Written by: Margaret Frisbie, Program Manager Cummins Fitness Center | AdvantageHealth
September is recognized in the United States as Healthy Aging month and exercise is a great way to help your body grow old graciously. In today’s blog post we will highlight three different ways exercise benefits you as you grow older.
1. Muscle Building
Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and strength, can happen rapidly as we age, but with the proper modality of exercise we can change that! Resistance training or lifting weights is a great way to maintain your muscle mass as you get older. The stronger you are the easier it will be to do daily activities such as climbing stairs, cooking, cleaning and other chores.
2. Increasing Bone Density
As you age, your bones become weaker and weaker. While strength training, as mentioned above, can help build muscle mass, it can also increase your bone density as well! Increased bone density decreases your likelihood of broken bones from trips or falls they may happen as we age.
3. Enhanced Memory
Oftentimes the older we get, the more forgetful we become, but a 2014 study proved to us that regular aerobic exercise can improve memory. The study focused on the size of the hippocampus, the portion of the brain responsible for your memory and saw increases in hippocampus size with an aerobic exercise routine.
With so many products claiming to help individuals age gracefully, it is often hard to know what will truly help. Exercising regularly helps in many different aspects of aging, three of which we discussed above. Adding these three tips in your daily routine can help you battle against Father Time and age gracefully.
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Since 2001, Minnesota-based AdvantageHealth has been delivering award-winning employee wellbeing programs and fitness center design & management throughout the U.S.
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