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• Staying Young: The role of physical activity in ageing

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Staying Young: The role of physical activity in ageing

As we age, keeping physically active is essential. It not only improves the appearance of the body, it also prevents the occurrence of health complications in the future.

Dr. Michael Roizen (Professor of Anaesthesiology and Internal Medicine, US SUNY Upstate Medical Centre, New York) discusses the role of exercise in ageing and the type of activities that can help maintain a healthy body:

From a health standpoint, there are three different areas you get benefits:

Arterial ageing: arterial ageing is associated with heart disease, stroke, memory loss, impotence, decay in orgasm quality, even wrinkling of the skin.

Immune ageing: associated with infections and cancer, even auto-immune disease, such as many forms of arthritis.

Accidents and disability from accidents.

All three are affected by physical activity.

The lack of activity and the obesity that may result also increase the risk of other health complications. The side effects of obesity — including blood pressure elevations, sleep apnoea, arthritis, diabetes, altered self-image and loss of self-esteem — are all tremendously ageing.

There are plenty of treadmills and bikes, etc. that are not being used. So do not do the stamina activity first. Do walking. Secondly, do strength-building activity. You have got 13 basic different muscle groups. You need to use 9 of them for 10 minutes three times a week to get the maximum benefit from resistance or strength training. So it is 30 minutes a week for that.

Once you have done those two for about a month each, you may go into stamina for at least 21 minutes and raise your heart rate.

Integrating exercise into a busy life is difficult, and a regular routine is a key. You just have to make time to do exercise. No one is going to do 90 minutes every day, if they have got a busy life, unless they schedule some things that are regular into their life. Another important part of exercise is strength-building. Just 10 minutes a day either upper body or lower body can be very beneficial. Have fun doing it and make it an enjoyable part of life, (Web cast reference: http://healingwell.healthology.com/healingwell/1851.htm)

Exercise: Calories burned in one hour of exercise
If you are an exercise enthusiast or exercise to manage your weight, you probably wonder how many calories you burn.

The chart below shows the estimated number of calories burned while performing a variety of exercises for one hour. The estimated numbers represent a moderate-intensity exercise level.

For both lighter and heavier body weights, you can calculate the approximate number of calories burned by selecting the maximum number of calories used from the column for a 170- to 180-pound person. Multiply this figure by your weight and divide by 175. For example, if you weigh 220 pounds, jogging uses:

Source: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research http://mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109

However, as it turns out, strenuous activity with perspiration is not the only answer — even household chores burn calories. Health and fitness expert Dr. Harvey Simon says 150 cardio metabolic exercise (CME) points a day can help you lose weight.

Below is a helpful guide to estimate your daily activities. So, how active are you?

SOURCE: Dr Harvey Simon, The No Sweat Exercise Plan: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Live Longer (McGraw-Hill, 2006). Illustrations by Stanford Kay / Newsweekhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10722267/site/newsweek/

NOTE: CME = Cardio-metabolic exercise, a term Simon coined to emphasise the range of health benefits of moderate activity to aerobic training. For general health and gradual weight loss, he recommends getting 150 points a day or about 1,000 points a week (for faster weight loss, build up to twice as many points).

Monika
Monika Bhatia
Project Manager and Editor, Quality4life
10 May 2006

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