If you’re looking for a fountain of youth, to keep your joints flexible and your mind nimble as you age, look no further than your own body. Regularly exercising and moving your body helps you age more slowly. The boost you get from a proper exercise regimen prevents chronic health conditions and can even reverse early signs of aging.
The way you stay active, however, makes all the difference. You need an exercise plan that supports your body, without causing trauma or pain. The physical therapy (PT) team at The Rehab Docs in Daniel Island, South Carolina, helps you find the best exercises and movements for your body and your needs.
Physical therapists use customized movement and exercises to restore your health and promote vitality from top to toe. They help you regain strength, improve mobility and balance, and maintain fitness. In the process, they help you age well and thrive.
You may only think of exercise as it pertains to strong muscles and a trim waistline. But exercise has a much broader impact on your overall health. The right routine helps you:
The changes in your body that the right exercise routine promotes prevent the chronic health conditions that plague people as they get older. With regular exercise, you can lower your risk of developing:
The National Cancer Institute even states that exercise can help you prevent some types of cancer. Remaining active may lower your risk for bladder, colon, breast, endometrial, esophageal, stomach, and kidney cancers.
As you get older, your muscle fibers shrink. You lose muscle mass. Muscles also lose their tone and stiffen, so they can’t contract as strongly as they could when you were younger.
Smaller, stiffer muscles affect your body’s strength, balance, and movement. Changes like these increase your risk of falls and injuries. They also contribute to other health problems because muscle contractions pump your heart, push blood through arteries and veins, and keep food moving through your digestive tract.
Weak muscles also don’t exert enough stress on your bones to keep them healthy and dense. As you age, your bones weaken as bone loss outpaces your body’s ability to rebuild new bone. As a result, both women and men are at both risk for osteoporosis, though the risk for women dramatically rises after menopause.
Weight-bearing exercise is indispensable for maintaining strong bones because it triggers new bone production. Your PT helps you load up weights on your muscles and bones safely and gradually, so you get the healthy stress you need without risking injury.
Vascular dementia, the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, occurs when fatty plaque blocks blood flow to your brain. Exercise, therefore, has a direct impact on your brain’s health through its ability to prevent blood vessel disease such as atherosclerosis.
Simply keeping your blood pressure under control with regular exercise can lower your risk of dementia. Moderate exercise increases metabolism in the areas of your brain responsible for learning and memory.
No matter how old or young you are, how active or inactive, or how heavy or light, it’s never too late to start exercising. However, to do it well and safely, it’s important to consult with a PT before you jump into a new routine. We assess your health and pinpoint the areas where you need help. Then we create a personalized exercise plan that works for you.
Whether you need to fine-tune your existing regimen, require specialized exercises for a health condition, or need to move from a sedentary to an active lifestyle, we find the right plan for you. And if you do overdo it, or suffer an injury, we help you recover and bounce back better than ever.
To schedule a physical therapy consultation, call us at The Rehab Docs or book an appointment online.