Aging with Exercise and Movement

According to Maria Antoinette Fiatarone Singh, MD, “Sedentary individuals lose large amounts of muscle mass during the course of adult life (20%–40%), and this loss plays a major role in the similarly large losses in muscle strength…”* Exercise is known to impact mood, improve health, strengthen bones and muscles, improve balance, and decrease chances of osteoporosis to name a few benefits.

As we age, life throws things at us from all directions, work, kids, health crises.  With all that we face in today’s fast-paced society, we often yearn to get home to relax, kick our feet up, and avoid exerting ourselves more.  The unfortunate side effect of this is a negative impact to our overall health and wellbeing.  So how do we overcome it all?

Establishing small weekly or daily goals that are attainable are a great way to get started.  Rather than trying to implement an hour of activity a day can seem daunting and  jumping in full-force could be too difficult to maintain. Instead, start by simply picking 3-4 exercises that  focus on functional activities such as standing up from a chair 10 times, bending over to touch your toes, reaching above your head, or incorporating resistive activities using stretch bands, cans of soup, or bottles of water.

I routinely advise my patients to perform exercises around mealtimes as an easy way to remember them throughout the day.  Performing each exercise 3 times a day for 3 sets of 15-20 repetitions is a great way to ease into a program.  As you gain strength and confidence in yourself, you can add exercises, incorporate walking activities, and slowly build yourself up improving your physical and mental state, reduce the impacts of comorbidities, and improve your overall quality of life.

*Exercise and aging. Maria Antoinette Fiatarone Singh, MD, FRACP.  Clinics in Geriatric Medicine 20 (2004) 201–221.