Everyone, regardless of age, can benefit from regular physical activity like strength training and aerobic exercises. Even as you grow into your elderly years, exercise plays an essential role in helping to combat the negative impacts of aging on your body. Exercise is especially important for reducing the impact of increased disease risks, the weakening of bones and the replacement of muscle with fat tissue.
Joint and Muscle Strength
Exercise in the elderly population helps combat the muscle loss and joint deterioration that can occur as the body ages. While these effects are inevitable, strength training exercises continue to grow and strengthen the muscles and the tissue supporting the joints, helping combat muscles weakness. At the same time, both aerobic and strength training exercises burn calories, which help combat the storage of fat in the place of lost muscle.
Bone Strength
Bones can be strengthened at any time during your lifetime. While it may be easier to strengthen bones at younger ages, any type of weight-bearing exercise can encourage bone growth at any age. Regular weight-bearing exercises place stress on the bone tissue. The body reacts to this stress by activating cells like osteoblasts to strengthen the mineral density of the affected bone. This can help prevent common problems with bones seen with aging, such as fractures or breaks due to falls or other activities.
Independence
Exercise programs also encourage and provide the means for the elderly to be more independent. A loss of independence is often associated directly to an elderly person's ability to move freely and take care of themselves, which can be affected as muscles and bones lose their strength with age. By combating this loss with a regular exercise program, you may be able to stay independent longer or possibly can gain back some of your independence as your body grows in strength and health. This can also increase your overall quality of life as you age.
Disease Prevention
Exercise programs at any age play a integral role in disease prevention, especially with diseases where age can be a factor. For example, exercise help control elderly obesity, which reduces risks for major concerns in the elderly population, such as diabetes and heart disease. The strengthening effects on bones and joints can also help combat other age-related diseases like osteoporosis and arthritis.
References
- American Academy of Family Physicians; Promoting and Prescribing Exercise for the Elderly; Robert J. Nied, M.D. et al.; February, 2002
- Agingcare.com; Exercise for the Elderly; Marlo Sollitto
- NIH Senior Health: Exercise and Physical Activity for Older Adults
- Science Daily: Exercise In Elderly Improves Quality Of Life; July, 2007
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