Hello again to regular readers of this blog and welcome to any new ones, this is the 5th part in a series about exercise and aging that I have been writing. It has been a few weeks since the last blog update but I have been incredibly busy and have struggled to get enough time to do the subject justice. Personally I don’t like to do something if I don’t feel like I can do it well and in this case the subject of exercise and aging is such a wide and important one that I feel I need to give it my full attention each time. Anyway, enough excuses for my lack of writing and research and on with the subject matter – why it is vital to exercise as you age. The previous blogs have covered the disease processes associated with getting older and a lack of exercise and also the benefits associated with exercise. The next series of posts will look at how much exercise to do, the frequency and also the specific types of exercises. This is an extensive subject and will probably take at least 3 more blog posts…

It is only fair now to say that if you are wanting a clear cut exercise routine then this is probably not the blog for you – rather I intend to give you enough information based on as much of the latest research as I can find to enable you to understand what type of exercise might benefit you and why. That way if you are thinking about starting exercising you should be able to have a reasonable idea of some of the basic concepts and have an idea of where to begin and why. As I want this section to be the most accessible to all readers I shall treat each section as an answer to a typical question that most physiotherapists talking about exercising to patients will often encounter:

1. How much exercise should I do?

Okay this seems like a reasonable starting point and is pretty much the most common and to be fair in my opinion the most important question. Well the current guidelines and recommendations are fairly clear on this – you should aim for at least 2.5 hrs of moderate intensity exercise per week – totaling approximately 1000Kcals (Garber et al 2011) which can be broken down into 5 x 1/2hr sessions for ease if you wish. It is also possible to gain the same benefits by doing 3 sessions of vigorous exercise that total 75 minutes per week.

So you basically have two options: you can either try doing a larger amount of moderate intensity exercise or a shorter amount of higher intensity exercise per week – which you choose will depend on to a large extent on your psychological make up.

For example if you know that you are unlikely to stick to lots of sessions per week then you may be best going with the 3 sessions of vigorous exercise (but be aware this will feel like hard work at the time and is not an easy option!). Some research into compliance with exercise in an elderly population supports this approach as time constraints are often cited as one of the major reasons for not keeping up with an exercise program (Makila et al 2011; Kowal & Fortier 2007). However I feel it is incumbent upon me to warn you that it is important to try very hard in the vigorous intensity sessions – clearly if you are only trying as hard in the 3 sessions as you would in the 5 sessions then you are not exercising as much and you will not be meeting the minimum target here. Research indicates that a key component of the benefit is in terms of calories burned (lee et al 2000) and so as long as you burn equal numbers of calories (approx 1000Kcals per week) how you achieve that figure is up to you.

Finally some people may have current injuries or disease processes that make doing almost any weight bearing exercise painful and at times impossible – for example severely arthritic knees. In this case it will be necessary to be a bit inventive – swimming or hydrotherapy is often a reasonable option as weight on joints is much reduced by the buoyancy of the water.

For anyone who has just come across this blog for the first time: we are a home visit physiotherapy service based in Lichfield and serving the whole of 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:

Garber C., Blissmer B., Deschenes M., Franklin B., Lamonte M., Lee I., Nieman D., Swain D., American College of Sports Medicine (2011) American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 43(7):1334 – 1359

Kowal J. & Fortier M. (2007) Physical Activity Behavior Change in Middle-aged and Older Women: The Role of Barriers and of Environmental Characteristics Journal of Behavioural Medicine 30: 233 – 242

Lee I., Sesso H., Paffenbarger R. (2000) Physical Activity and Coronary Heart Disease Risk in Men: Does the Duration of Exercise Predict Risk? Circulation 102: 981 – 986

Mäkilä P., Hirvensalo M., Parkatti T. (2010) Changes in Physical Activity Involvement and Attitude to Physical Activity in a 16-Year Follow-Up Study among the Elderly Journal of Aging Research 2010: 1 – 7