Exercise Benefits for the Aging

It has been known that exercise has plenty of health benefits – from weight loss, to boosting your energy, to arthritis. It improves your mood as well and promotes better sleep. Regular exercise and activity promotes bodily circulation and function thus keeping you healthy. Even when you start doing exercises at a later stage in life, you will still be able to reap benefits from your activities.

The most common problems an aged person worry about are heart diseases and arthritis. And at that age, there is no more time and strength to toil at the nearest gym. There are other ways to stay active even when you are aged 60 to 75 years. A recent study shows that exercise still has its effects even when you begin doing them at midlife.

A 10-year study led by Dr Mark Hamer of the University College London involving 4 000 patients in their 40s and 50s reveal that even when they switch to a more active lifestyle at a later age, they can still enjoy the benefits that exercise offers. In the study, it has been found out that those individuals who followed the 2.5 hour exercise regimen have less inflammatory markers in their blood. High levels of these markers are linked to cardiovascular diseases.

In another research published in Arthritis Research & Therapy, Bonnie Bruce et al from Stanford University conducted a 14-year study to find out the level of pain on 866 patients who are in their mid-sixties when the study began. The study pointed out that the group of runners experienced 25% less musculoskeletal pain compared to the control group of community-based individuals.

These studies only go to show that exercise still has an effect on people who are approaching their golden years. Gardening and staying active in the home or engaging in exercises really do help even an aged person.

Grandma and Grandpa should not give up on keeping fit even if they have lived sedentary lives in their younger years. More importantly, exercise benefits will prolong their time with their loved ones. Even with a head full of white, exercise does not discriminate so just go out there and find something good to sweat about.