2023-09-27 21:05:20
Exercise and physical activity will always benefit the body, including older adults.
For this reason, specialists recommend certain types of exercises that will benefit people over 60 years of age the most, allowing them to continue maintaining skills that the body may lose over the years.
(You can read: The muscles that cannot be neglected following 50 years).
“Research has shown that it is important to perform all four types of exercise: resistance, strengthening, balance and flexibility. Each one has different benefits,” explains the National Institute on Aging of the United States, NIA for its acronym in English.
On the website, they also explain that doing one of these types of exercise can help you improve your ability to do others. “Variety helps reduce boredom and the risk of injury. No matter your age, you can find activities for your fitness level and needs!” they add.
(Be sure to read: Older adults with sedentary behaviors have a higher risk of dementia, says study).
It is important to perform all four types of exercise: resistance, strengthening, balance and flexibility.
Recommended exercises for older adults
Resistance exercises:
They are aerobic activities that increase heart and breathing rates, helping you stay healthy, improve your physical condition, and perform daily tasks more easily.
“Resistance exercises improve the health of the heart, lungs and circulatory system. They can also delay or prevent many diseases that are common in older adults, such as diabetes, colon and breast cancer, heart disease and others,” they point out in the aforementioned portal.
These activities include brisk walking or jogging, dancing, swimming, cycling, climbing stairs, or playing sports such as tennis or basketball.
(Also: What health care should an older adult have to improve their quality of life?).
Exercising to strengthen your muscles is also essential, as it can help with balance.
Strengthening exercises:
Exercising to strengthen your muscles is also essential, as it can help with balance and prevent falls and fall-related injuries.
However, you should listen to your body and, if you are a beginner, start with small weights or low-level resistance bands and gradually increase the difficulty.
Some strengthening exercises can be done by lifting weights, carrying shopping bags, catching and releasing a tennis ball, raising your arms above your head, doing push-ups, wall push-ups, lifting your own body weight and use a resistance band.
(Also: The three best exercises for older adults, according to Harvard).
“Try to do strengthening exercises for all major muscle groups at least two days a week, but don’t exercise the same muscle group two days in a row,” is the recommendation from the National Institute on Aging.
Balance exercises:
“Balance exercises help prevent falls, a common problem in older adults that can have serious consequences,” they explain.
Although strengthening exercises can help you a lot, you can also try practicing tai chi or ‘moving meditation’, standing on one foot, walking in a line with the heel of one foot in front of the other, or balanced walking.
Flexibility exercises:
Stretching exercises can help you improve your flexibility and therefore move more freely.
You can do back stretching exercises, inner thigh stretching, ankle stretching, and back of leg stretching.
There are also exercises that older adults should be careful with or avoid.
Exercises that older adults should avoid
However, there are also exercises that older adults should be careful with or avoid, according to expert advice.
(In other topics: Physical exercises for older adults: which are the most practiced?).
Among these are high-impact activities or jumping, sports with sudden changes in intensity or very explosive, and strength training with high loads, according to the specialized blog Entrenar.me.
Keep in mind that, when performing any exercise, you should breathe slowly, not over-demand the body, do them under medical advice and permission and, preferably, follow the instructions of a professional.
Also don’t forget to warm up before exercising to avoid injuries, stretch following resistance or strengthening exercise, hydrate well, if necessary ask for support from another person and regulate your breathing.
ELIM J ALONSO
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