Physical exercise is an essential part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Older adults can remain in great shape by adopting a few easy habits, such as stretching.
While growing older, some people may develop aches and pains, tight muscles, stiff joints, and a decline in muscle strength.
However, people can increase their fitness levels with stretching exercises for seniors. These activities can help them maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.
Stretches can also serve as a remedy to prevent diseases such as arthritis and diabetes and help in fall prevention by improving your balance. Further, these exercises have additional benefits for mental health.
Seasons Retirement Communities offer Alberta and Ontario residents several ways to stay fit and get involved in their daily activities without stress.
Now, let us delve right into some of these easy stretching exercises.
This exercise stretches the neck, chest, and shoulders. Get started by putting your arms forward and allowing your elbows to touch, with the side of your palms also coming in contact with each other. Now, place your palms over your head and calmly lower your chin till you feel a stretch in your neck and shoulders. After that, take deep breaths to release any tension.
For better spine mobility, the backstretch helps. It also allows for free blood flow in the body. To do this exercise, stand tall and place your hands on your hips. Then as you stand, calmly bend backward with your hands still on your hips and look upwards. Stay for about five seconds before releasing yourself. Repeat the process ten more times.
The neck side stretch is among the best morning stretches for seniors. This exercise relieves you of stress in the neck and shoulder top region that awkward sleeping positions may have caused. To start, sit upright and gently bend your head towards your shoulders as if to rest on it. Then raise your arm above your head and carefully lean your head to the position of your hand. Stay for 30 seconds and repeat for the other side.
This exercise is vital for spinal flexibility and to help free the muscles to allow one to stand uprightly. Start by standing vertically erect, placing your hands backward, and joining them together. Now with your fingers joined together, stretch back your shoulders. When you feel a stretch, hold on for about 15 seconds. Afterward, repeat the process ten more times.
It is a good exercise for the lower body and is among the easiest hip stretches for seniors. It stretches your joints, thereby allowing for easy movement in your knees and hips. Begin by sitting in a chair and slowly raising a knee towards your chest. After lifting to a certain height, you will feel some stretching. Hold on for about 30 seconds before releasing your leg. Do this for your second leg and repeat the process over again.
These easy stretches can help to improve your posture. Having a good or bad posture affects the body. Tight muscles in the hips, back, and chest can cause poor posture; stretches help loosen these muscles. Since stretching of the muscles can help to align the body properly, this, in turn, improves the body stance.
Stretching frees your joints, hence creating room for more flexibility. If your joints are stiff, it can make it difficult for you to move around. This rigidness makes the muscles quickly fatigued, thus exposing you to more risks of ligament tears and joint pains. However, when you stretch regularly, your joints become loose, thus allowing you to move around more freely.
Stiff joints are more prone to injury when they get over-stretched. However, stretching increases the range of movement in the joints, thus allowing room for more movement. This reduces the chances of sustaining an injury because of the extended resistance range. In addition, stretching increases blood supply to the muscles by warming them up and reducing tightness to prevent ligament tears.
Stress increases the muscle tension in our bodies. When doing stretching exercises, concentrate on regions in your body that tend to get stressed.
Stretching increases blood flow across the body. It supplies blood to your joints, muscles, and heart to allow for the proper transport of essential nutrients throughout the body, thereby encouraging healthy living.
The best time to perform these stretching exercises for seniors depends on how frequently the exercises are carried out. Generally, people should engage in these stretching exercises when their muscles are warm. The best time for individuals who regularly exercise is after workouts, as the muscles are still warm and flexible.
However, less active people can stretch their muscles anytime – preferably in the morning or evening. Before starting the stretching exercises, it’s advisable to take a short walk or jog to loosen the muscles before stretching.
Here at Seasons Retirement Communities, we care about your health and wellbeing and have provided you with these easy stretches for seniors that you can make a part of your daily routine.
Those looking for retirement residences in Alberta or Ontario can contact us at Seasons Retirement for more information on retirement living, and we’ll be glad to offer our quality service.