It is no secret that exercise is something that all people benefit from. Whether you choose to put in a few miles in the great outdoors or lift weights in the comfort of your own home, exercise is beneficial to our health and well-being. Exercise should be a part of our everyday life from childhood to adulthood. As we age, it can become more difficult to exercise because of our physical limitations. However, exercise is important for senior citizens and walking is a simple form of exercise with undeniable benefits for the aging population.
One advantage to walking is that it is something you can do anywhere. Whether you take a walk around your neighborhood or stick with the comfort of your own backyard, walking can be done in a variety of locations. If the weather doesn’t allow you to walk outside, you can always walk in shopping malls or even inside your home as a last resort. From parks, walking paths, outside tracks, shopping malls, and department stores, you can always find somewhere to walk. You can’t use location as an excuse not to exercise, making you more likely to commit to walking as your exercise of choice.
Walking can also help improve a variety of health conditions that seniors face.
Poor circulation can be a challenge for many seniors but walking can help improve that. By improving your circulation, you can lower your risk of heart disease and high blood pressure, two things that almost all seniors face. Walking can also strengthen both your bones and your muscle. As we age, our bones become more fragile. Walking can help strengthen your bones and make you less likely to injure them. Our muscles also start to face issues as we age and growing older can make it difficult to use certain muscles or move them in the way that we did before. Walking can help strength your muscles which increases your range of motion. Strengthened muscles make arthritis pain less likely which many seniors also find themselves dealing with as they are.
Although the physical benefits of walking are undeniable, the emotional benefits are also worth talking about. Walking has been proven to improve both your mood and your mental state in several ways. Walking can get you out of your house and into nature, even if it’s just on your street outside glancing up at budding trees. Getting out of the house and into the world around you is a good way to improve your routine and can give you something to look forward to. Walking also releases painkilling endorphins which largely contributes to the emotional benefits of walking. As we age, our cognitive health does decrease. Walking has also been known to improve our memory and slow the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
The topics above are just the highlights of how walking can benefit aging adults. Other benefits include weight loss, improved sleep cycles, and easier breathing. Walking is a simple form of exercise that has undeniable benefits. By walking from 35 minutes to an hour each day, you can take big steps towards living a healthier lifestyle.
