Exercise, as we all know, along with eating your five a day, is a very important variable when maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, the older we get, the harder maintaining a healthy lifestyle becomes.
However, it’s time we start prioritising our fitness as much as possible, as it has been proven to increase overall happiness and quality of life!
Here at Crouched Friars care home in Colchester, we find that keeping the elderly active not only improves their physical fitness but also keeps their minds active.
This is why we prioritise providing a healthy lifestyle when living in our residential care home – staying active is so important to our residents.
For more information on what a healthy lifestyle looks like for the elderly, you can visit the healthy ageing and caring section on the NHS website.
We have laid out our top benefits of exercise for the elderly and why we prioritise exercise at Crouched Friars Care Home.
Strength Improvement
The elderly require more strength as they grow older to maintain their balance and mobility, as we know.
With age also comes the risk of acute problems such as falls, injuries and degenerative illnesses which can be as a result of reduced muscle mass.
Studies have shown how physical exercise and building overall strength can counteract age related impairments, and the more the elderly use certain muscles, the stronger they will become. This is why at Crouched Friars, we set up a range of activities for our residents to get their bodies moving, including boxercise, bowls and chair yoga.
Lifts the mood
There is a strong link between mental and physical health, and this is no different for the elderly.
According to the NHS “5 steps to mental wellbeing”, increased physical activity supports our overall wellbeing.
At Crouched Friars, we want our residents to feel content in themselves, function well individually and in groups, feel connected to others around them, feel purposeful and feel valued.
Researchers have found that low-intensity exercise, for approximately 30–35 minutes, 3–5 days a week is best at increasing positive moods and reducing mental health concerns.
Here, we value residents’ physical health as much as their mental health because we understand the strong link between them.
Improves cognitive function
Our cognitive abilities control how we think, learn and remember information in our everyday lives, how we move, our emotions and our tactile functions.
Aerobic exercise has been found to be very important for improving both vascular and brain function, and with dementia becoming one of the most common health problems amongst the elderly in the UK, finding ways to reduce impairment in cognitive abilities has never been as important.
When we say physical exercise, we don’t mean training for the London Marathon! These can be as simple as a light stroll around the home, chair yoga, band exercises or specialist exercise classes.
All of our residents here at Crouched Friars like to take part in a range of cognitive activities, such as throw and catch, puzzles, chair yoga and garden walks.
Maintains cardiovascular health
The more the elderly do to stay active, the lower their risk of having a heart attack or a stroke.
As the heart changes with age, the more chances over 65s have of suffering from a heart attack. Some forms of exercise for the elderly, even if it’s just a brisk walk everyday, has been linked to lower blood pressure, slower heart rate and improved oxygen efficiency. Exercise can also help a person lose excess weight which can be better for the heart.
At Crouched Friars, our residents’ mental and physical wellbeing is of the utmost importance. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here, we’re able to support you and offer you as much information as possible as to how we can help you and your relatives.
Visit our website https://www.crouchedfriars.co.uk/ or call us on 01359 230773