Discover Your Path to Wellness: A three-part series from Sky Active Living
Step 1: One Challenge at a Time
Step 2: One Step at a Time
Step 3: One Reflection at a Time
WHAT IS WELLNESS?
Wellness is an active routine that can help each person improve their daily life and rekindle a purposeful sense of being. Through intention, awareness and self-determination, each and every one of us can improve our wellness and enrich our experiences and everyday mood.
The holistic concept of wellness contains many facets of life beyond physical health, including your social, spiritual and emotional health. However, maintaining physical shape is still important in creating a lifestyle of wellness. Thankfully, this aspect can improve one step at a time.
Being physically active not only reduces the risk of conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, depression and stroke, but also improves connections among your brain cells. Through just 30 minutes of exercise per day, older adults can begin to improve their physical health.
The Path to Wellness “One Step at a Time” Steppingstone focuses on exercising your body daily to assist you on your personal wellness journey. From One Step at a Time walking groups to therapist-led balance training, there are no limits to how far you can go with a consistent and intentional program.
The recommended minimum steps per day for older adults is 3,000 steps, with highly active individuals reaching 10,000 steps per day.
One Step at a Time provides residents with opportunities to walk daily, setting step goals each day to ultimately reach their own personal health goals. Residents may choose to walk with a group or individually. Whatever your preference, we are here to support you every step of the way.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXERCISE
Walking
Walking is something we all do every day, and it offers so many benefits that it’s hard to find any other exercise that can beat it. Walking improves bone strength, reducing the risk of fractures. It develops mobility, flexibility and balance skills, while improving cardiovascular health, boosting your immune system and helping you lose weight. Do you want better sleep? Walking helps with that. Need to improve your mental health? Yes, walking helps with that too!
Exercise is essential to health, but staying motivated can be difficult. That’s where goal-setting can help. With the recommended minimum number of steps (3,000 per day) in mind, set your eyes on your personal steps-per-day goal by increasing each day or week so that you slowly and safely work toward that goal. Keep track of your steps with a pedometer on your phone or smartwatch. There are endless ways to walk and achieve your goal. From taking a nature walk to shopping at the mall, all steps count, and reaching your goals won’t feel like a chore. After a few weeks, you’ll be amazed by the progress you’ve made, and be motivated to improve even further.
Online classes and videos
Online classes and videos allow for a fun and easy entry point into an exercise routine. Find fitness YouTube channels with exercise videos, or take a regular online fitness class. There are also fitness memberships you can find online that even cater to those with limited mobility. For suggestions of where to start, please reference the resources page below.
Strength exercises
Building and maintaining strength is essential as we age. Through simple exercises, you can ensure your body is able to safely walk up the stairs or lift and carry a package through your front door. Before you run out and buy barbells, note that the beauty of strength training is that there are many exercises that do not require equipment. If you prefer to use equipment, all the better! At many Sky Active Living communities, you can find on-site fitness centers and group 2 exercises classes, so residents can get involved in a welcoming community setting.
Balance exercises
One of the reasons cited most often for injuries among seniors is loss of balance. These injuries can be life-altering, requiring surgery and rehabilitation, or even cause short- or long-term loss of mobility. This makes it even more important to find exercises that improve balance and help seniors avoid these falls.
Balance is built on strength and flexibility, so exercise should incorporate both. There are plenty of exercise routines to help build balance, and yoga can also be a great starting point.
Personal trainers
Fitness routines can lose momentum, and we understand that. There always seem to be something else that needs doing, someone else who needs help or countless other things that life throws your way. Using a personal trainer is a perfect way to reclaim a fitness routine and maintain it over the long term.
Personal trainers come in all levels of expertise, attitude and education, so keep the following in mind while searching for the perfect trainer for you.
Consider education: Seniors often have special needs and limitations when it comes to exercise, so the more education a personal trainer has, the better. In a perfect world, seniors should seek a personal trainer with a four-year degree in exercise physiology or a similar degree from an accredited college or university. Obviously, these trainers are not always readily available, so research which top certification programs for personal trainers fit with your exercise goals.
Ask the right questions: Finding the perfect trainer for you means asking the right questions. How much experience do they have with seniors? Are they available when you are? What are their degrees/certifications?
Exercise safety tips
The most important aspect to consider when exercising is your own safety. Start slowly, build your routine over time, warm up and cool down, wear the right attire, and drink plenty of water.
Exercise is an essential step in your wellness journey, and the benefits for seniors are countless. From a brisk daily walk to strength- and balance-building exercises, to working out with online videos or a personal trainer, all will go a long way toward achieving a longer and healthier life.
