7 Everyday Exercise For Adults To Have A Healthy Life
As we age, illness takes a toll on our physical and mental health. It is because our immune system gets weak with growing age, however, we can maintain good health with the help of exercise and a healthy diet. People over 65 years of age tend to lose their muscles, feel sluggish and are unable to perform their daily tasks with the same energy. But when you exercise at home regularly, your body has mobility and strength, which helps you complete your daily activities effectively. There are different cardio, Kegels, aerobic, and various other exercises to fulfil your body’s specific needs. Exercises take time and can improve your lifestyle and stretch your muscles properly, keeping you strong, active, and flexible.
7 Daily Exercises for seniors
The following workouts are suitable for seniors to avoid diseases and stay healthy. Do these workouts every day to keep yourself healthy.
1. Walking
Walking is one of the best activities for seniors. It is less stressful and requires low energy. According to a report on those who walk 10,000 steps daily, their mortality rate reduces by 45%. Walking can reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and colon cancer. In addition, it is one of the easiest ways to maintain a healthy life for seniors.
You can walk in a park, on an empty road, in a natural place like on the bank of the river, or in a place filled with trees. You can listen to audiobooks or songs to involve yourself in the walking process.
2. Body Weight Workout
Losing your body weight is arduous, mainly when you are a senior. Before practising weight loss exercises, you should ensure enough support for your lower back. You can do bodyweight loss drills without a trainer. But you will have to be aware of the form of your body. You will be able to lose body weight with weight loss exercises. These routines include chair squats, leg lifts, lying circles, hip bridges, toe lifts, seated twists, step-ups, etc.
3. Cycling
Cycling is an excellent way to increase blood flow and keep the muscles active. It is one of the best activities to keep your heart and lungs healthy. Cycling reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease by 45%. By cycling for around 60 minutes each day, you can burn more than 250 calories. Regular cycling also helps to reduce the risk of diabetes and kidney disease.
4. Chair Yoga
Chair yoga improves muscle strength, mobility, balance, and flexibility. In addition, this activity has less risk of injury as you will have less stress on your muscles and joints. Therefore, chair yoga is more manageable for seniors than traditional yoga.
5. Water Aerobics
Water aerobics has become more popular among seniors. This activity is more beneficial as it puts less stress on your joints, and it is more suitable for those who have arthritis. It can improve the balance and flexibility of your body by putting significantly less pressure, and you get natural resistance in the water, hence the need for weights also gets reduced.
6. Band Stretching
A flexible strip of rubber is sufficient to do this training. It has also gained popularity among seniors as it is an easy process. One can do this workout at home to improve balance and mobility. Some examples of band workouts for seniors are leg press, triceps press, bicep curl, and band pull apart.
7. Pilates
Pilates is another popular workout among seniors. It emphasises breathing, alignment, concentration, and core strength. Pilates helps to develop balance, strength, and flexibility among seniors. Some Pilates movements are sided circle, mermaid movement, step-ups, leg circle, and mermaid movements. It is considered one of the best back pain exercises.
What Exercise Types Should Seniors Avoid?
Seniors should avoid doing the following activities:
- Running Long Distance
Running a long distance is not suitable for seniors, and it will put more pressure on your joints and may cause injury to the knees or other joints of the lower part of the body.
- Crunches
Since the body of a senior becomes fragile, crunches will not be suitable. In addition, it may cause pain to the joints and muscles in the back.
- Avoid Climbing Stairs
Climbing stairs has the risk of falling and getting injured due to a lack of balance in seniors. Seniors will also have to put more pressure on their knees, which may also result in knee pain.
Benefits of Exercise for seniors
There are numerous benefits of doing exercises for seniors. Some of these benefits have been mentioned below:
- Boost Immune System
Workouts help prevent diseases by strengthening the immune system. Since the immune system weakens with age, seniors need regular physical training to get a healthy immune system. Improving your immune system can prevent many common diseases, including diabetes, heart problems, and high blood pressure.
- Improve Mental Health
Since workout produces endorphins, we can have good mental health by doing regular exercises. Since your stress is relieved after exercising, you feel happy and contented. Regular exercises also prevent depression and other mental illnesses.
- Improve the Balance
Seniors often face the challenge of maintaining a balance in their bodies. But by doing physical workouts, you can improve your balance. Exercises thus reduce the risk of falls. There are some special movements for improving balance. By practising these routines, you can improve your body’s balance in a better way. There are also back pain exercises that help you to maintain balance by controlling your pain.
- Improve Social Engagement
When you go outdoors to work out, you get to meet different people, providing a social environment. You can feel isolated in your senior years. However, when you go out and meet new people, you will feel relaxed when you talk to people. You will get more exposure to society if you join a yoga club or a walking group.
Ways to Take Precaution for Seniors While Working Out
Seniors should be careful while doing workouts. Some safety measures are mentioned below:
- Avoid Overdoing
Avoid overdoing any movement. Take breaks between sets and continue. Try the different practices for maintaining a balance of your muscle. Increase the time gradually instead of doing excessive activities on the first day. You must never go beyond your body’s limit. Continue till your body can endure the pain.
- Wear Proper Dress
Wear the dress and footwear of the appropriate size. Always wear comfortable clothing, so you won’t have to face difficulty while exercising. The wrong size or poor-quality fabric may create other problems in your body. Avoid wearing a tight or loose dress and footwear.
- Pay Attention to Your Surroundings
You should be aware of your environment to prevent any injury or accident. For example, if you are walking, you should keep your eye on the road so that you do not hit or slip on something like a pebble or small tree branches. Due to the poor body balance, you may hit any place and fall. The only way to avoid such an accident is to be aware of your surroundings.
- Drink Enough Water
Do not forget to drink plenty of water while exercising, as it is crucial to keep yourself hydrated. If you do not keep yourself hydrated, you may have headaches, muscle cramps, or weakness. In addition, by drinking enough water during a workout, you will also be able to prevent dizziness and low blood pressure.
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Conclusion
Workout increases life expectancy as you can get rid of many diseases. Since illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart diseases are common among seniors, regular physical training can help to a great extent to prevent these conditions. Apart from physical health, daily physical activity can also improve your mental health, prevent various mental illnesses like depression, and reduce stress. Seniors usually suffer from other physical pain, including back pain, knee pain, etc. These body movements for specific pains can also help lessen those pains.
FAQs
What are the common forms of exercise among seniors?
Some common forms of exercise for seniors are walking, swimming, band stretching, water aerobics, chair yoga, and body weight workouts.
What are some of the safety tips for workouts for seniors?
Seniors need to exercise carefully. Some safety tips for seniors are avoiding overexerting themselves, taking regular breaks, using appropriate dress and footwear, taking some water in the middle of exercising, etc.
What are some movements for seniors to do at home?
Some movements seniors can do at home are chair yoga, Pilates, band stretching, etc.
What are the benefits of workouts for seniors?
Some benefits of doing workouts for seniors include preventing diseases, improving mental health and balance, strengthening muscles, and improving blood flow.
What is the best time to work out for seniors?
If someone is not comfortable with morning workout routines, they can resume in the late afternoon.
Read more:
Best Exercise Guide for Seniors
