Regardless of age, it is always advisable to carry out physical activities that help us strengthen our health. However, this fact is accentuated as we get older.
This also happens with mental agility and cognitive decline. That is why we also recommend taking into account the 8 memory games for our elders.
To ensure we live as healthy a life as possible, we must make sure that these new routines are compatible with our condition, and that our doctor also recommends it.
As confirmed by the NIH (National Institute on Aging), people over 65 are the population group with the greatest tendency to suffer heart problems. Training or playing sports regularly is key to facing these problems.
These exercises, combined with good habits, will help you increase your quality of life, as they will lead to better health and greater autonomy.
Advantages of exercising for older people
An international study in which researchers from the CIBER of Mental Health (CIBERSAM) and the University of the Basque Country (UPV) participate,has concluded that physical activity during aging increases synaptic density(the gray matter space where neuronal connections develop), thus protecting brain health and cognitive abilities.
Some of the benefits of exercise for older people are the following:
- Promotes mobility
- Strengthens muscle mass
- Emotional and mental improvement
- Reduces the likelihood of developing heart disease
- Helps prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or different dementias
- Helps maintain adequate cholesterol levels
- Reduces the appearance of insomnia
What exercises can help you?
Nadar
Swimming is a practice that, if done regularly, allows you to improve the entire body muscles in a balanced way, both the mobility of the legs and the arms. Swimming, too you work on coordination, y allows you to improve lung capacity.
Whenever you go swimming, it's important to do it safely. If you don't feel comfortable, you can choose walk in the water. It is a highly recommended exercise for older people, with which you can tone muscles and improve blood circulation.
Another common activity in swimming pools and sports centers is aquagym, a sport with which you perform aquatic aerobic exercise, burning calories and reducing blood pressure. It is recommended as an exercise for older people in low physical shape, or who are in the process of rehabilitation.
Yoga
Thanks to its multiple physical and psychological benefits, yoga is an ideal activity to maintain active aging. Likewise, it helps improve people's mobility.
 ÂThe practice of yoga reduces the risk of falls in older people by up to 25%.
A new study carried out at the University of Northumbria, in the United Kingdom, indicates that practicing yoga reduces the risk of falls in older people by up to 25%.
Of course, it is an exercise that must be performed constantly and regularly. Before practicing it, we recommend that you go to the doctor and ask if it is the most appropriate activity according to your abilities.
Yoga benefits you in many areas: it reduces stress, improves the sleep of people who practice it and improves their mood. Last but not least, it increases balance and coordination. This reinforces the loss of capabilities that some people suffer as they age.
Gym
There are various exercises designed to strengthen the health of older people, and gymnastics is one of them. One of the reasons lies in the fact that it significantly contributes to avoiding premature muscular or cognitive deterioration. It is, without a doubt, one of the activities most practiced by the elderly in nursing homes.
As we said, gymnastics delays brain aging, keeping its functions in better condition for longer. In addition, it allows you to achieve emotional well-being more easily, since exercising makes you release endorphins, a substance directly related to happiness.
Walk
Walking is perhaps one of the best exercises to take care of your physical fitness. As long as you do not have mobility problems, the World Health Organization advises walk about 10,000 steps a day. In other words, it is recommended to go for a walk during a period of 30 minutes daily,always depending on the conditions of each person. As a proposal, it can always help to be accompanied, to avoid loneliness, and thus have someone by your side with whom you can distract yourself.
To walk oxygenates the body, in addition to burn calories y keep metabolism active. Plus, it will always help you clear your mind and feel better. AND don't forget to hydrate during your walks/rides!
Bicycle
The benefits of cycling at an older age are several. First of all, you strengthen your muscles and activate your entire body. According to specialists, it is recommended to spend between 10 and 40 minutes every three days to achieve good physical shape.
Secondly, you improve circulation, something that helps significantly during aging, since lack of mobility facilitates worsening blood circulation in the feet and legs.
As we can see, there is a wide variety of exercises for seniors to choose from.
Signing up for any of them will allow you to strengthen certain physical abilities and improve your state of health.
If you cannot leave your home, You can always practice it in your own home. For example, you can replace a bike ride in the park with about 20 minutes on a stationary bike.
Links of interest:
WHO - WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary habits.
NIH (National Institute on Aging) - Heart health and aging.
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