Life Span – Health Span

We are all living longer and there are some simple things we can be doing now to improve the quality of our lives as we get older. The current medical model is very reactive and we need to be preventing more illness. Chronic inflammation is a feature in many common diseases, such as heart conditions, obesity, cancer, chronic respiratory conditions and stroke. These conditions are responsible for 3 out of 5 deaths in the world and for reducing the quality of life for 350 million people.

We can make simple changes in our lives to prevent illness.

Diet

We should be eating more whole grains, fruit, vegetables. Reducing the amount of sugar, processed foods and saturated fats.

Image credit:  www.healthiertoeatnhs.co.uk

Sleep

Aim for 6 – 9 hours  sleep at night time.

Image credit:  www.sleepfoundation.org

Exercise

Regular exercise will improve your brain health, help manage weight, reduce the risk of disease, strengthen bones and muscles and improve your ability to do activities. It can also help with chronic pain.

Strength

In our 70’s our muscle mass reduces considerably. We need to do simple daily exercises to strengthen our muscles.

Sit to Stand

Squat

Step Ups

Start with x5 and build up to doing x10, twice a day. All exercises should be slow and controlled. When sit to stands become easy, start doing squats. Progress to step ups and then increase the depth of the step. Aim to do these 3-4 x a week.

Aerobic Exercise

Going for a brisk walk, cycling or swimming are all good forms of aerobic exercise. Build up, so that when you are exercising you are breathing more heavily.  Aim for 30 minutes 3-4 x a week.

Stability  – Prevention of Falls

We need a mixture of strength and balance.

Practise standing on each leg for 30 sec daily.

Small changes to your lifestyle can make massive changes to the quality of your life as you get older.

Physiotherapists can assess and advise you on the correct level of exercises for you.

Prevention is the key.

To book an appointment with Katie please call:

Ashbourne Clinic:     01335 344952

Hilton Clinic:              01283 777070

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