Fitness/Exercise

“Unlikely late life hobby”

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appalachian trail
Sue Hollinger and Elrose Couriac

I love hiking but these two fabulous young ladies know how to do it right!  They had more than a little adventure while hiking the Appalachian Trail.

80-Year old twins complete Appalachian Trail

by Karen Chavez, Citizen-Times

December 28, 2016

“Hiking the entire 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail, one of the longest footpaths in the world, is an exercise in the outer limits of human will and strength. And usually, left to the youth of the world.

But 80-year-old identical twin sisters Elrose Couric and Sue Hollinger completed the trail this summer, finding the secret to completing the brutal journey – setting a goal and having a glass of red wine every night on the trail.

Having wine with cold pizza, even better.

‘We’re very goal-oriented. We always need a goal,’ said Hollinger of the massive hike. ‘We wished we were daring enough or young enough to do a thru-hike. It would have saved lots of time, but we couldn’t.’

It took the twins 14 years to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, which they completed July 7. They hiked it in sections, rather than in one shot, which takes the average hiker about six months.

According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the nonprofit that manages the footpath, some 3 million people hike the trail each year. About 3,000 attempt a thru-hike and 1 in 4 complete it.

The section-hiked journey was no less difficult. Besides sore muscles, bruises and broken bones, the sisters had bear encounters, a near-drowning experience, yellow jacket attacks and a near brush with a murderer.

But overall, they said in unison, ‘It was such a fun time.'”

Read more

The arts “enhance overall quality of life”

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the arts
sfgate.com

Express Yourself

From UCLA Health’s Healthy Years newsletter

December 2016

“Watching an artist paint, a dancer gracefully glide across the stage or a singer belt out a happy tune is witnessing bliss personified.  Children can find that joyful state of absorption rather easily: A single crayon on paper can do it.  As adults, however, we often lose that sense of blissful play, but it can be found again.

‘Because the arts serve as an emotional and physical outlet, they also help to decrease stress and combat depression and loneliness,’ explains Erica Curtis, board certified art therapist and instructor for the UCLA Arts and Healing Social Emotional Arts (SEA) certificate program.  ‘It’s a healthy means of distraction from pains, discomfort or other stressors.’

The Power of Making Music Together

Researchers from the University of Oxford wanted to explore whether singing was a special type of bonding behavior or whether any group activity would build bonds among members.  To test the theory, they set up seven courses: four in singing, two in crafts and one in creative writing.  Each course, made up of weekly sessions, ran for seven months.  Those attending the classes were given surveys before and after individual sessions in the first month, in the third month and at the end of the course.  In the surveys, they were asked to rate how close they felt to their classmates.

At the end of the seven months, all the participants reported similar levels of closeness, but those in the singing group stated feeling closer to their classmates earlier in the process.

Singing also requires breath control, which can improve lung function and decrease stress.  A small study found that regular singing might have a positive effect for those who have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

Learning to play an instrument, or dusting off one you used to play, can work wonders on your mood.  A study published in the journal Mental Health Practice found that the use of music as a therapy for people over the age of 65 has a positive influence on well-being by providing enjoyment, social interaction, improved memory and social inclusion.

Moving Your Feet to the Beat Feels Good and May Reduce Fall Risk

Osteoarthritis is common in older adults, and movement helps improve circulation to ease the pain of arthritis.  Dancing alone or with others can be a great way to feel better fast.”  Read more

Make time for physical exercise

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exercise
yourtrainer.eu

Now that I am retired and have the time to exercise, I still have not made it a habit, but I’m not giving up.  Here’s why…

How Exercise Can Help You

from https://go4life.nia.nih.gov

“Exercise and physical activity are good for just about everyone, including older adults. No matter your health and physical abilities, you can gain a lot by staying active. In fact, in most cases you have more to lose by not being active.

Here are just a few of the benefits. Exercise and physical activity:

  • Can help maintain and improve your physical strength and fitness.
  • Can help improve your ability to do the everyday things you want to do.
  • Can help improve your balance.
  • Can help manage and improve diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
  • Can help reduce feelings of depression and may improve mood and overall well-being.
  • May improve your ability to shift quickly between tasks, plan an activity, and ignore irrelevant information.

The key word in all these benefits is YOU — how fit and active you are now and how much effort you put into being active. To gain the most benefits, enjoy all 4 types of exercise, stay safe while you exercise, and be sure to eat a healthy diet, too!

