Fit, Not Frail: Exercise as a Tonic for Aging
The New York Times, June 24 2008
Fact: Every hour of every day, 330 Americans turn 60.
Fact: By 2030, one in five Americans will be older than 65.
Fact: The number of people over 100 doubles every decade.
Fact: As they age, people lose muscle mass and strength, flexibility and bone.
Fact: The resulting frailty leads to a loss of mobility and independence.
The last two facts may sound discouraging. But they can be countered
by another. Regular participation in aerobics, strength training and
balance and flexibility exercises can delay and may even prevent a
life-limiting loss of physical abilities into one’s 90s and beyond.
This last fact has given rise to a new group of professionals who
specialize in what they call “active aging” and an updated series of physical activity recommendations for older adults from the American Heart Association
and the American College of Sports Medicine. These recommendations are
expected to match new federal activity guidelines due in October from
the United States Health and Human Services Department.
But you need not — indeed should not — wait for the government. Even
if you have a chronic health problem or physical limitation, there are
safe ways to improve fitness and well-being. Any delay can increase the
risk of injury and make it harder to recoup your losses.
Miriam E. Nelson, director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Tufts University
in Boston and lead author of the new recommendations, observed last
fall in The Journal on Active Aging that “with every increasing decade
of age, people become less and less active.”
“But,” Dr. Nelson said, “the evidence shows that with every
increasing decade, exercise becomes more important in terms of quality
of life, independence and having a full life. So as of now, Americans
are not on the right path.”
Jim Concotelli of the Horizon Bay Senior Communities in Tampa, who
oversees fitness and wellness program development for communities for
the elderly in several states, noted this year in The Journal on Active
Aging that many older Americans were unfamiliar with exercise
activities and feared that they would cause injury and pain, especially
if they have arthritis
or other chronic problems. Yet by strengthening muscles, he said, they
can improve joints and bones and function with less pain and less risk
of injury.
The key is start slowly and build gradually as ability and strength
improve. Most important is simply to start — now— perhaps under the
guidance of a fitness professional or by creating a program based on
the guidelines outlined here.
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