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Fitness & Exercise for Senior Citizens
Ten Ideas to Help Senior Citizens Out of Bed
and into Exercising
Older people know value of exercise but slow to start
 Feb. 12, 2007 Virtually every senior citizen
people age 65 and older knows that exercise is extremely beneficial in
building and maintaining healthy bodies and minds. Yet, most fail to do
it. Just getting started may be the biggest hurdle, but the medical
director of the senior care facility claiming to house more 90-year olds
than any other, has ten easy steps that he finds are working to get
older people out of bed and moving.
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Rick Smith, M.D., medical director of the Los
Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging, urges America's seniors to make
exercise an important part of their daily routine.
He believes the key to longevity after genetics is
simple: Get out of bed. If you don't, he cautions, you "run the risk of
falling prey to many of the serious maladies that occur with aging and
prolonged inactivity."
For the most part, according to Dr. Smith, when
older people lose their ability to do things on their own, it doesn't
happen just because they have aged. More likely, it is because they have
become inactive.
Older inactive adults lose ground in four areas
that are important to staying healthy and independent - endurance,
strength, balance and flexibility.
"When you walk through our campuses," Dr. Smith
said, "one thing is always surprising to visitors - the fact that the
vast majority of our nearly 1,000 residents aren't in their rooms. We
partner with them to find a wide variety of activities and exercises,
which is vital to longer living."
Here are Smith's "Ten Get-Out-of-Bed Exercise Tips
to Longer Living."
1. Try; just showing up is half the battle.
2. Have an exercise buddy.
3. Start slow. It's the effort that counts.
4. Give yourself physical activity "homework
assignments," and look for ways to build physical activity into your
daily routine.
5. Think of exercise sessions as "appointments"
that you must keep.
6. When you can't keep your "appointment," don't
be too hard on yourself.
7. Keep a record of what you do and your
progress. It's fun to chart victories.
8. If you stop exercising for several weeks and
then return, start out at about half the effort you were putting into
it when you stopped.
9. Wear supportive, comfortable shoes.
10. Build a routine around stretching, walking
and strength training.
"Muscle strength declines by 15 percent per decade
after age 50," Dr. Smith noted, and "30 percent per decade after age
70. However, resistance training can result in 25 to 100 percent, or
more, strength gains in older adults."
Dr. Smith points out that exercise also addresses
another key issue with seniors: it reduces the risk of depression and
lessens the severity of depressive symptoms. "Some believe that often
moderate regular exercise may be just as helpful in combating serious
depression in older people as antidepressant medication," he said.
Physical activity can be good medicine, but Dr.
Smith recommends that everyone, especially those older than 40, check
with their doctor before starting any exercise program.
Editor's Notes:
Founded in 1912, the world-renowned Los Angeles
Jewish Home for the Aging claims to be one of the foremost continuing
residential-care facilities for the elderly in the United States and is
the largest single source provider of senior housing in Los Angeles.
Each year, nearly 1,000 women and men are
sheltered on two village campuses (spanning 16 acres), which feature
independent- living "Neighborhood Home" accommodations, residential
care, skilled nursing care, Alzheimer's disease and dementia care, and
hospice.
Healthcare professionals from around the world
consult with the Jewish Home in an effort to improve eldercare in their
home countries. The Home is a nonprofit organization that relies solely
upon donations from individuals, corporations and foundations to
continue its remarkable work.
Further information regarding the Home can be
found online at
www.jha.org or by calling 818-757- 4407.
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