The Importance of Exercise in Old Age: Fit and Vital Throughout Your Golden Years
As we age, our bodies naturally become more susceptible to health problems, muscles deteriorate, and mobility decreases. This is precisely why it's important for exercise to remain an integral part of daily life, even in old age. But why is exercise so important for seniors, and how can it be integrated into everyday life?
We've explored these questions and conducted an interview with Maik Hölzel from the REHAktiv Health Studio in Bad Sassendorf.
Especially in old age, exercise is very important:
1. Maintaining mobility and independence: Regular exercise helps maintain muscle mass and keep joints flexible. This allows seniors to remain mobile longer and manage daily tasks independently. This significantly contributes to quality of life and independence in old age.
2. Preventing diseases: Exercise acts as a preventative measure against a variety of diseases that are more common in old age. These include cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and diabetes. Regular physical activity can significantly reduce the risk of these diseases.
3. Improving mental health: Exercise not only has positive effects on the body but also on the mind. Studies have shown that physical activity can reduce the risk of dementia and depression. Exercise promotes blood circulation to the brain, thus supporting cognitive functions such as memory and concentration.
4. Social contacts and joy of life: Group sports and exercise promote social interaction and prevent loneliness. Shared activities, such as Nordic walking, dancing, or senior sports groups, offer an ideal opportunity to meet new people and motivate each other.
Integrating sports into daily life:
1. Adapted sports: Not every sport is suitable for older people. It is important to find the right balance between exertion and rest. Suitable sports include swimming, cycling, hiking, or gymnastics. These promote endurance, strength, and flexibility without overstraining the body.
2. Small exercise units in everyday life: Exercise doesn't always have to take place in a formal setting. Even small exercise units in everyday life have a big impact. This can include taking the stairs instead of the elevator, short walks, or light gardening. Exercises to improve balance and coordination can also be easily integrated into daily life.
3. Regularity is key: The decisive factor is that exercise takes place regularly. This is not about high-performance sports, but about continuous, moderate activity. It is better to be active for 20 to 30 minutes daily than to run a marathon once a week. Regular exercise helps to establish habits and maintain physical fitness in the long term.
4. Listen to your body: Especially in old age, it is important to pay attention to the body's signals. In case of pain or discomfort, the intensity of the exercise should be adjusted. Medical advice before starting a new exercise program can be useful to ensure that the chosen activity is appropriate for the individual's health condition.
Interview with Maik Hölzel from REHAktiv Health Studio
Maik Hölzel offers fitness and rehab sports as well as health training. As one of the largest rehab sports providers in the district, and in cooperation with the German Rheumatism League and the Federal Self-Help Association for Osteoporosis e.V., they have established a rich course program for members and external visitors. Maik took the time to answer questions regarding fall prevention and senior health, and also gave us a brief introduction to a new training system for seniors.
The full interview will be available as short video clips in August and September on our Instagram channel. Stay tuned and don't miss any tips on exercises and fall prevention. The first interview clip can be found here.
Hello Maik, thank you for having us here. Please introduce yourself.
Maik H.: My name is Maik Hölzel, 45 years old, and I am the owner of REHAktiv Health Studio, the health and fitness provider in Bad Sassendorf.
Can you first tell us a little about your work with seniors in rehabilitation?
Maik H.: We've been running the studio for about 20 years, and here in Bad Sassendorf, we deal with many elderly people. It's very diverse and varied. We have people with many health requirements, and we address these with various exercises, course programs, and diverse activities to ultimately promote and advance sports and health.
Fall prevention is an important topic for seniors. Are there special exercises or things seniors can do to prevent falls?
Maik H.: Everything related to strength exercises. Even older people can do exercises at home, in the studio, or with various providers, using their own body weight to address strengthening for fall prevention.
How important is muscle mass in old age for seniors who, for example, have already fallen and are afraid to move or do something about their muscles?
Maik H.: Muscle mass becomes even more important in old age, as we naturally lose muscle mass with age, and our bone and skeletal system also weaken. That's why it's particularly important in old age to train and do exercises, as well as to promote fall prevention, upright posture, and strengthening in old age.
Stretching exercises are often performed as part of a fitness program. How important are they for seniors?
Maik H.: Just as important as strength exercises themselves. Building muscle is important on one hand, but on the other hand, it's also important to make the muscles and muscle itself more supple, to lengthen it, and thus to make it more flexible. This is also an important thing in old age that can definitely be trained.
