Welcome back to a series of articles here at ThreeSpires Physiotherapy that I am going to be writing about the effects of exercise and the benefits it has as you age and why you should continue exercising no matter how old you are. Last time we covered the general benefits of exercise and found that by exercising we reduce the risk of a heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and various forms of cancer but this time we shall look into the specific benefits of exercise for the elderly. First of all though, in the last blog post I mentioned something about getting the recommended daily amount of exercise but forgot to mention what that actually is! Well the current recommendation is 2 1/2 hours of moderate intensity exercise per week in blocks of at least ten minutes – a usual recommended way to achieve this is 30 mins of exercise 5 days per week (DoH 2011).

So I hear you say what are the actual benefits of exercise if you are actually older – say 65 and over? Well the benefits are numerous and will require at least two blogs to cover some of the science and reasoning behind them. This is a complex subject and deserves a detailed discussion – it is also a subject of enormous research and in no way will I be able to cover all of the science behind it but hopefully I will give you an improved awareness of the benefits of exercise and the reasons for them.

Firstly exercise can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. This is because as we age, we tend to lose muscle mass (sarcopaenia) the reasons for this are multi-factorial and beyond the scope of this blog but are linked to lower general activity levels and biology. By exercising even if you are elderly you can gain muscle mass (Paterson et al 2007), reduce sarcopaenia (Greiwe et al 2001), raise your metabolic rate and reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes . If you currently have type 2 diabetes it is possible to reduce your symptoms and even reverse this condition (Di Pietro et al 2006). For anyone who is struggling to remember what type 2 diabetes is: this is a reduction in insulin sensitivity in the body and a corresponding increase in blood sugar levels to sometimes dangerous levels; it is strongly associated with obesity. Exercise helps reverse and reduce risk of type 2 diabetes in two ways – firstly by aiding in reduction of weight and body mass index. Secondly by improving muscle mass which in turn can improve insulin sensitivity due to muscles being metabolically very active and much more able to metabolise sugar than fatty tissues.

Achieving the recommended exercise levels if you are elderly has been shown to reduce blood pressure, lower the risk of heart disease and stroke (Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee 2008). As we age arterial elasticity tends to decline and so the arteries become stiffer, this increased stiffness makes it more difficult for the heart to pump blood around the body and so it has to work harder this means higher blood pressure which is one of the major risk factors for stroke (Lakatta & Levy 2003). Exercise especially aerobic exercise can reduce arterial stiffness and therefore reduce blood pressure – a study by Devan & Seals 2012 showed that elderly endurance athletes had greater arterial elasticity.

I think that is enough complicated physiology for one day! Next blog post will continue to look in detail at some of the benefits of exercise for the elderly such as reduced risk of depression, osteoporosis and dementia.

Just to remind anyone who has just come across this blog: we are a home visit physiotherapy service based in Lichfield and serving Staffordshire and the Midlands. If you live anywhere within a 45 minute drive of Lichfield such as Solihull, Four Oaks, Aldridge, Stafford, Rugeley, Shenstone, Walsall, Derby, Burton and Cannock to name but a few places that we provide physiotherapy, sports massage, rehabiltation and myofascial release to. As per usual if you want any further information about physiotherapy, pain, injuries, rehabilitation, sports massage or myofascial release then give us a call on 07884 281623, email us at enquiries@threespiresphysiotherapy.co.uk or use the contact form.

References:

Department of Health (2011) Start Active, Stay Active: A report on physical activity from the four home countries’ Chief Medical Officers London HMSO

Devan A. & Seals D. (2012) Vascular health in the ageing athlete Experimental Physiology   97: 305 – 310

Di Pietro L., Dziura J., Yeckel C., Neufer P. (2006) Exercise and improved insulin sensitivity in older women: evidence of the enduring benefits of higher intensity training. Journal of Applied Physiology 100(1):142 – 149

Greiwe J., Cheng B., Rubin D., Yarasheski K., Semenkovich C. (2001) Resistance exercise decreases skeletal muscle tumor necrosis factor alpha in frail elderly humans The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 15 (2): 475 – 482

Lakatta E. & Levy D. (2003) Special Review: Clinical Cardiology: New Frontiers Arterial and Cardiac Aging: Major Shareholders in Cardiovascular Disease Enterprises Part I: Aging Arteries: A “Set Up” for Vascular Disease Circulation 107: 139 – 146

Paterson D., Jones G., Rice C. (2007) Ageing and physical activity: evidence to develop exercise recommendations for older adults Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, 32: 69–108

Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee (2008) Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Report. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Washington DC