Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.
As well as teaching my classes, I also take my members on regular weekly walks at various levels of difficulty. Recently, a group of us completed a very pleasant walk in the sunshine which certainly helped to put a spring in our step and lift the spirits. Just what we needed!
The relentless rain throughout February had dampened our spirits somewhat, as it caused quite a few very wet walks. In fact, this February was one of the wettest since records began, but I am proud to say that never once did we not meet up to walk, irrespective of whatever the weather was throwing at us - because we have all invested in excellent 100% waterproof jackets!
Another fact that I am particularly proud of is that there is a considerable number of octogenarians in my walking groups and I know for a fact that they are out there in all weathers because they want to stay fit and active for as long as possible! Also, in classes those 80+year-olds do a full 20-minute aerobic workout and get up and down from the floor like spring chickens to do strength work! They are all in great condition for their age.
This brings me to a very important point about life in general – the coexistence of our life-span with our health-span.
Our life-span is simply the number of years we live, but our health-span is about the condition of our body, right up until we die. If we were to ask almost anybody what they hope for in their later years, they may all be pretty optimistic about it because, at the time when we ask them, they may be quite fit and able. However, sadly, many of the general population are not and do little, if anything, to ensure they achieve their best health-span, in fact they may be already relying on medication to do the job for them!
Exercise is fundamental to our health-span
More than any other action we can take to prolong our life exercise is the key. Of course, a healthy diet is important too, but exercise has the greatest power to determine how we will live in our final years. It delays the onset of chronic disease, disability, immobility and frailty.
Study after study has found that regular exercisers live as much as a decade longer than non-exercisers and the more exercise and activity we do, the greater the benefit will be!
So how much is enough?
The good news is that there is plenty of evidence that even a small amount of exercise can lengthen our life, but if we want our physical ability to be maximised, and avoid real frailty, then it may be that we need to do more than we are currently doing. And if the evidence is so compelling, why is it that more than half the population of older adults do no exercise at all? I find it astonishing. Almost two-thirds of people over 50 years of age fail to meet the recommended guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate exercise, (that’s a 30 minute walk on five days a week), or 75 minutes of more intense activity, every week.
The 28-Day Immunity Plan puts exercise at the heart of the Programme, and every week, through this Newsletter, we encourage every reader to do a 30 minute daily walk. If you do, that’s 210 minutes per week! We also suggest that you also do at least 3 sessions of strength and/or stretch of around 15 -20 minutes per session and this adds another 45 - 60 minutes to your weekly total. And, maybe, combined with ideally some 'exercise snacks', including balance exercises while you wait for the kettle to boil, you could add another 10 minutes per week.
That brings you to a total of 265 - 280 minutes per week. Personally, I believe this to be the optimum an older person needs to be doing to get the very best out of life. If you can achieve this you will be reducing your likelihood of becoming ill, or taking a nasty fall that can take you off your feet for a very long time!
Look after our heart
There are a number of ways in which exercise benefits the heart. Exercising in a way that helps us to breathe more deeply improves our blood circulation, reduces the risk of blood clotting in our arteries and keeps our heart muscles toned and strong.
As the heart becomes stronger, our heart rate lowers because fewer beats are needed to pump the same amount of blood around our body. All of this reduces pressure on the heart, lowering blood pressure. As you can see, there are plenty of good reasons to go up that hill on your walks!
Focusing on our muscles
Regular walking and getting out of breath on a daily basis is really important to our heart and helps us to maintain our ‘aerobic fitness’, but doing strength work is also vital. For many years now, particularly since entering my seventh decade, I have urged older people to do plenty of strength exercises by using a good level of resistance with either weights or a resistance toning band.
This is a key area where life-span and health-span overlap. Having stronger muscles in the body increases our life-span because it preserves health-span. It protects us from all kinds of trouble. For example, it seriously reduces our risk of falling and it aids our recovery from any surgery we may need. A recent study of older British adults found that those with a low muscle mass (weaker muscles) were six times likelier to report having a low quality of life than those who had maintained more muscle mass. That is so significant it is well worth noting.
We may know much of this already but in my experience, taking a fresh look at the benefits of regular exercise has the power to motivate us to maintain our activity or maybe do more, or it simply confirms why we already put all that effort into doing it!
Emotional health
Finally, the importance of our emotional health cannot be underestimated. It is every bit a component of our health-span as all the others. Through this Newsletter we constantly encourage you to ensure you are living a happy life – it is fundamental to how well we age. Finding what we most enjoy doing both physically and mentally, and being around the people whose company we enjoy the most, pretty much covers it. Also, having a real sense of purpose every single day, which gives us a good reason to get up in the morning, is life-saving. Perhaps starting the day with that invigorating early morning walk will set you on the right path for a fulfilling day. It may be all you need to lift your mindset.
My message to you is to develop a lifestyle aimed at improving your health-span, and then your life-span benefits will automatically follow!
