One of the Healthiest Things You Can Do

The National Institute of Health, and the National Institute on Aging, have stated that maintaining an active lifestyle as an older adult has its benefits.  Not only can being physically active help keep you fit, it maintains your strength to continue doing the hobbies, interests, and things you enjoy doing as you get older. Even moderate exercise and physical activity can improve the health of people who are frail or who have diseases that accompany aging, (nihseniorhealth.gov). A few tips that the NIH website has to offer:

• Be as active as possible
  • Be consistent with a daily routine of physical activity and exercise.
• Being inactive has its risks
  • When you become too inactive, it can start to decrease the amount one can do on their own, and lead to illness.
• Prevent or delay diseases
  • Exercise can be effective in treating chronic conditions. Regular exercise can help those with issues such as arthritis, heart disease, balance and walking difficulties.
• Manage stress, improve mood
  • Exercise can also decrease depression in some, and there are studies that suggest cognitive function may be improved.

Is there a difference between exercise and physical activity? Actually, yes. Exercise is a planned and structured form of physical activity that usually contains repetitions. Some examples would be aerobics class, swimming, yoga, using weights. Physical activity is something that gets the body moving, such as walking the dog, gardening, taking the stairs, playing outdoors with family, even cleaning the house. Everyone should make it a point to have a balance of both exercise and physical activity in their daily routines to promote better health and wellbeing as one ages.