Exercise and physical activity fall into four basic categories—endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. Most people tend to focus on one activity or type of exercise and think they’re doing enough. Each type is different, though. Doing them all will give you more benefits. Mixing it up also helps to reduce boredom and cut your risk of injury.”

Try these exercises

“Visit www.nihseniorhealth.gov, a senior-friendly website from the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine. This website has health and wellness information for older adults. Special features make it simple to use. For example, you can click on a button to make the type larger.”

The free fitness app Map My Walk motivates me to walk more

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MapMyWalk

I used to wear a Fitbit clipped to my waistband every day to track my steps, but lately I use the free app Map My Walk on my phone to track my longer walks.  I love it.  It tracks my steps, calories burned, pace, elevation, duration of walk, and charts my walk on a map.  Workouts can be saved or posted on Facebook.  I am sure my friends like to see me hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park while they are at work!  It definitely motivates me to walk more.

 

Do Fitness Trackers Really Improve Your Health?

The devices aren’t terribly accurate, but that may be beside the point: getting you out and about

by Kaitlin Pitsker from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

October, 2016

“Millions of Americans now wear fitness bands on their wrists to count their steps daily. Some employers are using fitness trackers to set goals—and rewards—for employees. Health and life insurers are offering premium discounts for wearing one. School systems are even using them to enable self-directed physical education programs.

How accurate are they? Fitness bands contain an accelerometer, which tracks movement in every direction to calculate the number of steps you’ve taken. But studies show that over the course of a day, many trackers have error rates of 10% to 20%. Tufts University’s Health & Nutrition Letter suggests you verify that your stride-length setting is correct by going to a track with the exact distance marked and counting your steps as you walk it. If you walk, say, 100 feet in 40 steps, divide 100 by 40. You have a stride length of about 2.5 feet.

fitness trackers
slc

Most fitness bands are on track when it comes to counting steps when you’re walking, running or climbing stairs—usually coming within 1% to 4% of your actual step count, says Alex Montoye, an assistant professor at Alma College who studies wearables. The devices are also good at not awarding credit for stationary activities with a lot of wrist movement, such as typing or shuffling papers.”  Read more

Those who wore fitness trackers significantly increased the time they spent doing moderate to vigorous activity.

How is your mental health and fitness?

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Older individuals who remain mentally active and who take advantage of opportunities to learn new information seem to be significantly less likely to show signs of mental decline.

How to Keep Your Brain Limber

From Massachusetts General Hospital’s Mind, Mood & Memory

“Here’s some good news for older adults!  A new study suggests that regular mental workouts can do for your gray cells what heart-pounding exercise routines do for your body: increase fitness and restore the vigor of youth.

To determine whether engaging in activities that make demands on the brain can help preserve cognitive vitality, scientists recruited a group of older adults and randomly assigned them to one of two groups.  One group engaged in mentally stimulating, high-challenging activities, spending 15 hours per week for 14 weeks learning quilting or digital photography.  The other group spent an equal amount of time engaged in low-challenge pursuits, such as playing simple games, watching movies or listening to music.  All participants underwent cognitive testing and brain scans to measure brain activity at the beginning and end of the study, and a smaller number of participants were tested again a year later.

According to a paper published October 20, 2015 in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, the high-challenge group showed improved brain performance after participating in the study and upon retesting a year later, scoring higher on measures of memory and increasing in efficiency in brain regions responsible for attention and language processing.”  Read more

I just joined SilverSneakers!

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SilverSneakers

“Did you know… 1 out of 5 people 65 or older is eligible for a SilverSneakers membership!

If you’re a group retiree, or part of a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement Health plan, you may already have a SilverSneakers membership. This active adult wellness program is offered to many Medicare plans across the nation. To find out if your health plan offers the SilverSneakers® Fitness program, visit their health plan locator.

Can’t find your health plan? Call your health plan’s customer service number and ask when it will add this valuable benefit.

Looking for more information on well-being? Visit Healthways FIT to seek expert advice on nutrition, fitness and stress management; watch exercise videos; and much more!

The program is at no cost to members!

See if you are eligible for SilverSneakers to get started today.”

Check Eligibility

SilverSneakers

I checked my eligibility and now I’m a member!  All I had to do was print out a card and take it to my community recreation center to register with them.  I can now access many of their fitness classes for FREE and I’m not even 65!  It was an easy process and only took a couple of minutes.

For more information check the www.silversneakers.com website.