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Researchers took more than 1,600 sedentary people between 70 and 89 years old who had some functional limitations, but who could walk about a quarter of a mile in 15 minutes or less, unassisted by another person or a walker. (Canes were OK.)
Quote:
Cardinal says older adults need to realize that exercise can greatly improve their quality of life by maximizing function as long as possible. But he says that many believe that older age is for relaxing and that physical activity is somehow dangerous or unnatural. That belief "is pervasive among older adults," he says, even though for many of them, meeting the minimum requirements "is doable."
Thank you, Biscuitmom. I don't have time to read the article right this minute, but your quotes give the basics of it. Exactly those conclusions have been my understanding for a number of years, based on other reading I have done and based on my own personal experience. For example, I was in better shape in my 60's than I was in my 50's because of regular exercise (aerobic, yoga, and weights). I have let myself go somewhat the last two or three years, but I believe that my somewhat regular exterior painting - lugging around ladders and climbing up and down them - is what enables me to do that very thing. If I were to stop doing that for, say, two years, I don't think I would be able to resume that safely.
My experience with seniors in that age cohort is that they don't believe any kind of exercise will help. They have, in essence, given up.
I've watched occupational therapists trying to get wheelchair-bound pts to use Therabands. I marvel at their patience because certainly their clients aren't trying.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Walking is great for many reasons.
My 93 yr old FIL did very well traversing 4 airports last week (walking very quickly with tight connections).
A 96 yr old friend that croaked last yr had logged over 5000 trips around the lake in town (6 miles / lap). Often we would go twice a day when the weather was nice and he was restless. He had been 28 yrs without his dear spouse and really liked to keep GOING!
Egads. That is the equivalent of almost 4 years of doing nothing but walking 40 hours/week.
He could have died years younger and would have avoided the hard work involved. Or he could have used some of that work, time and energy to accomplish something. Oh, well, too late now.
I am reaching out for age 79, and I have a history of major spine problems (I have two 29 cm bars screwed into my lower dorsal spine down to the pelvis, and a smaller plate in the cervical spine) and seriously encroaching arthritis. To walk any distance and to walk safely I must depend on elbow canes.
And, yes, yes, yes!....to that article.
After I began a program of walking thirty to forty-five minutes early every other day my condition became very much improved and the pain decreased, and psychological benefits of being out-of-doors in the Real World (be it a lovely spring day, or a wind-whipped autumn one) and not in the slice-and-dice world we manufacture in our heads is an unquantifiable benefit.
I live alone and had thought of myself as active and independent person; but when measured against these days of being physically active in the midst of seriously disabling influences there is no comparison. Now I am really more often actively aware of how positive it feels to be walking, looking, etc.
My default daily exercise if I'm not doing something else is to walk 10,000 steps. Any smartphone has a built-in pedometer.
Per the James Brown song....
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