How Does Staying Active Benefit Your Senior?
Increasing physical activity can have some really powerful benefits for your senior, but that doesn’t mean she’s on board with the idea right out of the gate. Try talking with her about some of these possible results and see if that helps to change her mind.
She Can Keep Her Brain Healthy
Elderly Care Fairfax, VA: Staying Physically Active
When your elderly family member is more physically active, that can help her brain to stay as healthy as possible. There are a lot of reasons for this, and some of them involve blood flow and oxygen getting to the brain more readily. Other reasons involve the chemicals that the brain is triggered to release because of exercise, like endorphins.
She Can Keep Her Immune System Working
Exercise helps your senior’s entire body to stay healthier, and it strengthens her immune system. This can be crucial because older adults are at a greater risk of developing a wide range of health issues. Being sedentary can make that risk even higher, regardless of how healthy your senior is.
She Can Maintain a Healthy Weight
Just a little bit of physical activity, done consistently, can help your elderly family member to maintain a healthy weight. Exercise alone isn’t the only factor, of course, but it definitely helps. When your elderly family member is doing physical activities that she enjoys she is much more likely to stick with them.
She Might Sleep Better
Sleep is vital for good health. Many aging adults have trouble sleeping for one reason or another and some of those reasons can be traced back to being too sedentary. When your elderly family member does exercise regularly, her entire body burns off excess energy and her energy levels overall improve, which can lead to better sleep.
She Can Maintain Muscle Mass
Losing muscle tone is a huge problem for aging family members. Your senior becomes more likely to fall and can have other health issues, too. When she’s exercising regularly, though, she’s able to maintain muscle mass more effectively. That helps with energy levels, appetite, and can help her to maintain balance and flexibility, too.
Making big changes to your senior’s routine can be hard for her to do. And adding an exercise routine, even one that her doctor supports, can be tough to stick with if it means big changes. Having elderly care providers there with her can be a huge help in creating new routines that support greater physical activity. Plus they offer companionship, and that’s helpful, too.