Too many middle-aged people stop exercising and cheer on their favorite professional athletes while drinking too much beer and eating too much junk food. This article will discuss why this counterproductive change in behavior often happens, and how to correct it.
When we are young, we tend to exercise more because:
1) We have more energy.
2) Our young bodies allow us to recover more quickly from exercise sessions.
3) We often are involved in organized sports competition in school.
4) We usually have more time for exercise.
Older people, however, need exercise for their health even more than younger people need it. By making some realistic changes in their exercise habits, older people can continue exercising and increase their chances of remaining healthy.
Yes, older people have less energy and do not recover from lengthy exercise sessions as quickly as do younger people. Older people also probably have less time than younger people have for exercising.
Older people do not, however, need to exercise as much, as strenuously, or as long as younger people exercise. Why is that? That is because they probably are not involved in sports competition.
There are, however, other motivators that older people can use to exercise for their health. Exercise does not have to involve hours of exertion daily in a gym. Actually, research has shown that people can benefit from as little as 20 minutes of walking exercise a day.
Exercise still can be pleasurable for older people. Especially for people with indoor jobs, getting outside to walk for exercise can be exceptionally pleasurable. As they look at the sun shining through the morning dew drops, those dew drops can seem to be as bright as diamonds.
Other such sensuous pleasures are listening to the sounds of birds in the morning and crickets in the evening. Also enjoyable are the feelings of the wind and sunshine on their bodies. Still other outdoor delights come from the smelling of flowers in the spring, of burning leaves in the fall, and of pine trees during the entire year.
It is easy to feel close to nature’s creator when people exercise outside. There, they can see rainbows, sunrises, sunsets, and the color changes of leaves in autumn.
It is important to keep exercising as you age. Although you have more energy when you are young, lifelong exercise habits can be strong motivators for you to keep consistently exercising.
How old are you? Do you still exercise consistently? What is your exercise routine like? My book goes into great detail about exercise.