If seniors, for example, do not do stretching exercises but strengthen their muscles, do they still have a risk of falling?
Maik H.: Perhaps slightly less, but the risk of injury is naturally somewhat increased here and there. Simply because the muscles have not been stretched or extended beforehand.
What role does general health play when seniors come here to do rehabilitation sports?
Maik H.: Basically, it doesn't matter whether someone already has a specific diagnosis for rehabilitation sports or already has a few minor ailments here and there. It is important that rehabilitation sports are consistently performed and done regularly. This leads to improvement and definitely also promotes health awareness, as well as strengthening muscles.
What inspired you to work in the field of rehabilitation for seniors?
Maik H.: I myself come from the sports sector and have been doing this for 20 years now. I enjoy working with people, especially with older people. I enjoy looking after them and regularly doing sports with them, to see small successes and to further promote health awareness.
What challenges and successes have you experienced in your work with seniors?
Maik H.: We are fortunate to be here in Bad Sassendorf and work with many older people. That's why we have many examples in the studio, i.e., seniors who regularly exercise and have experienced improvements. These include improvements in gait, strengthening and building muscle, and we have also received feedback here and there that through sport and regular exertion on the machines here, there is a better quality of life.
Would you say that seniors who were initially anxious about rehabilitation sports, also in terms of acting independently at home, approached everyday tasks with more self-confidence and self-determination after rehabilitation sports?
Maik H.: Definitely! We also have many people and older seniors here who are somewhat more insecure beforehand. Especially when it comes to machine training, but also group training, and they definitely see an improvement for themselves after or during rehabilitation sports, becoming more self-confident and thus coping better in the future.
What are the usual reasons for seniors to start rehabilitation sports?
Maik H.: Well, there are two paths. On the one hand, of course, from the medical direction, where the doctor ultimately advises doing sports and rehabilitation sports, but also out of personal decision, to regularly do strength exercises in old age and thereby experience a better quality of life.
How quickly can seniors generally see progress when they start exercising for health reasons?
Maik H.: It happens relatively quickly. If someone regularly does something in the week here on the machines or in our course area, an improvement can be seen in the medium term, within 3 to 6 weeks. Strengthening occurs, the gait improves, and overall well-being is enhanced.
What does regularity mean for seniors in this case?
Maik H.: Regularity should be twice a week to achieve a certain training effect. Three times would be better. The majority of our clientele manages to come two to three times a week for an hour each.
Which diseases can be preventively addressed with rehabilitation sports?
Maik H.: Preventively, you can do something for all diseases that fall under the umbrella of orthopedics, i.e., everything related to the skeletal and muscular system.
Are there differences in the development of seniors who start rehabilitation sports for health reasons versus those who start for preventive reasons?
Maik H.: Both groups come from different paths to exercise. On one hand, medically, on the other hand, independently. Both help to bring about an improvement in quality of life.
Do you have an example of a special success story from a senior who did rehab sports with you?
Maik H.: We recently had an example here. It was an elderly lady who had hip surgery. She completed the sport and is still participating. She came to us with walking aids beforehand. In conjunction with physiotherapy and rehabilitation sports, we helped the rehabilitation sports participant to walk freely and independently, and her muscles strengthened to the point where she experienced no more pain.
How do you support seniors here to stay motivated and maintain regularity?
Maik H.: In addition to the sporting aspect, we also try to be a small family, and social participation is very important to us here. Everyone is welcome here, especially our older people and seniors, who enjoy coming here. Everyone is greeted by name, and we truly try to be a family for all age groups.
How do you individually adapt the training program to the needs and abilities of individual seniors?
Maik H.: In the first training session, our trial session, we naturally look at the current condition of the respective patient or participant and then determine which exercises we can specifically include in the plan to bring about an improvement, for example, for a better gait and to strengthen fall prevention. And that is fundamentally individual for everyone here.
I hear you have a new training system specifically for seniors here at your studio.
Maik H.: Yes, as an alternative to equipment training or dumbbell and class training, we currently offer our ExerCube here. This is something completely new. It's a digital training system with which I can train cognitive abilities, strength, condition, and endurance, essentially with my own body.
Maik introduces us to the new training system in a video. Additionally, Maik shows us some exercises that seniors can easily do at home. Without any aids, using water bottles and a chair.
Here you can find our Instagram channel and the aforementioned videos.
Many thanks to Maik for his time and the enriching tips and experiences from his daily life at REHAktiv Health Studio. (Click link to learn more)
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