What ! That sounds counter intuitive. When you are young, you have so much more energy, and time. Your workouts are fun. When you are young, you want to excel at competitive sports. You also want to be physically attractive and popular in the dating scene. So, how can exercise be even more important as you age? Read on.
Some people might think that the main benefit of exercise is keeping body weight down. Instead, they feel that they can keep their weight down by being careful with their diet. A good diet can help you to avoid excess fat on your body, if you have the discipline to follow a good diet. However, you need exercise to keep from losing too much lean muscle mass, which happens automatically as you age.
What happens when you lose too much lean muscle mass? You will not be able to do many of the things you did in your younger days. For example, some senior citizens no longer can climb stairs and need a stair lift. Some people might need a wheelchair for mobility, especially after a fall caused by weak, inflexible muscles, and the declining sense of balance of advancing age.
Those who lose too much muscle mass become physically frail. This frailty will not help them to advance their career or avoid age discrimination at work. When walking a city street, this frailty also can lead to a criminal attack
Exercise also helps you to attain better overall health. That is especially important now that there is a growing shortage of physicians and there will be a possible future insolvency of Medicare and social security. Even if these events never impact you, the medical and insurance bureaucracies will be unavoidable if you do not lead a healthy life.
With the proper modifications, and in consultation with your physician, you can exercise safely in your later years. This is certainly better than becoming inactive and worshiping professional athletes.
Read my book for an even more in-depth discussion of exercise.
How old are you? Are you still exercising?
