The advice in this article is general advice only. We would encourage you to consult your GP or health professional for advice and information that is specific to you.
If you’ve recently lost some mobility due to a recent injury or you’re simply looking for a way to stay active, we always recommend participating in daily exercises to keep yourself fit and healthy.
Whilst getting older might slow you down a little bit, we certainly see it as an opportunity to keep yourself moving well into your retirement years.
And we believe that you don’t have to commit hours upon hours of your day to exercising.
In fact, we’d recommend spending 30 minutes as that is more than enough time to keep your body and mind energised.
Let’s look into some of the ways you can stay active regardless if you are living independently or living in an aged care facility.
Walking
There’s nothing better than a good walk around your local area in an effort to keep yourself active.
A 10-minute walk around your aged care facility or a 30-minute walk around your local area will give you all the fresh air that you need to get those endorphins flowing.
Why not take it a step further, invite some of your friends and turn it into a weekly social event?
Stretching
While it’s very exciting to get out and about on a weekly, or daily, basis to exercise, we really must stress the importance of exercise.
We’d recommend stretching every day even on the days that you’re not exercising. This will ensure your joints stay flexible whilst improving your mobility, and reducing any risk of straining or injuring muscles.
The following stretching exercises will loosen those joints up so you can enjoy your walk more:
- Upper back stretch – stand up straight, link your hands behind your back and pull your arms straight and backward until you can feel a small stretch
- Neck stretch – you can loosen your neck by leaning your neck to the right side and using your right hand to pull your head gently to the side until you can feel it stretch slightly.
- Hip stretch – you can stretch your hips by sitting in a chair with your legs positioned at 90 degrees. Place your right ankle on top of your left knee and relax your right leg, and weigh down until you feel it stretch slightly.
Strengthening
To maintain and increase muscle, whilst also improving coordination & balance, we would recommend trying some strength training.
Loss of muscle mass is common in elderly people, so it’s important to increase this to reduce the chances of any potential falls and injuries.
Some exercises that we would recommend are step-ups, leg lifts, and chair squats. The great thing about all of these exercises is that they don’t require the use of any light weights.
Regardless of whether you are living independently or in an aged care facility such as a retirement home, we would encourage you to be active as much as you can.
It’ll keep you healthy & happy, as well as reduce the risk of any falls or injuries, as well as improve your mental health.