you're never too old to be active.....
The benefits of keeping active are endless. If you invest in your health when you are young and you will reap the benefits in later life. But you are never too old to start – people who are inactive have the greatest health gains from taking up physical activity whatever their age.
Below are some examples of how keeping active can help improve health for later years:
Being able to get up from a chair with ease
How many people do you know who struggle to get up from a chair as they get older? By simply doing some exercise to strengthen your legs this could be avoided.
Reducing your chances of falling and fracturing your wrist or hip -helping you to live independently for longer
Osteoporosis also known as “brittle bone disease” affects 1 in 3 women and
1 in 12 men over the age of 50 in the UK.
Every 3 minutes someone has a bone fracture as a result of osteoporosis.
Older adults who exercise at least one hour everyday reduce their risk of fracturing their hip by 50%.
The amount of exercise we do in our early years is vital to make sure our bones stay strong. From the age of 35 years our bones start to get thinner but exercise stops this happening.
Keeping your body flexible
We often take for granted being able to lift our arms above our head to reach for things, put on a jumper, brush our hair or fasten a bra strap. As we age, flexibility decreases, but this can be prevented if we include a little mobility and stretching exercises into our daily lives.
Being able to carry your shopping and lift it onto your worktops or into over head cupboards
Including a few exercises into your daily routine can help keep your muscles strong so that you can keep performing tasks that we take for granted when we are young.
Meet new friends
Exercise is a great way to get out of the house and meet new people.
Having a ‘spring in your step’ and generally ‘feeling good’
Last but not least! Regular exercise helps us to feel good. It produces a chemical in our brain giving us a natural high.
