It’s Up to You How You Grow Old

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It’s Up to You How You Grow Old

During a lecture at an international fitness convention, physical therapist Patricia Galen explained what happens when senior citizens don’t exercise. She called it the downward spiral.

It begins when people avoid doing what is hard for them. For example, walking makes them tired. So they avoid situations wherein they have to walk for relatively long periods. They start to avoid going shopping or going to parks. They spend more time sitting down.

The more they don’t use their legs, the weaker and stiffer the muscles become. The more unsteady and unbalanced they become, the more fearful they are of walking. Soon, most of their day is spent seated or lying down.

One day, while just walking from their bed to the bathroom, they lose their balance and fall. The bones of old people do not heal well so this situation can lead to immobility, which brings on all kinds of complications like depression, poor circulation, and pneumonia. Complications can mean a premature death

Galen noted that Asians have a lot of respect for the older members of their family. Unfortunately, that love and concern can translate into mistakenly trying to make the older person more comfortable by accommodating their physical weakness instead of training them to become stronger.

For example, if lolo or lola cannot reach down to put on their socks or shoes, what do the family members do? Put the socks and shoes on for them or make them wear slippers.

Galen says the older person should be given exercises to make them flexible enough to reach their feet. If you continuously change the environment or lifestyle to adapt to the weakness, they will just get weaker. The modern approach in caring for the elderly, Galen says, is to train them to become strong and flexible enough to be able to do activities of daily living with ease.

Attitude
Your attitude toward aging and exercise has a lot to do with whether you will age gracefully or you will become a premature invalid. Examples of the wrong attitude are “There is nothing I can do about it. I am just getting older”, “Everyone gets weak when they get older”, “I cannot exercise because I am old” and “Exercise is only for the young”.

Examples of the right attitude are “I am only as old as I feel”, “If I use it, I won’t lose it”, “The older I am, the more I need to exercise”. The best attitude I ever heard from an old person was “I will only stop exercising when I am dead”.

Different kinds of Aging Your choice
Much of what we consider a natural and inevitable part of aging (loss of strength, stamina, energy) is actually due to a lack of physical activity. Of course, even if you exercise, you will still age. But you will age the right way.

Take a good look at the different types of aging as related to fitness (from Idea Personal Training Magazine). Which of these categories will be your future? The choice is yours.

• Totally disabled – Cannot stand or walk. Has to rely on professional staff or family for all activities of daily living.

• Physically dependent – Often chair- or wheelchair-bound or confined to the bed. Needs help for some or most activities of daily living. Home or institution bound.

• Physically frail – Performs activities that are only very slightly physically demanding. Spends most of the day sitting. Can perform most but not all activities of daily living. May be home bound.

• Physically independent – Fairly active. Does light physical work or hobbies like gardening, walking, and golf. Can perform all activities of daily living without any help. Usually without chronic disease but has low fitness and health reserves. A brief injury or illness can mean a fall into the “physically frail” category.

• Physically fit – Exercises at least twice a week. Does moderate to high intensity activity like tennis and ballroom dancing. Can do most forms of endurance exercise, sports, and hobbies. At low risk for falling into the “physically frail” category.

• Physically elite – Exercises on an almost daily basis. Joins sports competitions (Senior Olympics, marathons, etc). Does vigorous activities like squash and high-intensity exercise classes. Does high-risk and power activities like hang gliding and heavy weight lifting. Virtually no risk of falling into the “physically frail” category. 

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