Lack of Exercise might endanger your health

Failing to incorporate a minimum of 25 minutes a day of physical activity into your schedule might endanger your health.

We are not a nation of doers anymore unless we do by sitting. Today we are a nation of sitters. Unfortunately, inactivity tends to become more of a problem as we age. So as we age it is our best interest to know about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, If we know and understand the dangers we will begin to undertake and perhaps promote more activity and gain better health.

As a senior, you may hear a lot about the benefits of exercise, especially for older Americans. The benefits range from keeping our joints active to improving our mood, there are lots of reasons for getting up and moving around each day.

For my cohort group, however, getting up and becoming active can sometimes be a challenge. Some of us have age-related symptoms and chronic health conditions that make it difficult to enjoy physical activity. Everyone can be prone to too much sitting, but seniors are particularly vulnerable to what’s been dubbed “the sitting disease.” The sitting disease can lead to a whole host of medical problems, researchers say.

Johns Hopkins Medicine has highlighted some trends of sedentary behaviour as they relate to age and potential side effects, When individuals live a primarily sedentary lifestyle, they may be putting themselves at a higher risk of certain conditions and diseases. Such risks include high blood pressure, anxiety and some types of cancer. Heart disease is less common among people who were active, even considering factors such as diet, alcohol consumption and smoking.

‘Sitting is the new smoking’. That’s the new mantra among many health care professionals today. Part of the reason for that is a 2014 study that found the sedentary lifestyle is actually worse for some people than smoking. Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia studied 32,000 women over 20 years.

They found that physical inactivity did far more damage to the heart than smoking. Similar findings connecting heart disease to being sedentary have been replicated in other studies. Other findings include the following:

·       When the body doesn’t get enough physical activity, it begins to lose lean muscle tissue. That leads to increased difficulty performing the activities of daily living (ADL).

·       Dressing and bathing are just a few examples of ADLs that become more challenging. And for seniors who have arthritis, a sedentary lifestyle is associated with increased pain and swelling of damaged joints.

·       Seniors are already at higher risk of experiencing bone loss. Add living a sedentary lifestyle to the mix and it is a recipe for poor bone health. Staying active –especially with activities that promote strength --- helps encourage bone growth.

·       We’ve all felt the mood-lifting effects of physical activity. That doesn’t change as we age. For seniors who may be prone to depression, it’s even more important to stay active.