Staying Active and Healthy in Prime Time

Post date: Aug 31, 2015 5:12:48 PM

Living a healthy, active lifestyle well into your 80's and 90's is a very real possibility, even in today's sedentary state. We have so much modern technology to make life easier, and it's all great... but some of it helps us a bit too much... and we can become a teeny bit lazy as a result. We have escalators instead of stairs, for example, and I get a kick out of seeing people glide on up next to a staircase... and walk into a health club at the top. The height of irony, maybe? tee hee...

As we age, it becomes more and more important to remain active. Our muscles like to relax as we grow older, and when they do, they lose strength. Our bones require a certain amount of impact to stimulate new bone growth - even gentle walking can result in new bone tissue formation, which is critical for women after menopause. Joints require movement to keep lubricated and mobile - when we're active, the membranes in the joints are stimulated to produce synovial fluid - no movement means we can dry up! It's similar to a car - if there's no oil, it's going to make lots of funny noises as the parts grind against each other and will eventually seize up. There are some simple things you can do to prevent loss of mobility and range of motion as you age. My Mom is a great example. She's in her early 70's now, but other than her gray hair, most would guess her to be 10 years younger simply due to how fit and active she is. One of the things she does every single day is crochet while she watches TV, but rather than sitting there for long periods, she gets up during the commercials and goes to putter in the kitchen. Adding brief periods of activity like this can keep your joints mobile. She's not getting up and doing jumping jacks... she's just adding simple, every day activity to break up periods of sitting. Prolonged sitting is now considered the new smoking from a health perspective.