Exercise can promote blood circulation, increase the speed of metabolism, and enhance the body's ability to resist diseases. Exercise for the elderly must be based on the right way and method. The elderly have a large loss of calcium, and if the exercise is wrong, not only can it not have the effect of prolonging life, but may bring unnecessary trouble to the body. Here, I would like to remind the elderly that in the process of exercising, they must stay away from the following common misunderstandings.
Myth 1: Is the longer the exercise, the better?
Prolonged exercise time will increase energy expenditure during exercise, which has certain benefits for people who need to control their weight, but unlimited extended exercise time will increase the risk of bone and joint and muscle damage during exercise, the risk of hypoglycemia during exercise, and too long a single exercise time is not conducive to developing long-term exercise habits. For the elderly, it is more important to accumulate 30-60 minutes a day and exercise regularly 3-5 days a week.
Myth 2: Is the higher the exercise intensity, the healthier?
Moderately increasing the exercise intensity can improve the efficiency of exercise, but for the elderly who are sedentary and have multiple chronic diseases, the exercise intensity should be gradually and safely increased under the guidance of a doctor to achieve moderate intensity. For older people who do not have exercise habits, if they do more intense exercise, it will increase the risk of cerebrovascular events in the motor center.
Myth 3: Is "active recuperation" better than "quiet recuperation"?
For common chronic diseases, it is especially not suitable for resting, and the muscles begin to atrophy after sitting or staying in bed for three days, which will bring a variety of adverse effects to the body. For acute conditions such as fever, diarrhea, and cough, exercise should be postponed until the overall health condition improves or stabilizes.
Myth 4, is it true that "tendons are one inch long, and life is ten years long"?
The length of the "tendons" reflects the flexibility of the individual, and the elderly can maintain good flexibility and range of motion to maintain good physical mobility and reduce the risk of sports injuries. However, excessive "stretching" will increase muscle and tendon damage, and excessive joint movement will reduce the stability of the joint, which will also increase the risk of sports injury. Therefore, "moderation" is the most important. When the elderly perform flexibility exercises, they should avoid elastic stretching, statically stretch the muscles and tendons, feel tight, and hold each stretch for 30 seconds.
Myth 5: Don't the elderly need resistance exercise?
This is clearly wrong. With the increase of age and the high incidence of many chronic diseases, the rate of muscle loss in the elderly is much higher than that of adults. Performing low-load resistance exercise can not only prevent muscle loss, but also effectively improve blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood lipids.
Myth 6: Exercise can reduce local fat?
The effect of exercise to reduce fat is mainly achieved by increasing energy expenditure, which will be reflected in all parts of the body, and will not only reduce local fat because only part of the body is involved in exercise. For individuals with higher body fat content, increasing energy expenditure through low- to moderate-intensity aerobic exercise can lead to better fat loss. In the process of fat loss, waist circumference as an indicator of intra-abdominal fat may change more significantly than skinfold thickness (a measure of subcutaneous fat). Topical exercise improves the shape of the local muscles and makes them look more "firm".
Myth 7: Preparation and tidying up activities are no longer necessary.
This is one of the most common sports misconceptions. Adequate preparation activities can help the body better adapt to exercise, and post-exercise tidying up activities can prevent problems such as post-exercise hypotension and reduce the risk of sports injuries. Integrating flexibility and balance exercises into warm-up and finishing activities can not only improve physical mobility, but also prevent a variety of sports injuries and improve sports safety.
What do you think? Have you mastered the above seven misunderstandings? In short, remind the elderly that no matter what age you are in, you must adhere to the correct way of exercise to avoid causing harm to the body.
Author: Zhang Lijie
Source: Shenyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Editor: Bai Bing, Sun Kaifeng
Proofreading: Qiu Wei, Chen Zeming
Preliminary review: Sun Baijun
Review: Xu Jiang