Importance of Physical Activity for Old Age

Every human ages, and it is a natural process.

So, maintaining a proper lifestyle with such progressive phases of life is of utmost importance. Hence, keeping up with an active ageing process is very much needed nowadays. While most people are busy with the ongoing disease diagnosis, others try to find out the root cause of the problem and arrest it as soon as possible.

Effective exercises programming is required for the betterment of every senior citizen. There are many chances of getting some degenerative diseases due to the ageing process. And the most important issues people face are the arthritis, cardiovascular , mobility , memory loss, balance issues and many more.

Thus, incorporating a good physical activity regimen in daily life will give a boost to the present living.  Proper scheduling of exercises at least 30 minutes everyday can create positive impact on life.

Some of the easy but most effective physical activities are listed below , which can be of great help for senior citizens-

1. Balance games- You heard it write, gaming sounds very interesting and it also motivates elders to get ready and have some fun with balancing activities. We perform some activities which does not seem to be very boring or monotonous and motivates seniors to move around and perform some activities. Playing some fun games with some task related challenges are good to start with.
2. Stretching activities - To include some stretching activities on everyday basis, start with individual body segments like upper body or lower body or trunk area. Considering the fact that the population is of senior citizen, we should be very slow and steady while performing any activities. Fast activities might cause jerky movements which leads to falling.
3. Body weight activities- Initially, it should be practiced to continue with own body weight only. Challenges like active free exercises, twisting, turning can be included to make the client more confident and continue with the exercises regularly.
4. Co-ordination activities- Although balance and coordination activities are quite similar but coordination is followed by balance activities. A synergistic pattern in the upper and lower extremity is needed during the ageing phase to undergo all the ADL activities. Involving the head , neck , trunk promotes mobility in the joints and increases the range of motion in the important synovial gaps. The big muscles of the body like biceps, hamstrings, quadriceps, etc and the synergistic muscles also get activated and follow the correct way of contracting.
5. Resistive exercises- There are a lot of props or health related items available in the fitness market which are used for daily physical activities to boost up the musculoskeletal system of the body. As we age, the bones and muscles tend to loose the properties naturally. Hence, maintaining the properties helps reduce the degenerative changes.

Hence, elderly people should be encouraged to perform resistive exercises for at least for 15 minutes with other activities for a better result. Props like Therabands, Gym balls, Dumbells, Sandbags , etc can be used for strengthening the hand and leg muscles. Senior citizens ought to perform the strengthening exercises once started on daily basis to avoid regression due to degeneration or genetic factors.

1. Recreational activities- More or less, simple body mobilizing activities can be incorporated for the elders which makes them enjoyable and less fatigue. As they tend to become tired easily some recreational activities like gardening, walking, playing with grand children , planting trees, etc can be energizing too. It will give them physical and mental placebo effect which releases good hormones to enhance the nervous system activation.
2. Relaxation techniques- It is always advised to relax the mind following every activity the elders do. To relax the physical aspect of the body , focusing on the breathing pattern is the best exercise for them. Counting the breathe with deep breathing exercises like diaphragmatic breathing, pursed lip ,yoga poses like savasana , child’s pose, pranayama, dhyana, sitting stretches, butterfly pose and chanting OM….are always welcoming at the end of any exercises that we perform. Senior citizens find it very fulfilling after completing the entire sessions.

We all need to keep our body moving , and ageing process makes it a little bit difficult to continue. So, if we start the above mentioned activities as early as possible we can reduce the complications related to the degenerative changes in the body. So, lets compete with ourselves and help the elders to keep up with the normal functioning of the body and avoid the mental trauma caused by the slowing down of the systematic process of the body.