Category Archives: exercise

Walking and Smelling for Senior Citizen Wellness

Posted on by autocreate740

When I walk, I take an essential oil ‘sniffer‘ with me (2 or 3 drops on a tissue). I am a certified aromatherapist/trainer for essential oils and I use my sense of smell with essential oils to provide me with the therapeutic benefits of relaxation, increased energy, and pain relief.

Walking gives me the benefits of increased energy, boosts my mood, provides relief from arthritis and helps increase my focus.

Do you know that there is recent research, which indicates walking helps our cognitive abilities?

Have you heard that loss of smell may indicate a decline in cognition?

When you have a moment, listen to my podcast on why smelling and walking is a good thing for senior citizens. Then make some ‘free’ time for yourself to move your body by using the video below.

This podcast is available on Apple podcast, Google podcast, and other platforms of your choice. Just click this link to select:
https://anchor.fm/judith-guerra7.

Continue reading →

Aging Gracefully? What is it?

Posted on by autocreate740
Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

As an ‘elder citizen’ have you ever thought about what “Aging Gracefully” is?

Many of us are confronted with all types of challenges to that concept- not the Aging, but the “gracefully”. What is your idea of what that means for your life now? To help you contemplate how to employ “Aging Gracefully” in your own life, here is a definition of what the Healthline website defines it as:

“Aging gracefully isn’t about trying to look like a 20-something — it’s about living your best life and having the physical and mental health to enjoy it. Like a bottle of wine, you can get better with age with the right care.“

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Sign Up: Free Exercise and other Classes for Seniors

Posted on by autocreate740

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

I want you to know that on any given day it is not easy for me to “pick myself up” and take “that walk”. However, one of the things that I know for sure about exercising is: afterwards, I feel better.  I can imagine that for some of you, the same is true.  That’s why I am taking the opportunity to share with you the Senior Planet website:  https://seniorplanet.org/get-involved/online/.

Senior Planet has ‘figured it out‘.   That is for certain.  The Senior Planet program makes exercise look attractive, even tempting. I think that Senior Planet may motivate you to join with other seniors, in the comfort of your own home, and at a time and day that is convenient for you. You can choose what type of exercise suits your needs and your moods.  Oh, and did I say that it is free?

Senior Planet also has other online computer classes that you can take:  Art, Tech,  Chair Yoga, Discussion Groups.  It’s pretty impressive.

If you want to think about it first, take the opportunity to sign up for their Newsletter .
https://seniorplanet.org/get-involved/newsletters/

Enjoy!

Exercise is a Win-Win Anytime We Start

Posted on by autocreate740

If you haven’t already started your New Year’s Resolutions list for 2020, here’s a suggestion for senior citizens who are feeling guilty that they never exercised in 2019, and think it’s too late at this stage in their lives to start.

The good news  for 2020 is that anytime you start exercising you will gain benefits.  In last month’s post, we learned that we could gain a better night’s sleep just by taking a 30 minute walk. Also, younger folks in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s can benefit as well.  Just 150 minutes of moderate- intensity exercise a week ‘fits the bill‘.  Ultimately, some exercise is better than none.
♥ Park your car a little farther away, and walk to your destination.
♥ Take the stairs more frequently.
♥ Take short breaks during the day. Continue reading →

For Women: Are 10,000 Steps a Day Necessary?

Posted on by autocreate740

Today I am celebrating 24 years since I had open heart surgery. Yes!

Walking is a really personal gift to me.  What do I mean?  After my surgery, I asked my Cardiologist,  “what type of exercise can I do?”  He recommended that I walk, which seemed easy enough to do.

However, the truth was,  after the surgery I did not have the strength to walk across a street by myself. At that point, I promised myself and the forces that guide us that if given the future opportunity to walk, I would make sure to honor that ability.
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Stepping Seniors Formula for Best Walking

Posted on by autocreate740

I am happy to report that finally there is a formula that can help us calculate our “brisk” walking exercise to give us the best health benefits!

“Brisk” walking can now be calculated with a simple formula of  100 steps per minute!   For seniors it’s a good way to have in mind a way to calculate if our walking exercise will be beneficial.  For those of us 60 years of age or older, we may need to add more steps to this formula to satisfy the requirement, but this is a good start. And, of course, we can now go beyond 100 steps.  Presently, the federal guidelines advises 30 minutes of brisk walking.  That translates into 3,000 steps at the pace of 100 steps-per-minute. For those of you who want a more challenging exercise, you can try 130 steps per minute.

The study was conducted  by Catrine Tudor Locke, a professor of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  You can read about the study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.  It turns out that walking is the most common form of exercise.  So, feel free to continue to use your feet to do just that.

Let’s keep moving seniors! 

Read details ⇒ Source: https://www.nytimes.com/section/well/move

 

 

Tweaking Your Workout Activity

Posted on by autocreate740

I realize that many of us are not  revved up about getting to a 30 minute exercise class, or walking continuously for 30 minutes.  In addition, many seniors do not have the extra income required to spend  on a health club membership.

I was encouraged by a  recent study, which finds that continuous activity is not a requirement to attain the benefits of exercise.  That is to say, you do not have to workout 30 minutes at a time to gain the health benefits! You can actually accumulate those 30 minutes of activity 10 minutes at a time.

♥ The latest studies, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association are summarized below:
– “Movement strongly influenced longevity. Men and women who exercised fewer than 20 minutes a day, were at the highest risk of premature death.  Those who moved more often, especially if they were active in a day, cut their mortality risk in half”. Continue reading →