Aging healthfully: Move and move often

By Jonathan Markley, DO

The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 77 years old. There are many factors that influence whether we have a long life or a shorter one. However, one thing is clear: Whatever age we reach, our goal is to maintain strong physical and mental wellness without developing chronic diseases, such as obesity, depression, high blood pressure, and diabetes. We call this aging healthfully. In this four-part series, we examine ways to achieve this through nutrition, exercise, and addressing habits and existing conditions. Today, let’s look at exercise.

To age healthfully, an extensive body of scientific literature emphasizes the need to move and move often. Over the past several decades, with workplace modernization and things such as online shopping and other sedentary activities, movement has been engineered out of our society. This means that over time, we are not burning enough calories to maintain a healthy weight. Add in other factors, such as poor eating habits, and we have a major roadblock to better living. By adding movement and exercise into our daily lives, we open another proven positive pathway to health

Movement and its benefits

I always had trouble knowing how to prescribe exercise, but when looking at the latest scientific data from around the world, it has become clear. There is a connection between a minimum amount of daily exercise and a positive health impact. Just 30 minutes of moderate exercise three times per week or 75 minutes per week of intense activity—that’s it.

Exercise helps you not only look, but more importantly, feel better, by supporting a positive mood, strength, better sleep, and self-confidence. It can reduce anxiety because your body releases compounds called enkephalins and endorphins in your brain during exercise. The simple addition of daily movement can lessen your risk of depression even more than medication. A well-known study comparing depression medications versus exercise revealed that exercise participants had a significantly lower rate of depression than those in the depression medication group.

Feeling good is important, but we also want to live longer. Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women—and exercise alone can reduce your risk by 25%. The important thing is to be consistent, no matter what. This is time to carve out for yourself, and it can be something as easy as moderate walking. You can walk before work, during your lunch break, or after dinner—alone or with a partner.

There are simple ways to add movement to your day that do not involve traditional exercise:

• Skip the elevator and use the stairs whenever possible
• Buy a step counter and shoot for a step goal—chart a course to reach 10,000 daily steps, and then set new goals as you improve your count
• Join a local gym or community program
• Find a YouTube exercise class, such as a 15-minute kettlebell workout or a beginner’s yoga class
• Visit the zoo or a local park, walk the high school track, or hike a trail

 

Strength-building helps with diabetes prevention and management

Adding strength training to your routine improves muscle tone, making your muscles better able to utilize insulin, which helps prevent insulin resistance and diabetes. Muscle-toning exercises do not have to be heavy weightlifting—they can be as simple as walking where there are natural inclines or repetitions with resistance bands or small weights at night while watching TV, such as gentle squats or shoulder or bicep curls.

For the best weight-training impact, aim for two times a week, three to four sets of 12 repetitions. Once you reach your 12-rep goal and the movement becomes easy, increase the weight and reduce your reps to nine, then work your way up to 12 again. A combination of resistance training twice a week, plus moderate activity, also gives you additional cardiovascular benefits.

These small, simple movement goals, in combination with a healthier, more nutritious diet, can help reverse the negative health effects that you feel today and set you on a path for long-term healthful and happy aging.

Continue reading articles from this series:

Aging Healthfully – Nutrition >>

Aging Healthfully – Mediterranean Diet >>

Aging Healthfully – Behaviors Conditions >>

Jonathan Markley, DO, is a physician anesthesiologist who serves as Chief of Anesthesia for North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) at East Orange General Hospital in East Orange, NJ, and Director of Regional Anesthesia at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, NJ. He completed his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree at The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Osteopathic Medicine, and his postgraduate training at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine residency program in anesthesiology at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center.