Active Senior Tips!

Our recent story on staying active was very popular and we received many entries for our Active Ageing competition. Thank you to everyone who entered and shared how they stay active. Here are some examples of great comments from readers:

“There are so many choices in my council area, and some centres provide transport to the sessions.”

“At home I do press ups using benches, and (I do) squats while waiting for water to boil.”

“I’m keeping my mind busy and engaged, by being enrolled in an Archaeology degree.”

“I did a 6 week gym course as part of a recovery with the Cancer Council, and after that joined a gym in my suburb, and having been going 5 days a week for the last 8 months.”

“For my brain I do a weekly Italian class, crosswords and reading.”

“Cycling to the supermarket every couple of days and gardening sessions at the weekend.”

“Walking every morning for 40-50 minutes and stretching for 15 minutes after my walk….Every second day strengthening upper body on weight machine.”

“5 years ago I took up rock climbing. I know I won’t advance much past the beginner class, but I love it.”

It’s great to hear about the physical and mental activities that people do to stay active. So many of the activities also involve socialising, like walking groups and walking and coffee with friends. There are also a great variety of resources utilised, such as online activities, community activities, at home equipment, gyms as well as the great outdoors.

Hints and tips for active seniors

Here are some hints and tips to help you be active and gauge how much activity is needed, as well as suggested activities and exercise and advice downloads. These will help you become the best version of yourself.

We also have many resources available for you on different ways to stay active.

Are you doing enough?

Exercise has a positive effect on us no matter our stage of life. However, how do you know how much you should do? The recommended advice from the Department of Health’s exercise guidelines for older adults is;

For those over 65 years old, at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day. If you find 30 minutes difficult, start with just 10 minutes once or twice a day. After 2 weeks, increase to 15 minutes twice a day. If you can do more than 30 minutes every day, you will get extra benefits. Try to incorporate different types of activities in your weekly exercise. Reducing your sitting time will also help a lot. Break up your sitting time as much as you can.

Suggested activities

Moderate fitness activities

Fitness activities are good for your heart, lungs and blood vessels, and can include:

brisk walking
swimming
golf with no cart
aerobics or water aerobics
cycling
yard and garden work
tennis
mopping and vacuuming.

Strength activities

Strength exercises help maintain muscle and bone strength, and can include:

weight, strength or resistance training
lifting and carrying (i.e. groceries or small children)
climbing stairs
moderate yard work (i.e. digging and shifting soil)
calisthenics (i.e. push-ups and sit-ups).

Flexibility activities

Activities that focus on your flexibility help you move more easily, and can include:

tai chi
bowls (indoor and outdoor)
mopping or vacuuming
stretching exercises
yoga
dancing.

Balancing activities

Activities that help improve your balance can prevent falls and injuries, and can include:

side leg raises
half squats
heel raises.

Exercise tools

Are you interested in doing more at home activity? Then you may need some of these handy and costs effective exercise tools. For general exercises such as weight and resistance training you could get dumbbells, exercise balls and resistance exercise bands. To help improve balance and coordination, stability balls and balance boards are ideal. For floor exercises, stretching and yoga a yoga mat is a simple solution.

If you would like to invest more into your home exercise program, and have space, there are always larger pieces of equipment such as treadmills, stationary bikes and elliptical machines.