For seniors, maintaining your balance is a key to health as you age. Losing your balance is a major cause of injury and can lead to other health issues.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites falls as a leading cause of death and injury for people aged 65 and over. In fact, falls are the leading cause of accidental death for seniors.
Also, one out of every three adults, 65 and older falls every year, according to the CDC. These falls often cause related health problems. For example, seniors suffer moderate or serious injuries such as fractures, head injuries, and other wounds in 20-30% of those falls. These types of injuries can be life altering, sometimes affecting the brain.
How to Help Maintain Balance
As you age, it’s important to engage in physical activity to maintain your muscle strength and your balance. The strength of your muscles is directly connected to having good agility to avoid a fall.
By the time we’re in our 30s, we begin losing muscle mass. If you’re less active, that loss of muscle mass accelerates as you age. So why does this happen? For several reasons. These include a reduction in nerve cells that send signals from the brain to the muscles to start movement, to decreasing hormones, and not getting enough protein to sustain muscle mass.
The CDC Has Recommendations
For senior adults, the CDC has come up with recommendations on guidelines to help maintain balance. These include:
- Exercise at least 150 minutes per week. This can be 30 minutes of exercise for 5 days of the week, for example. The exercise should be of moderate intensity such as brisk walking. Another option is 75 minutes a week of vigorous activity such as hiking, jogging, or running.
- Engage in activities that strengthen muscles at least 2 days a week.
- Engage in activities to improve your balance. These activities are as easy as standing on one foot for about 3 days a week.
For people with chronic health condition that may hinder their ability to meet the CDC recommendations, it may be time to improvise or adapt. Some alternatives include swimming or other similar exercises to substitute for walking, hiking, or jogging.
Get Moving
The simplest way to start with physical activity is to just move. Get up from your seat and move around.
The CDC says that older adults gain some health benefits from sitting less and doing any amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Any additional physical activity increases those health benefits.
A CARING-FIRST ENVIRONMENT
Senior living communities like Auburn Hill Senior Living are precisely that—a community. Residents become friends and even family, and a caring team is there to help them maintain their quality of life.
At Auburn Hill Senior Living, we offer both Assisted Living and Memory Care and we care with Honesty, Excellence, Accountability, Residents first and Teamwork. We like to call it Caring with H.E.A.R.T.™!
If you believe a senior living community would benefit your loved one, get in touch with us. Schedule a tour or download a brochure today!