Exercise is important for preventing health issues and promoting an overall wellness of being. Research has shown that people that exercise are far more likely to have stronger heart health, are less likely to suffer an injury from a fall or another accident, and even tend to have stronger mental health. Some studies have even suggested that an active lifestyle can help prevent dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease.
But a lot of people still don’t exercise. Schools have become much more active in helping students make healthy choices by offering a wide range of activities and game ideas for students, partly with the hopes that people will find a form of exercise that they enjoy early on in their lives and stick with it. There’s a very strong chance that people that adopt healthy practices early in life will continue them. But connecting with seniors to activities that they will enjoy continues to be an ongoing battle.
New research shows that exercise doesn’t need to be intense for it to be helpful for the elderly. It doesn’t even need to be exercise, at least in the way that we traditionally think of it, anyway. This study found that cleaning up around the house was a good form of exercise for many seniors. Not only did it help encourage seniors to avoid being sedentary and keep moving, it also helped with some of the other things that exercise promotes, such as avoiding dementia, improving memory, helping to avoid falls, and improving attention spans.
For many of those that were studied in this project, one of the main ideas that kept recurring was the fact that cleaning up and other household chores helped to instill a sense of purpose in their lives. This might not seem like a big thing, but so often, we tie our identities to the work that we do professionally. As we age and retire, this sense of purpose might feel like it has disappeared. Finding other, meaningful, things to do with our time is important. This doesn’t necessarily need to be cleaning. However, many seniors find that it is easier to find meaning when they are at their own home than if they were living in a nursing home setting.
Finding a routine that works for you and your family is important. Sometimes, all that is needed to keep your older loved one engaged and active with the world around them is a small adjustment, such as what in-home care provides. In-home care allows your loved one to stay where they are and maintain their old habits and routines as close to normal as they would like them to be. An in-home caregiver provides assistance with some of the harder aspects of the daily routines, but can certainly be adjusted as needed to better match what your loved one is looking for or needs out of care. This can be a great way to help healthy habits, like exercise and housework, continue. Rather than relocate to a new, strange place where a lot of these things are done for them, in-home care allows people to keep doing the things that they love to do, where they love to do them.
Have questions? Let us know. One of our professionals would love to speak more.
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