Promoting Healthy Weight for Seniors with Recreational Activities

It’s never too late to enjoy life a little! Being that this week is National Healthy Weight Week, let’s join up the topic of healthy weight with having fun. Promoting healthy weight for seniors is not a matter to be taken lightly.

 

Weight as a Predictor of Health in Seniors

Many studies have been carried out on the topic of weight and how it affects health.

One study looked at the health implications of seniors increasing or decreasing in weight.

A second study examined the consequences of obesity.

A third study posited that seniors being underweight, is just as unsafe.

 

All those studies make my head spin. Let’s leave that to the academics and focus on the practical side of things.

Pull out your sneakers. Oil your wheelchairs if you are chair-bound. Get your sunscreen ready!

Let’s get out there and get some fresh air!

 

Move, to Get the Weight Down!

Here are some ideas for classes for promoting healthy weight for seniors. You can join classes in a rehab center or a senior recreation center. Alternatively, you can put on some good music and do these at home too! And pull a friend into the project for moral support!

 

 

 

For the Wheelchair-bound

Dance classes for the chair bound

Exercises that you can do while seated

Aim to address : Strength, address, flexibility and endurance through with ‘chairobics’.

Let’s thank Daily Caring for reminding us that for some, exercising using a walker for support is an option.

Yoga is another gentle and effective system for all-over health. According to some, Yoga is good for weight loss too.

 

For Seniors Who Like the Outdoors

Wrap up warm in the winter, and rub in the sunscreen on all sunny days (even when it’s cold). Begin to stroll outdoors. Aim for 20 minutes at a go, if you can manage. Walking every day will be likely to help with weight and circulation issues.

If you can handle a bit of jogging on the spot, choose an area with trees. Then you’ll also breathe in good oxygenated air. Keep it gentle, keep a phone with you and take breaks if you feel the need. Usually, a person needs to build it up. You start from doing very little at a time, to doing exercise that really has an effect on your weight.

 

And for Seniors Who Prefer the Indoors

Tai Chi for seniors seems to be taking the senior world by storm. It is important to get a good teacher. Teachers at the top end of the range should be certified .

Clap and click to lively music. Stretch your fingers, your wrists and then your arms in time with the beat. It is best and most advisable to join an aerobics or Pilates exercise class with a certified teacher. It is wise to get your doctor’s approval before beginning to exercise.

 

And for the Ever-Young Water Babies

Join a swimming class  for a safe form of exercising. No falls, and a total body workout, including cardio vascular. If you never swam before read a helpful guide  for first-time senior swimmers. If you are a returning swimmer, get your doctors approval, then, relocate your swimming gear.

 

Hydrotherapy is another effective option. Medicare might cover the cost of hydrotherapy or aquatic therapy. Hydrotherapy is also great for easing arthritis in seniors.

 

You see that there are many different options for promoting healthy weight for seniors.

Let’s take a peek at why a person should put exercise and weight loss into their lives.

 

Gifts Gained Through Exercise

Exercise is not only fun. It helps a senior feel better too.

Some of the great gains of exercise for all people, at any age are as follows:

• A person can look good, and, feel better.
• Reduce risks for chronic illness.
• Exercise for brain power, think better and think more.
• ‘Voom!’ your immune system and drive health improvements.
• Exercise can fill empty time, so, you’ll never be bored again.

 

In Conclusion: It’s not the End, it is the Beginning

We have looked at many different options for exercise and recreation that can help with maintaining a healthy weight. Seniors do have to stay within a certain bracket of weight. Muscle mass is something you want to keep. And fatty mass is something that that you want to shed. Promoting healthy weight for seniors needs to be done together with professional guidance. Your doctor, nutrition or dietician can help you understand if you need to gain weight or loose it. They can also point you in the right direction as to which activities you should favor.

As a rule, a person should choose activities that they enjoy. Then they will successful with the activities for the long term. Promoting healthy weight for seniors for longer is the idea behind this week’s National Healthy Weight Week. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Original Image by Anemone123 from Pixabay