Embrace Mobility: Here’s How You Can Manage Healthy Ageing And Mobility

As we age, it becomes important to maintain mobility for our overall health. Maintaining mobility guarantees quality of life and independence throughout your life while you may be navigating daily activities, enjoying time with your loved one, or simply pursuing your hobbies. Mobility holds the key to you living your life to the fullest. However, in the process of ageing, you may experience a decrease in mobility like flexibility issues, strength in muscles, and less stability in your movements. Thankfully, there are many probable strategies like exercises to maintain mobility, lifestyle changes, etc. that we can adopt and move along with ease always. In this blog, we will learn about the best exercises for elderly mobility, physical therapy for mobility, lifestyle modification for staying fit, and many such useful things.

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Comprehending Mobility and Ageing

Changes start to occur when we are ageing and it affects our mobility and physical functions. If you understand these changes inside out, you will be able to develop effective ways to cope with the issues that arise with ageing. Now let's take a look at some of the factors to consider when maintaining mobility- 

Declining Strength and Loss of Muscles

As a person ages, they will observe a natural decline in their muscle mass along with a decrease in their physical strength. This condition is called Sarcopenia. This condition often leads to reduction in reduced mobility and hindrances while performing daily activities. 

Flexibility and Stiffness of the Joints

You may start to feel that your joints are getting stiffer and due to changes in the tissues and the cartilages, your reflexibility may also reduce. Decreased flexibility impacts the body’s range of motion due to which chances of getting injured may increase. 

Coordination and Balance

With age, your body goes through many changes, one of the most prominent changes include changes in the sensory perception, which contribute to losing coordination and balance in your body. 

Chronic Illness

Some of the age-related chronic illnesses include conditions like arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc which are known to affect the mobility of the body. Please note that it is very crucial that you do not ignore the symptoms of these conditions and implement targeted interventions to treat them. 

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Essential Lifestyles Changes to Enhance Mobility

There are so many conditions that can be easily avoided if we just improve our lifestyle. Including healthy lifestyle routines in your day to day life can prove to be fundamental in optimising mobility and enhancing your overall well-being. Let’s take a look at some of these changes we can incorporate-

Physical Therapy For Mobility Improvement

• It is significant and found to be beneficial if a person engages in regular physical activities that  enhances your cardiovascular health, flexibility and muscle condition.
•  You can also include activities like aerobics and strategic flexibility exercises to improve on different aspects of mobility. 
• You always have the option to choose a physical activity of your choice like- cycling, swimming, yoga etc. in your daily routine. 

Eat a Balanced Diet

• Your diet must include lean proteins, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins, and food grains. 
• In order to maintain your mobility, dietary repercussions are also applicable. 
• You can consult with an expert dietician to get personalised advice on what you should eat to enhance your mobility. 

Resting Well

• It is important that you keep quality sleep on priority to support your overall well being. 
• Every person must aim to sleep for 7-9 hours everyday to allow your body the time to rest, recover and repair. 
• Consistent sleep cycles, creating a relaxed bedtime routine will help you run in the long way. 

Maintain Body Weight

• Improving your body weight will lead to lesser stress on your joints and muscles, improving mobility. 
• You can achieve a good weight by achieving a proper balance between your nutritional intake and maintaining a physical activity schedule. 
• You can reach out for professional help too if you want to for weight management programs. 

Manage Your Stress levels

• Practice techniques that are proven to reduce stress levels such as mindfulness, yoga, meditation, etc. 
• Managing stress is crucial to avoid chronic stress related issues. Stress can directly affect your physical health and mobility. 

Be Social

• Staying connected to your friends and family is important for emotional well-being and mental health. 
• It has been proven that social engagement will have a positive affect on your physical health as it helps you stay motivated. 

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Exercises To Maintain Mobility

While making necessary lifestyle changes is crucial, here are some of the exercises that you include in your fitness routine to enhance your mobility-

Flexibility Exercises

• Incorporating stretching exercises along with exercises that improve the range of motion of the joints. 
• The main goal of these exercises is to stretch major muscle groups like hamstrings, calves, hips, quadriceps, etc. 
• Include these exercises in your warm ups and hold them for 15-30 seconds. 

Training for Strength

• Endurance, strength and muscle mass can be maintained with the help of strength training. 
• Usage of equipment like dumbbells, resistance bands, etc will target major muscle groups like hips, chest, back, core, etc. 
• You can incorporate exercises like lunges, chest press, planks, and gradually increase the repetition and resistance as you go ahead. 

Cardiovascular Exercises

• Mobility can be polished further by taking part in activities such as swimming, biking, dancing, etc. 
• You can engage in 75- 100 mins of cardio twice a week to help build your endurance and mobility. 

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Key Takeaway

By Incorporating a variety of physical activities and best exercises for elderly mobility you can remain young forever. Your muscles, and joints will thank you for all the hard work you do on a daily basis by not losing their mobility. Let us all prove age is just a number and start our fitness journey. Granimals offers comprehensive programs for mobility enhancement, you can schedule a call with us today!

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FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q1- At what age does mobility become an issue?

Answer- As per studies it is around 47-56 years of age when a person can start to suffer from mobility issues. However, some people may also face early onset of these issues as well. 

Q2- What causes lack of mobility in old age?

Answer- Here are the top 4 reasons why people suffer from mobility issues in old age-

• Hip Injury
• Osteoporosis
• Arthritis
• Brain Strokes

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