Physical Activity Leads to Better Health for Senior Citizens
Submitted by: Steve Klein
Baby boomers are aging more rapidly that we would like to admit so what can we do to slow the process and increase out odds of living longer? It seems that physical activity not only improves health but cognitive skills as well.
A recent study was conducted involving close to 200 men and women with memory problems who were an average age of 69 years old. These people were not seriously impaired enough to be classified as having dementia. They were assigned randomly to two groups. One group was provided with educational information about memory loss, stress management, and healthy living including facts about dieting and drinking, but nothing about exercise. The second group received identical information plus they also exercised by walking for 50 minutes at least 3 times a week. Periodically, all of the participants were given cognitive tests.
After six months, the group that exercised showed a slight improvement on average in cognitive abilities. The other group showed a slight decline in cognitive scores. As the duration of the study was extended to a full year, this difference remained.
Older people are most often affected by declining cognitive skills. For example, they are more often to forget someone’s name even if that person is a long time friend. Often more serious memory problems occur such as asking the same question repeatedly or becoming confused about people and places. These are possible symptoms of a more serious problem.
The longer you live the more likely you will be susceptible to a decline in your cognitive skills. However, as the study shows, those of us who remain active and exercise regularly will fare far better than those of us who don’t. So get up and give me 20!
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