While growing older is a privilege, it's not always a walk in the park. For many people, age brings with it a deterioration of health - but it doesn't have to look this way for everyone.
The benefits of exercise are second to none, no matter your age. But they become exponentially greater once you enter your golden years. This is where fitness classes for older adults can help in maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle.
Learn more about the benefits of yoga for seniors in this blog.
No matter how old you are, there is no denying the benefits of exercise on your stress levels. Yoga is one of the best forms of exercise for managing anxiety and stress, as it focuses on stress-relieving techniques.
Some of these include breathing techniques, clearing your mind of daily worries, and focusing on your body and how it moves. The body also holds tension in numerous places, most commonly the shoulders, neck, and back.
The many stretching positions of yoga-based practice help to alleviate some of this bodily stress and tension, too.
When stress melts away, there is an instant improvement in your mental well-being and overall mood.
The stretching, breathing, meditation, and concentrated movement involved in yoga practice all help with this. Yoga is one of the best holistic health practices that combines these elements to create an overall sense of improved well-being.
While you can practice yoga alone, it is generally a group activity. This is yet another means of improving your mood - working out with a group of like-minded people.
If you or a loved one live alone and seek connection with others, senior group activities such as yoga classes are a great way to meet people, chat, and improve your well-being/mood.
Yoga is well-known for its many positions that not only alleviate tension in the body but concentrate on improving your overall posture.
During senior adulthood, it's common for good posture to fall by the wayside due to illness, frailty, and lack of exercise and mobility. A good way to combat this is with yoga for seniors.
Yoga helps to focus on and maintain good posture as you age due to numerous factors:
All in all, this form of exercise helps seniors focus on their body and their breath, to feel more in control of how they move. When you feel fully in control of your body, this can motivate you to maintain a good posture throughout your day-to-day life.
The reality is that sleep quality tends to deteriorate as you get older. Whether it's due to illness, insomnia, or disorders such as Parkinson's, your sleep as a senior can take a nosedive.
However, elderly fitness routines have a proven track record of not only improving health outcomes, but sleep quality, too. Yoga is a worthwhile form of exercise to incorporate into your routine to improve your sleep. Here's why:
Not only does the physical exertion of yoga practice improve sleep, but being in a calm, relaxed state after yoga practice can also encourage better sleep.
Yoga is a fantastic tool for managing anxiety, something that you might struggle with before bedtime (due to poor sleep). The more you practice yoga, the better you might become at managing this anxiety before you turn in for the night.
Not many forms of exercise improve and maintain your strength and flexibility like yoga. The practice focuses on lengthening and strengthening key muscles that aid in flexibility.
As you get older, flexibility is essential in going about your day-to-day life and performing even the most basic activities. This includes simple tasks such as bending down to pick something up.
Regular yoga practice is a good way to keep your muscles limber as you age so you can enjoy your independence for a little longer.
Flexibility and mobility might sound like similar concepts, but mobility focuses more on gross motor skills such as walking and your sense of balance.
Yoga is a good way to strengthen not only your core but many other muscles of the body. It can also improve the range of motion within these muscles. This improved overall strength can lead to improved mobility.
The better your mobility and sense of balance, the more confident you'll feel about moving in your day-to-day life.
This brings us to our final point - the risk of injury. As you age, the risk of slip and fall accidents increases greatly due to a lack of strength, mobility, and flexibility in many seniors.
According to the CDC, falls are the primary cause of injury in older adults over the age of 65.
However, you can reduce this risk significantly with regular exercise, including the practice of yoga.
Falling and losing your independence doesn't have to become an inevitability of your life.
By maintaining your strength, mobility, and flexibility through yoga, you can maintain your confidence in your body's abilities to carry you through your golden years.
One of the greatest benefits of a senior living community is the access you have to daily fitness classes for older adults. This is just one of many ways you can maintain your health throughout your golden years.
If you're interested in finding the right community wellness programs, run by compassionate, expert staff, look no further than Addington Place of Edwardsville, based in St Louis.
Learn more about our senior living options today.