some people might be convinced that working out or exercising is only for the young and buff. Well, it is not. Various researches show that exercise brings more advantage in terms of providing you better shape. It is the key for protecting your heart and body from other diseases. Doctors and physicians state that fitness is a major predictor of death especially from heart diseases and other illness.
Studies show that people who exercise daily have 60% less chance of having chest pain or heart related diseases. Also, they won’t be suffering from other diseases. There are chances that people may live even longer life by exercising regularly. Frankly, this is true for women.
In the same way, if you are not physically fit, you have a high chance of suffering from heart ailments. Smoking and doing good amount of exercise, lowers the risk of heart diseases. Surprisingly it will be lesser than those non-smokers who don’t do any single exercise.
A study published in the Journal of American Medical Association clearly shows that when it comes to protecting one’s body from diseases especially concerning the heart, then being fit is more important than being slim. Studies done by the University of Florida and Cedar Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles revealed that amount 900 participants of women, those who were least active ended up in developing heart related diseases compared to those who were extensively active irrespective of their weight.
By not working out, people aren’t fulfilling their full capacity, and this can be quite damaging. There were various studies which showed that women and men who weren’t exercising enough ended up suffering from severe heart and other dangerous diseases, which ultimately lead to their death. Most importantly, the lack of fitness was more common among women rather than men.
Exercising Helps the Heart – Is It Possible?
There are countless benefits associated with exercising and most of them related to the heart. Of course, besides being good to your heart, it will help you to lose weight, and even maintain a good bodyweight. In addition, it will lower your blood pressure and maintain your cholesterol.
Exercise has a direct effect on your heart, where it keeps the blood vessels healthy and strong. It even improves the ability of the blood vessels to increase blood flow and dilate.
The benefits of exercising can provide the following heart related benefits –
- Anti -inflammatory and anti-clotting effects will reduce the risk of having heart attacks.
- Reducing the blood pressure and heart rate will reduce the demand of blood in the heart.
- If you are suffering from heart disease, then exercising can assist in normalizing the rhythm of the heart and even help the human body to expand its smaller vessels. This will help in keeping the blood which is flowing around the major areas which is getting clogged.
As per various doctors and health experts, exercising is the best remedy, or you can say the prescription to become healthy and fit. The kind of effect regular exercise has is truly beneficial for the human body and even the mind.
If you want to age successfully and want the other old folks to look at you and get jealous with a “Wow” factor, then exercising is the best medicine and it brings about reducing the aging cells of your body.
Simple Ways to Be Fit
Thinking of a gym membership? Want to get the health benefits of exercising? Well, you aren’t far from reality. The truth is that the greatest decrease in heart disease happens for those individuals who take themselves out of the sedentary lifestyle with simple movement. In fact, just going from sedentary to moderately active gives you the greatest reduction in your risks.
No doubt, you won’t have to do any type of formal routine to reap the benefits. There isn’t a need to join a gym, buy a treadmill, or wear a heart monitor and count your heart beats. You need to move your body with some regularity at a moderate intensity: a brisk walk, gardening, cycling, walking up steps. It all counts towards protecting your heart.
Studies published in various medical journals show that a lifestyle-based physical activity program worked just as well as a rigorous exercise program when it came to burning calories and increasing cardiorespiratory fitness. People who were previously inactive showed the most benefits.
Exercising for Good Health
As per the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention) the achievement of regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health. Some people might not have any kind of serious health related issues, but CDC clearly states that adults who passed the age of 65 and more really need to do at least of 150 minutes of small or moderately intense amount of aerobic exercises.
Some people might not have physically fit their entire life, so it is not too late to begin exercising. If you really are on the lookout for exercise just to kick start your life into the track of being physically fit, then check out some of the exercises given below.
Aerobic Exercise
Most people don’t know that aerobic exercises are very much crucial in all stages of life. It not only improves one’s health but even the well-being. Lack of physical activity can increase the chances of getting diabetes, heart diseases, and even to an extend certain kind of cancer. By regular exercising like doing aerobics, you can reduce arthritis pain.
Doing low-impact exercises like swimming, brisk walking, cycling, tennis, rowing, etc will improve one’s cardiovascular health. Even your low-intensity exercises like gardening will improve one’s physical fitness. If you are now starting aerobic exercises, start doing it for five minutes each day and then slowly increase and work up your way to about 30 minutes or more.
