Physical activity for people age 65 and older

Being fit is important to everyone. And although many people decrease their exercise as they age, continuing to exercise has definite benefits for older people.

• Flexibility and stretching, which help provide a full range of motion for muscles and joints, can help you function at home, at work, and socially. Everyday tasks that are difficult-such as tying shoelaces or reaching to a shelf-may become easier. When you stay flexible, you also keep a more natural walking pattern and decrease your chance of falling. Most flexibility that is seemingly lost through aging is caused not by aging but by inactivity or lack of movement.
• Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and reduces the risk of coronary artery disease. It can also increase the amount of sleep you get at night and may reduce the time it takes to fall asleep.
• Strengthening exercises can help you maintain your muscle, strengthen bones, and protect knees and other joints. These exercises can include resistance training, such as lifting weights, and weight-bearing exercise such as walking, jogging, or dancing.
• Specific balance exercises can also be helpful to improve coordination and reduce your risk for falls.

Exercise has specific health benefits for older people. Exercise:¹

• Improves blood pressure.
• Decreases risk of coronary artery disease.
• Improves heart failure symptoms and decreases hospitalization rate.
• Improves lipid (cholesterol) levels.
• Decreases risk of diabetes.
• Helps the body use sugar more efficiently.
• Decreases bone-density loss in postmenopausal women.
• Decreases hip and vertebral fractures.
• Decreases risk of falling.
• Improves function and decreases pain in osteoarthritis.
• Improves quality of sleep and reduces fatigue.
• Improves mental function and short-term memory.
• Decreases rate of depression.
• May lower the risk of colon, breast, prostate, and rectal cancers.
• Decreases risk of obesity.
• Helps maintain muscle and physical functioning.

Physical activity does not have to be strenuous. Older adults can gain significant health benefits with a moderate amount of physical activity. This can be done in longer sessions of moderately intense activities (such as walking) or in shorter sessions of more vigorous activities (such as fast walking or stair-walking).

You can benefit from physical activity even if you think of yourself as "elderly" or you already have "old-age" conditions such as osteoarthritis or heart disease. Being more active and may improve your quality of life and can prevent or delay disability.

You can work on all three areas of fitness: aerobic fitness, muscle strengthening, and flexibility. Follow these general guidelines:

• Talk to your health professional before starting a fitness program. You may have health problems that limit what you can do.
• Don't overdo it! If it hurts, stop. Some minor soreness or stiffness is to be expected at first, but pain is a warning sign to stop.
• If you have been inactive for years, start with about 5 to 10 minutes of activity at a time, and increase your time as you get more comfortable with the activity.
• Try to improve only a little bit at a time. Pick one area for improvement first. Set your personal goal in that area and meet the goal before trying another area.

Exercise caution signs for older people

When you exercise, you do experience minor muscle and joint soreness. However, other signs may indicate something more serious. Stop exercising if you develop:

• Chest or upper abdominal pain that may spread to the neck, jaw, upper back, shoulder, and arms. Call 911 immediately if this occurs. Chest pain can be a signal of a heart attack.
• Panting or extreme shortness of breath.
• Nausea.
• Persistent pain, joint discomfort, or muscle cramps.

Citations

1. Nied RJ, Franklin B (2002). Promoting and prescribing exercise for the elderly. American Family Physician, 65(3): 419–426.