We must accept the fact that the body of a 50 or 60-year-old person is different from the body of a 20-year-old. As you get older, you can no longer do some of the things you used to do when you were younger. If you want to maintain your independence in old age, not depend on others and live a quality life, you should do sports suitable for elderly. Exercise keeps the elderly healthy, increases the body’s energy levels, keeps the weight in a healthy range, and even delays the onset of some of the symptoms associated with aging.
Whether you are looking for fitness or want to gain energy and improve your health, there are many exercises such as grip strength exercises for elderly that you can do after the age of 50. Join us in this article from humanhealthmag to learn about the best sports for middle-aged and elderly people.
Benefits And Side Effects Of Exercise for the Elderly
In general, sports suitable for elderly have many benefits for them. Many people mistakenly think that exercise is only suitable for teenagers and young adults and that older people should rest. But this is a misconception and exercise at any age can have many benefits. Old age comes with many complications, but with a proper nutrition and exercise routine, you can enjoy this period of life well.
So, if you are elderly or have an elderly person near you, be sure to read this article to the end. In this article, we are trying to review the most suitable sports for this age group in addition to reminding the benefits of exercise for the elderly, so stay with us.
The Best Sports Suitable for Elderly
All people, young and old, need different types of exercise. Aerobic exercise or cardio raises the heart rate, makes you breathe a little harder, and ultimately leads to improved endurance and increased calorie burning. Strength training strengthens muscles and flexibility training increases the body’s range of motion and prevents injuries. After the age of 50, balance exercises become very important. Because doing them will prevent you from falling down. sports suitable for elderly must have certain characteristics. In the following, we introduce some suitable sports for the elderly.
- Walking: Walking is one of the easiest and most effective activities you can do. Walking increases body endurance, strengthens muscles and prevents bone diseases such as osteoporosis. Walking does not require any special facilities or costs. You can hike alone or do it with your friends and family members.
- Dancing: Dancing increases stamina, strengthens muscles, improves balance, and increases calorie burn due to the excitement. Additionally, research has shown that dancing and learning new moves are good for the brain.
- Cycling: Cycling is one of the best sports you can do. Because when you ride a bike, your legs don’t have to support your weight. Cycling circulates the blood throughout the body, strengthens the muscles in the front and back of the legs, and increases the strength of the bones.
- Golf: Most of the benefits of this sport come from walking while playing it. Golf strengthens body muscles and reduces stress.
- Strength training: One of the main reasons why you face the problem of lack of energy in old age is the loss of muscles. When you lift weights, use exercise machines and resistance bands or do bodyweight exercises, you improve your strength, muscle mass and flexibility.
- Swimming: You can exercise longer in water than on land. Exercising in water does not put a lot of pressure on the joints and does not cause them to be injured. Also, exercising in water prevents sweating and excessive increase in body temperature.
- Yoga: Yoga strengthens the muscles as well as the tendons and ligaments that hold the bones together. Conscious breathing during yoga turns it into a form of meditation. Yoga can help lower your heart rate and blood pressure and relieve anxiety and depression.
- Tai Chi: Tai Chi, also known as moving meditation, is not only good for maintaining balance, but also improves heart and bone health and reduces pain and stiffness from arthritis.
How Much Should We Exercise After the Age Of 50?
If you are in good health, you should do at least 150 minutes of sports suitable for elderly such as moderate intensity aerobic activity during the week. It is better to do this amount of exercise for at least three days and exercise for at least 10 minutes each time. In addition, you should do resistance exercise at least twice a week and work on the muscles of your legs, back, abs, chest, shoulders and arms. In general, the more you exercise, the better for your health.
Start exercising slowly, especially if you’ve previously led a sedentary lifestyle and are new to incorporating physical activity into your daily routine, or if you want to start a new activity that your body isn’t used to. In the first days, exercise for 10 minutes and gradually increase its duration, intensity and frequency.
Important Advice for Doing Sports Suitable for Elderly
It is true that we have talked about the benefits of sports for the elderly from the beginning of the article, but you should pay attention to the fact that doing sports suitable for elderly has its own rules and regulations, and you cannot write a program for this group like other people. A suitable exercise program for the elderly should take into account all aspects of a person’s life and characteristics, for example, the history of previous illnesses or injuries should be fully investigated.
If an elderly person has heart problems or high blood pressure, sports that increase the heart rate should not be recommended. As you can see, exercise in the elderly is like a double-edged sword, if it is done in the right amount and with the right rules, it can have many benefits, but otherwise, it will cause serious and irreparable damage to the elderly.
What Are the Features Of Sports Suitable for Elderly?
The design of exercise program and sports suitable for elderly has a higher sensitivity. Therefore, as the first thing, try to use the knowledge of an expert trainer in this field. Try to do the exercises with great precision because even a small mistake in exercise can damage your body in the long run. To make sure that you are doing the exercises correctly, try to perform the movements in the gym under the supervision of the trainer so that if there is a problem, the trainer will correct it.
In addition, an exercise program for the elderly should pay attention to all the important and effective issues. Since the elderly may be involved with various diseases and injuries, it is very important to pay attention to them. If you are under the supervision of a doctor, try to inform the doctor about your exercise program and start the program after getting approval from the doctor. A sports program for the elderly should improve the quality of life of the elderly, and if it does not have this effect after a while, changes should be made in the program or the lifestyle of the person.
The last and important thing is that, in addition to paying attention to the physical benefits, a proper exercise program should also improve the mood of the person, for example, doing group exercises for the elderly can have very favorable effects on improving the mood of the person.
Concluding Remarks
In this article, we talked about sports suitable for elderly. In general, exercise for the elderly helps to maintain the health of their body, brain and mind. The type of exercise you can do over 50 depends on your health and how long you’ve been exercising consistently, not your chronological age.
For example, if you have been doing a certain sport for 10 years and you are comfortable with it, you can continue it. But if you’ve been exercising for a year, it’s better to focus on the basics and not push your body too much. If you are suffering from a certain disease, consult your doctor before starting exercise or increasing its intensity and duration.
FAQs
Why Is Exercise Important for the Elderly?
As you get older, you lose some of your muscle mass. Here, exercise can come to your aid and help rebuild and maintain your body muscles. At rest, muscles burn more calories than fat tissue. Therefore, the loss of muscle mass reduces the body’s metabolism and prepares the ground for obesity. Physical activity is effective in preventing and treating serious diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis and osteoporosis.
Does Getting Old Prevent You From Exercising?
Getting older should not only prevent you from exercising, but should be a factor to encourage more physical activity. We all have heard a lot about the complications of aging and we know that having a healthy lifestyle can prevent these complications to a good extent, on the other hand, one of the main foundations of a healthy lifestyle is regular physical activity. So we conclude that with increasing age, we should do more sports exercises and pay more attention to it than before.