The Come Alive Project

Tag: senior fitness

  • Energy bite 305 – Random Thoughts

    Seniors today are aging better and are more vibrant and aware than Seniors of previous generations. Thanks to modern medicine, you are living longer and better lives than before. Many of you have stayed active longer and are in better physical condition than those seniors of earlier generations. 60 is the new 50. Some say 70 is the new 50. And some feel and act like they are 80 when they are only turning 50.

    I know there are a lot of Seniors like you, who want to focus their lives in a healthy direction and get away from the stagnation and boredom that often pops up after the initial excitement of retirement. You are entering a new stage in life where health, fitness and personal energy becomes a priority. You begin to recognize that health and fitness leads to a better and longer senior life.

    As Seniors, you and I face a lot of challenges — some real and some perceived as real. These challenges include lack of mobility, weakening bodies, increased incidents of illness, falling, increasing isolation, boredom and depression, all leading to that lack of independent living that we fear most of all.

    Of course, you can prevent the premature aging that saps the energy from our lives. I’ve been promoting physical movement (exercise), intelligent eating, deep breathing and a Positive Attitude toward life, in the 304 previous “Energy Bite” blog articles over the last decade.

    When I started the Come Alive Project nearly a decade ago, I intended it to be an awareness campaign for active Seniors about how to discover the Fountain of Youth within each of us through Health, Fitness and Personal Energy. I continue to do talks and workshops on the subject and intend to continue both the blog and the workshops for as long as I am physically able. Heck, it’s fun! Plus, I have enjoyed the many positive comments I have received over the years.

    Oh, and by the way, I practice what I preach. That’s why at age 79, coming up on 80 in five months, I feel like “80 going on 45”. I feel better now than at almost any time in my adult life because of the change in lifestyle I made ten years ago. I added physical movement, intelligent eating and better habits back into my life. I am still following the message that I created The Come Alive Project to spread.

    I hope you are doing the same. Thank you for reading. 

  • Energy Bite 289 – Keeping Your Body Young, Part 1

    This is the first in a short series about body systems, changes to those systems because of aging, and the importance of Physical Movement to maintain the full use of these systems. I’ll start this week with the Musculo-skeletal System and later in the series, I’ll cover the Cardiovascular System, the Respiratory System, and possibly the nervous system.

    The intent of this series is to keep it very simple, and stay away from technical or medical details.

    Your Muscles

    Muscles Atrophy (lose size and strength) as you get older. You begin to have difficulty lifting, carrying and moving things. In sedentary people, this muscle loss can begin as early as your twenties. Active adults can maintain muscle size until around age 60, depending on the level of activity. Participants in Masters Level Sports and those who actively exercise against some resistance, can keep muscle size and strength much longer.

    Your Bones

    Bones become brittle and easy to break. Bone mass declines with age. Falls are a high risk event as we get older. Most Emergency Room admissions for Seniors are a result of Falls, not heart attacks or stroke.

    The reasons for bone mass decline are inactivity, changes in hormone levels, and improper eating habits resulting in nutritional deficiencies. Osteoporosis is a chronic disease which results in weak, low density bone structures. Very severe osteoporosis, particularly among the very old, can result in the weight of a person’s own body, actually crushing a bone if put under stress, something borne out by many Emergency Room Doctors.

    I have a series of floor movements that I do daily to protect my aging hips. I call them “hip-savers” Maybe I’ll put them online one day. They seem to work. I had a bad fall on the ice this Winter and landed right on my hip. I had a huge bruise but no break.

    Your Joints

    Joints, too are affected by aging. As you get older, your joint structures can weaken and can get small tears and also calcify. This can result in a shortened range of motion of the joints as well as pain. A weakening of the cartilage around the joints can also occur as a result of aging. All this results in a lack of stability in the joints. Unstable and weakened knee, hip and shoulder joints are common as we get older. Knee and hip replacement surgery seems to be rampant.

    The Remedy

    Physical Activity is the key to maintaining a healthy Musculo-skeletal system. The more one moves, particularly against resistance, the easier it is to hold on to muscle and bone strength and body flexibility.

    There has been a lot of research on the effects of weight bearing exercise on bone density over the past decade, as well as the confirmation of age related muscle mass maintenance and gain through resistance exercises. Research has demonstrated that even older adults with a sedentary past can build muscle strength and bone density through physical activity.

    Osteoarthritis is often a component of hip and knee joint problems and can often be treated by water exercise, using the low impact resistance of the water to build strength and mobility.

    I have tried to keep technical and medical aspects out of the above, while still making the basics understandable. I hope it’s not too simplistic.

    Next week you’ll get an overview of the Cardiovascular system and the benefits of physical activity on your heart and blood vessels.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 274 – Bitter Cold Weather and Seniors

    We are about to experience some major cold weather here in parts of the United States. In fact, tomorrow night, here in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, the temperature will plunge to 6 degrees (F). We are expecting some minor snow tonight and then again on Friday. The Chicago area is expected to be as cold as the Arctic Circle. Wind chill as low as -65 degrees (F) is forecast for Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin this week. Ah, the Polar Vortex in action.

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