Everybody knows that they need to exercise. And the vast majority of us aren’t exercising enough. If you know you need to get up and get more mobile, and you’re also near or past retirement age, it’s more important for you than it is almost anyone else! There are tons of reasons why seniors need to be concerned about how much exercise they’re getting. The health benefits of exercise become significantly impactful as you get older.
Exercise and Brain Health
Although the two may seem unrelated, exercise and brain health are intrinsically linked to one another. The less frequently you exercise, the more unhealthy your brain will be. But the more frequently and the more intensely you exercise, the more it will boost blood flow to the brain. This enhanced blood flow keeps your neurons nourished with the nutrients they need to function properly, and it helps protect certain regions of the brain – especially those responsible for memory and cognition – from shrinking prematurely.
Exercise and Mobility as You Get Older
Newton’s first law of motion states that an object at rest will stay at rest unless some force is applied to it. In plain English, this means that the less active you are, the harder it will be for you to get around. And the problem only gets worse as you get older! Nobody ever thinks that they’re going to be the one who needs to hobble along on a cane or ride around in a scooter just to get from place to place. But if you’re over a certain age and you aren’t exercising regularly, you could be a few years away (or less!) from losing your independent mobility.
As you get older, your muscle strength, mass, tone, and stability declines. You’re also more likely to suffer from arthritic joint pain and joint degeneration. Exercise, on the other hand, helps preserve all of these things well into your golden years. So if you want to stay young and spry and maintain your mobility, don’t short change yourself on the exercise.
Exercise and Longevity
There are hundreds – if not thousands – of studies out there which demonstrate a direct connection between activity levels, exercise, and human longevity. One of the most interesting studies to date followed 65 year old seniors with daily activity levels ranging from “average” to “highly active”. People on the average side of the spectrum remained mobile and independent for an additional 13 years – meaning they didn’t start to have trouble getting around until around age 78. Highly active seniors added an additional six years to that, meaning that they didn’t start to have problems with movement or getting around until they were almost age 84!
The AARP recommends that people of all ages – seniors especially – exercise daily in order to live a longer and healthier life. Recently, Harvard did a study which showed that 15 minutes of activity per day can add 3 years to your life. Conversely, a JAMA study from 2018 confirmed that no exercise at all was more detrimental to the human life span than diabetes, smoking, or even heart disease. Now we’re not saying it’s okay to start smoking or eating a ton of carbs each day as long as you exercise; but according to that study, having a low or non-existent daily activity level is the worst thing you could possibly do for your health.
Lastly, there’s the exciting new science of telomeres. Their connection to daily exercise levels and longevity is truly fascinating. Believe it or not, your biological age and your chronological age may be two completely different numbers. Your biological age reflects your overall physical health; your chronological age is just the number of birthdays you’ve celebrated.
Scientists recently analyzed the telomere length (the longer, the better) of over 6,000 adults. Some of those adults were highly active, and some were completely sedentary with little or no exercise in their life. And guess what? On average, the people with higher activity levels had a biological age that was nine years younger than their inactive counterparts.
Imagine that: being able to turn back the clock and make your body 10 years younger with just a little exercise! That sounds like a great reason to start exercising more to us. And if you want tips on how to get started, we’ve got plenty of articles on that subject, too.
