To have an overall healthy, happy life, there are a lot of factors that we must pay attention to. These factors may include maintaining a regular exercise regimen, watching your diet, and even paying attention to your mental health. When it comes to general health, chiropractic care may also help to boost your wellbeing, especially since the spine plays a crucial role in supporting body movement.
Staying fit is a lifelong journey, but as we age, it can be more difficult to reach the same exercise goals than it once was. Aging causes more than just wrinkles—it can also cause losses in balance, muscle mass and overall strength, agility, and bone density, while also triggering weight gain. Because of this, people who have stayed fit their whole lives may struggle with these changes, while people who have been inactive often find themselves unable to enjoy the activities they once did, or experience major health problems. The good news? Engaging in regular exercise can improve health and even help seniors live longer. Just 3 hours of exercise per week can increase overall lifespan by about 5 years!
In 2010, there were 40.3 million Americans age 65 or older, and this number is growing every year, making education about the importance of physical fitness in maintaining quality of life very important. Of those seniors, just 28-34% of adults aged 65-74 were physically active, and 35-44% of adults over the age of 75 were active. Since 4 out of 5 Americans over the age of 50 have one or more chronic conditions, an active lifestyle can be a key factor in managing health.
So what are the benefits of staying active as you age? Better mobility, strength, and balance, weight maintenance, and better health overall. Exercise can help people manage chronic conditions and lower blood pressure, and can even help to build up brain volume!
Check out this awesome infographic from USC’s Gerontology Department to understand aging and exercise in a visual way:
As you can probably tell from previous posts and our Pinterest, we really love infographics. Not just any infographic, of course, but solid ones with good information and great visual content. Fitness and health are great subjects to put into infographics. It breaks down fitness techniques or health studies into relatable and understandable content that the reader can digest. We can totally get behind that. And they are just so fun to look at! We recently found Fit Over 40–an awesome infographic explaining what happens when you age and how you combat those aging effects.
I suggest–even if you’re not 40 or beyond–to take a gander at this infographic and article. We wouldn’t share things with you that didn’t have good grounding or that we didn’t think had good information. This one does and everyone can learn a thing or two from it. I really like the above picture, explaining what changes in our bone mass depending on what age we are. When we think of fitness, we often think of outside appearances. This is a huge “inside” health issue that can completely change your life. Pay attention to these types of things! It also talks about a range of different effects of aging like what happens to your hormones and more. Let us know what you think of the full infographic. And as always…stay hungry and fit!
BONUS KITTY PIC
