Physical Activity Guidelines may be a useful place to visit to learn about facts of aging and extending youth.
It is a fact that people are living longer and it is a fact that people are aging. As people age, they lose muscle mass, strength and flexibility. It is the loss of muscle mass, strength and flexibility that causes older people to get frail. As discouraging as this unavoidable biological process sounds it can be countered by self-inflicted medicine, a kind of medicine that you give yourself a daily dose. That medicine is exercise.
Muscle responds to exercise even when you are 100 years old. Exercise at least six days a week doing strength training and cardiovascular exercise on alternate days and stretching after each workout to improve on range of motion
One of the greatest concerns of aging and even more important than the physical is the mental state of mind. As we grow older we develop wisdom, but we can only share that wisdom with others if we maintain memory. Therefore it is important to exercise the mind with crossword puzzles, reading and composing, hobby, taking a course at the nearby university or whatever it takes to keep the mind active and alive. Keep your mind challenged. Medical experts say that mental exercises alone can reduce the incidence of Alzheimer's by 70%, and physical exercise by itself can lower the risk by 50%. Even if these percentages are approximate or not too accurate, try exercising your body and mind and experiencing the change. Just from personal experience, I have had some of the best intellectual sparks during a run, swim or bike ride, but yet, to get that spark I had to be thinking about a subject matter I read of in a newspaper or book or was struggling to solve in some writing. Therefore, we need both, mental and physical exercises to ward off frailness of body and mind.
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