Senior Exercise Enhances Physical and Mental Wellbeing:  Simple Exercises Have Practical Application in Omaha Home Healthcare

It was a question on the popular daytime TV show, “The Doctors” that made me start thinking about the benefits of exercise for seniors. Tommy Lasorda, longtime manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, asked a question about how he could fit exercise into his week. He is 84. The panel told him that, at his age, he should do some weight-bearing and some cardiovascular exercise every day. One of the doctors even suggested doing heel-lifts while standing in line at the grocery store to fit some movement in.

The physical benefits of exercise for seniors are undeniable. Of course there is the benefit of staying flexible that can possibly prevent falls. Then there is the benefit of maintaining weight and preventing or delaying diseases like diabetes.

Home nursing care clients benefit from both physical and mental fitness. Something I don’t always think about when encouraging my mother, or other seniors, to keep up with their physical fitness, is the benefit to psychological health that exercise has on us. Brain chemicals, called endorphins, are natural pain and stress fighters. They’re secreted when we exercise. It makes sense then that keeping up with exercise could be a great way to alleviate the stress and pain we all feel as we grow older.

The social aspect of exercising can’t be overlooked, either.  A gym or other workout facility provides instant workout buddies. If you are an Omaha senior adult and cannot get to a local gym or you are receiving residential senior care from Comfort Keepers, even taking a walk with your caregiver or performing physical therapy exercises at home is a chance to interact while boosting those endorphins.Seniors in home nursing situations also benefit from the camaraderie of the activity.

 Recently Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, reported that exercise by seniors can reduce such things as anxiety and depression.  For more on the importance of exercise for seniors , you can read more here.