Promoting Physical Activity in Your Senior Loved Ones
Physical activity is great for everyone including senior individuals. Encouraging your senior loved ones to be physically active will help them enjoy a variety of benefits. Some of them include the following:
It can help maintain their optimal independence in their living environments.
It can help minimize the likelihood of falls, thereby, preventing accident and injuries associated with falling.
It can help lower blood pressure level, which is good for those with hypertension.
It can help make them feel good about their body.
With these numerous benefits, you should start thinking of ways on how you can get your loved ones up to their feet and move. Here are things to take note of when doing so.
Consult the doctor.
Your aging loved ones’ physician is a professional who knows their medical condition comprehensively. The doctor is the best person you need to talk to before engaging your family members into any kind of exercise.
Older adults who receive dementia care, personal care or other forms of assistance have different fitness levels and exercise needs. It is necessary for their fitness levels and exercise needs to be evaluated thoroughly so the doctor can recommend the best exercises that are safe and suitable for their situations. List down these recommendations and incorporate them into a physical fitness routine for your loved ones.
Talk to your aging family members about the need for physical activity.
Let them know the benefits that they can get out of exercising and moving. It will be best to include them in the planning phase of creating a physical fitness routine.
Choose exercises carefully.
Consider the activities recommended by the physician. If you or your loved ones wish to add other activities, see to it that these are safe and doable. As much as possible, exercises should cover muscle strengthening, flexibility, and aerobic activities, among others. Older adults may benefit from the following:
light jogging
walking
yoga
dancing
stretching
If they are residing in an assisted living group home in Montgomery County, Maryland, try to check with the director as to which activities your seniors can take part in and enjoy.
Remind them to start slowly.
Senior individuals should start slowly and then gradually increase the intensity of their exercises. Doing so helps the bodies get used to the exertion of force and movements. Jumping instantly to intense workouts only increases the chances of getting injured.
Have them listen to their bodies.
Remind them to warm up and cool down before and after exercise, respectively. If they do not feel good during the exercise, let them stop and take a break.