Benefits of Exercise for Active Aging

Imagine if the benefits of exercise were available in pill form – with little to no effort, your medical costs would be lower, you would sleep better at night, your mood would improve and your risk of developing chronic diseases would drop.

Americans currently spend more than $3 trillion in healthcare and the majority goes towards treating preventable diseases. Fortunately, the key to living a longer and healthier life is as simple as moving your body! Research has shown that regular exercise can lower blood pressure as well as lower risk of stroke and heart attack, meaning it prevents heart disease – the number one killer in the U.S.

Other benefits of exercise include lower rates of anxiety, depression and memory loss, and is the most effective known way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Just keep moving!

While exercise may not be available as a magic pill, you may be surprised that you can drastically improve your health and lower the risk of disease by exercising just 30 minutes, 5 days a week, according to the American College of Sports and Medicine. If that sounds like a daunting task, you can even split your activity into two 15-minute sessions, 15 two-minute sessions, or anything in between! And there’s a lot of options out there to introduce activity into your lifestyle – take a look at our 10 Simple Ways to Sneak More Exercise Into Your Daily Routine for some great tips.

What happens to my body during those 30 minutes of exercise?

• Physical activity keeps blood flowing to the brain which is essential for removing toxic compounds that can cause the aging and early death of cells.
• People who regularly exercise report that “the stronger [they] kept [their] muscles, the fewer aches and pains [they] had in [their] hips and knees.”
• Exercise produces growth of new blood vessels and cells in the brain – this has been linked to less depression, better memory, and quicker learning.
• Lifting light weights for more reps improves your bone density – making it a good alternative for heavy lifting and a great benefit for healthy aging.
• Exercise releases feel-good hormones called endorphins – triggering feelings of happiness and bliss and enhancing overall quality of life.
• Aerobic exercise combined with weight training (such as cross training on a Freestep) lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Any amount of exercise, regardless of difficulty or duration, can help produce these benefits. Once you feel the workouts getting easier (that’s a good thing), you can increase the intensity or length as you grow stronger.

Make sure to stretch frequently, especially before and after longer or more extensive workouts. Stretching helps you loosen up to prevent injury during your workout, and reduce muscle soreness afterward. Not sure where to start? Download our FREE Stretching Guide for Knee and Joint Pain Relief.

At Teeter, it’s our mission to make fitness and recovery easy and comfortable for all ages and fitness levels, that’s why we designed the Teeter FreeStep – a stress-free zero impact home exercise machine.

Click below to learn more about the unique features and benefits of the FreeStep that you won’t find with any other cardio options.