Remember in your younger years when a cold might wipe you
out for a few days, but then you were quickly back to running and jumping on
the playground? Well, as people age,
their ability to bounce back from disease and injury takes longer and a bigger
toll on the body. These changes are MOST
noticeable during the transition out of middle age and into the senior years,
when even the flu can be detrimental to your health. In order to delay aging,
there is in fact a “Fountain of Youth”:EXERCISE!
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has designed
exercise guidelines both for adults under and over the age of 65. The guidelines include a mixture of aerobic
and strength training recommendations that, when combined, can help a person
reach and maintain optimum fitness and delay aging.
EXERCISE GUIDELINES FOR ADULTS UNDER AGE 65:
The following exercise guidelines are recommended by the American
College of Sports Medicine:
- Do moderately
intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days per week (intense enough that you
cannot sing, but can hold a conversation)
OR
- Do vigorously
intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days per week (intense enough that you
cannot sing)
- Do eight to 10
strength-training exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a
week.
Moderate-intensity physical activity means working hard enough to raise your heart rate and
break a sweat, yet still being able to carry on a conversation. The 30-minute
recommendation is for the average healthy adult to maintain health and reduce
the risk for chronic disease.
It should be noted that to lose weight or maintain weight loss, 60
to 90 minutes of daily physical activity may be necessary. For most adults over 25, this is NOT a sustainable level of exercise,
both because most professional adults frankly do not have that time of time
available every day, and because most adults who exercise for that duration
usually break down from injury. This has
several consequences:
1
We emphasize the
importance of FREQUENCY rather than DURATION. Some people are
inclined to circumvent the 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week by trying to
catch up and do one super-long workout over the weekend. That is NOT
equivalent. Just as it is important to
divide your food intake into 3-4 meals per day rather than one big meal, it is
important to divide exercise so that is a DAILY
activity.
2
For overall health,
exercise is the most important intervention.
However, for the specific goal of losing weight, diet matters
significantly more than exercise. We
will discuss this more in a future blog post, but no one is capable of
sustainably overcoming poor dietary habits with exercise.
TIPS FOR MEETING THE GUIDELINES:
**With busy work schedules, family obligations, and packed
weekends, it can often be difficult to get the recommended amount of physical
activity. Try these tips for incorporating exercise into your life:
- Do it in short bouts. Research shows that moderate-intensity
physical activity can be accumulated throughout the day in 10-minute bouts,
which can be just as effective as exercising for 30 minutes straight. This can
be useful when trying to fit physical activity into a busy schedule.
- Mix it up. Combinations of moderate- and vigorous-intensity
physical activity can be used to meet the guidelines. For example, you can walk
briskly for 30 minutes twice per week and jog at a higher intensity on two
other days.
- Set your schedule. Maybe it's easier for you to walk during your
lunch hour, or perhaps hitting the pavement right after dinner is best for you.
The key is to set aside specific days and times for exercise, making it just as
much a regular part of your schedule as everything else.
- The gym isn't a necessity. It doesn't take an expensive gym
membership to get the daily recommended amount of physical activity. A pair of
athletic shoes and a little motivation are all you need to live a more active,
healthier life.
- Make it a family
affair. Take your spouse, your children, or a friend with you during exercise
to add some fun to your routine. This is also a good way to encourage your kids
to be physically active and get them committed early to a lifetime of health.
EXERCISE GUIDELINES FOR ADULTS OVER AGE 65, or ADULTS OVER AGE 50 WITH
CHRONIC CONDITIONS:
The
following exercise guidelines are recommended by the American College of Sports
Medicine:
- Do moderately intense aerobic
exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week (intense enough that you cannot
sing, but can hold a conversation)
OR
- Do vigorously intense aerobic
exercise 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week (intense enough that you cannot hold a
conversation)
ALSO
- Do eight to 10 strength-training
exercises, 10-15 repetitions of each exercise twice to three times per week
· **
If you are at risk of falling,
perform balance exercises **
Both
aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity is critical for healthy aging.
Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise means working hard at about a level-six
intensity on a scale of 10. You should still be able to carry on a conversation
during exercise.
Older
adults or adults with chronic conditions should develop an activity plan with a
health professional to manage risks and take therapeutic needs into account.
This will maximize the benefits of physical activity and ensure your safety.
Starting
an exercise program can sound like a daunting task, but just remember that your
main goal is to meet the basic physical activity recommendations: 30 minutes of
moderate-intensity physical activity at least five days per week, or
vigorous-intensity activity at least three days per week, and strength training
two to three times per week.
Choose
activities that appeal to you and will make exercise fun. Walking is a great,
easy way to do moderate-intensity physical activity.
ADDITIONAL TIPS:
- Start, and get help if you need
it. The general recommendation is that
older adults should meet or exceed 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on
most days of the week; however, it is also recognized that goals below this
threshold may be necessary for older adults who have physical impairments or
functional limitations.
- Functional health is an
important benefit of physical activity for older adults. Physical activity
contributes to the ease of doing everyday activities, such as gardening,
walking or cleaning the house.
- Strength training is extremely
important. Strength training is important for all adults, but especially so for
older adults, as it prevents loss of muscle mass and bone, and is beneficial
for functional health.
- If you can exceed the minimum
recommendations, do it! The minimum recommendations are just that: the minimum
needed to maintain health and see fitness benefits. If you can exceed the
minimum, you can improve your personal fitness, improve management of an
existing disease or condition, and reduce your risk for health conditions and
mortality.
- Flexibility is also important.
Each day you perform aerobic or strength-training activities, take an extra 10
minutes to stretch the major muscle and tendon groups, with 10-30 seconds for
each stretch. Repeat each stretch three to four times. Flexibility training
will promote the ease of performing everyday activities.
