Exercise is medicine. It is arguably one of the easiest and most important things any of us can do to positively influence our overall health. Unlike medications there are relatively no negative side effects and the cost of implementation is minimal.
When it comes to longevity and maximizing our health span, exercise is essential. Healthspan is the part of a person’s life during which they are generally in good health. Unfortunately, this often doesn’t match our full lifespan or the number of years we live. Regular exercise helps ward off metabolic disease, neurodegenerative disease, improve immunity and our mental health. Additionally, it helps us to physically keep up with others whether that is playing sports with friends or our kids or babysitting grandkids. It creates a positive feedback loop in our lives.
Briefly put, some key points to a good exercise routine include:
Strength Training
30 minutes a few times a week doing a handful of movements that challenge whole body strength helps improve our daily abilities now and down the road. Even for active individuals, muscle mass diminishes with age starting as early as our 30s.
Flexibility Exercise
Adequate mobility is necessary for basic tasks including dressing ourselves. For most of us this also diminishes with age and can be a silent culprit in balance issues and basic mobility tasks like the ability to get up and down from the floor safely.
Cardiovascular Fitness
This may or may not be incorporated with strength training but optimally should be done
several times per week with a degree of intensity at which you can talk but not sing.
What if your ability to exercise is limited because of an injury or another condition? Or what if you want to start an exercise routine but want guidance? That is where Physical Therapy can play a role. Having a PT evaluation can help identify areas of strength and weakness. It can help to improve or resolve an injury, or manage long term conditions like arthritis that are currently limiting you while taking into account things like balance, bone density etc. Other considerations for a more multifaceted approach to maximizing your health span include attention to nutrition, sleep, and many other factors (including but not limited to stress management, emotional health, and medical control of chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, etc.)
It is never too soon or too late in life to start improving your health. Guidance from a Physical Therapist can help you establish a consistent exercise routine tailored to your body and goals.