Strength Training
At the rough age of 50 or 60, the lean body mass will begin to reduce. Now that is a serious issue and you can start doing strength training for that. By doing strength training, you can easily improve the elasticity of your muscles as you slowly start to age. Frankly, health experts feel that it isn’t late to start strength training program for viewing its benefits.
No doubt, strength training can indeed help in improving one’s balance, bone density and range of motion. Do you know that it is a great health benefit to do simple exercises? Exercises like doing from the seated position such as overhead shoulder presses, bicep curls, and triceps extensions are great. You can even use soup cans, light weight, and filled water bottles for the upper-body exercises. Be cautious and try to make sure that the weight you are using is comfortable for you as in case if it isn’t then the risk of getting injured is more and the recovery time may increase.
Resistance Training
Using your body weight to perform resistance training exercises helps maintain lean body mass as you age. This helps to improve posture, core strength, and bone density. Wall squats, push-ups, planks, and pelvic bridging exercises are simple exercises you can do at home to improve your overall strength, posture, and flexibility. Most exercises can be modified if you have any physical limitations.
Flexibility and Balance
The most important aspect of exercising is that it must improve your balance. This will reduce the risk of falling and suffering from fractures. You could try the following simple exercise at home to improve your balance and flexibility –
1) Standing Chair
Here you must first begin by being in a seated position and that too in an armless chair. It is important that you maintain a good posture and try to extend your arms parallel to the ground. Then you need to slowly stand up, by not using your hands as a support. Then sit back and repeat this move for about 15-20 times and in two sets.
2) Standing on Toe
First you must stand behind a chair. Then slowly rise right on your tiptoes. Once you have done that, continue holding this position for a moment. Make sure that you are slowly lowering your heels right back to the floor. Here the important thing to keep in mind is that use the chair only for the support. Continue this move for about 10-15 times, and that too in two sets.
Besides these exercises, you can try for something new, like a low-impact one for example gentle yoga, tai-chi, Pilates, etc. Such exercises can improve your core balance, strength, and even flexibility.
What’s the Minimum Exercise You Must Do?
Recently, most health experts have bought in guidelines recommending about 60 minutes of physical activity daily to prevent weight gain. For those of us who have lost weight, they recommend 60 to 90 minutes a day to keep the pounds off.
But don’t let that scare you. Many cardiologists in the trenches say you can improve your heart health with less exercise. Little exercising for about 65-85 minutes each day is good, says certain health experts. According to them, even if an individual gets about 30 minutes of exercising and that too for about four to five times in a week, will be good. Frankly, getting some activity in terms of exercise for the body is great.
It is even best if you can split the 30 workout minutes into three huge ten-minute segment or two fifteen minute segment for doing a good workout. Recently a study was done by a group of doctors and health experts that compared the benefits from 30 minutes of brisk walking with those from 10-minute walks several times a day. The result was that both the long and the short walks improved aerobic fitness equally well in previously sedentary people.
And they proved equally effective in decreasing other risk factors for heart disease, including body fat and blood pressure. Frankly, the point here is to get up off your sofa or seat and start moving. You are sure to reap benefits from good amount of exercising.
Moving to A Fit Lifestyle
If you’re like most adults, it could be 10, 20, or even 30 years since you participated in any kind of meaningful physical activity. And if that is the case, doctors say the last thing you want to do is put on the football jersey and head for a weekend game of touch football with your nephew and his college buddies. Likewise, ladies, don’t dust off those old aerobic tapes and expect to go full tilt on day one.
It is all about starting slow and then building up gradually. Here the main important factor is that you don’t have to be under any kind of stress test. Start by walking more, take the stairs always rather than the elevator, get your car parked farther away from the store rather than near it, etc. Simply to put it straight, it is incorporating more movements into your day-to-day life.
Initially, you might feel certain amount of discomfort while doing any physical activity. But you might feel better when you take rest. In such case, it is good if you can talk with your physician if the routine is somewhat troubling your current health for a long time. In such situation, getting your doctor involved in your fitness regime and exercising will be great and beneficial.
The Bottom Line
No doubt, doing about 30-40 minutes of physical exercise for baby boomers might be great. In their old age, they can easily become active and less stressed by following a good exercising routine. Plus, it will really make them active and healthier. Sometimes in your old age, it is better to be active rather than depend on other for your day-to-day affairs. Most importantly, you must really check with your doctor or physician before doing any exercise to be on the safer side. Engage a health coach/ trainer to help you start a routine. Invest in your health.
