Staying active as you age is essential to your health, both mental and physical. Maintaining an active lifestyle helps boost energy, maintain independence, and more. Some studies even say it can help increase your lifespan. By doing some sort of physical exercise, you will maintain better overall health and well-being.
Physical Health
Weight Loss or Maintenance
Once we say goodbye to our twenties, we come to the realization that our metabolism slows down as we age. You can help fight your slowing metabolism by incorporating a regular exercise program. This leads to weight loss or weight management, which leads to other health benefits like lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
Chronic Conditions
Many suffer from chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and colon cancer to name a few. Regular exercise can help to prevent, delay, or reduce the symptoms of such conditions. Furthermore, if you don’t currently suffer from a chronic condition, it can lower your risk of developing one.
Enhances Mobility, Flexibility, & Balance
Getting in better shape helps your flexibility and balance, increasing your mobility. Especially if you have adorable grandchildren to chase. Improved mobility can drastically improve your quality of life and overall happiness.
Other Health Benefits
Improved heart health is a huge benefit of maintaining a regular exercise regimen. It can also strengthen your body’s immune system, including better digestive functioning, better bone density, and more.
Mental Health
Great For the Mood & Mind
Releasing chemicals that boost your mood, working out causes your brain to increase your thinking skills, memory, and more. As you get older, it is increasingly important to keep the brain active to help you stay sharp, decrease stress, and increase your overall happiness.
Improve Sleep
Have you ever exercised and then gotten a great night’s sleep? As little as ten minutes of exercise a day can help dramatically increase the quality and duration of your sleep. A contributing factor to lack of sleep is stress and anxiety, which can have you tossing and turning all night. Exercise helps to reduce both, resulting in a great night’s sleep.
Self Confidence & Energy Boosts
Exercise makes you look and feel better, leading to increased self-confidence and energy. This is good for both your body and your mind. Along with giving you a sense of accomplishment, this boost of self-confidence will help support good mental health. Working out will also do wonders in boosting your energy levels. As you exercise, your body releases endorphins that improve your mood and increase energy levels that naturally decrease as you age.
Types of Exercise & Their Benefits
There’s more than one type of exercise beneficial to seniors, and each type comes with its own set of benefits.
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Balance exercises
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Improves posture
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Improves balance
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Reduces risk of falling
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Cardio
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Lessen fatigue
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Reduces shortness of breath
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Improves endurance, which can help in everyday activities
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Strength training
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Helps prevent loss of bone mass
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Improves balance
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Builds muscle
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Helps with day to day activities
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Flexibility exercises
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Increases range of motion
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Increases flexibility
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Helps with everyday activities
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Tips for Getting Started
When first starting a new workout routine, talk to your doctor to see what activities you are physically able to do and get medical clearance. Start slow. Don’t push yourself too hard, especially at the beginning.
Don’t let things such as fear of falling, health problems, weight gain, and more stop you from exercising. Focus on doing exercises that your doctor approves of and build your physical confidence. If you notice any dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, or swollen joints, stop and let your doctor know immediately.
CareLink Fitness & Wellness Center
At the CareLink Fitness & Wellness Center, we offer a variety of exercise classes and wellness programs to seniors in the Little Rock, AR area. Our group fitness classes include Move with Balance, Zumba, Tai Chi, Pi-Yo, Drums Alive! Memory, Beanbag Baseball, and more.
The hours of operation for our fitness center are 9am-1pm, Monday through Friday, and we are located at 1200 South Cleveland Street in Little Rock. For more information, view our fitness calendar or contact us. We look forward to getting you on track to achieving a happier, healthier lifestyle.
