It’s never too late to pick up new healthy habits – so long as we are alive, we can adapt and change
By Paul Bolger. Chartered Physiotherapist at Nano Physiotherapy, Kilkenny (www.nanophysio.ie).
Age is more than just a number. Things do change as we get older – you don’t need me to tell you that. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It is well established that most people develop a greater sense of wellbeing with age.
Yes, our bodies will change as we grow older. But it is completely possible to slow down these changes so that we maintain strength, fitness and mobility deep into our twilight years. Don’t believe me? Well, I have a few things to tell you…
Weightlifting in nursing homes
Researchers have gone into nursing homes to test out what happens when you put residents through weightlifting classes. Guess what? The residents get stronger and grow muscle. Their ability to get around improves. These changes tend to come about with consistent, regular efforts. Unsurprisingly, the benefits wear off when people stop training. So, like anything in life, we are good at what we do regularly.
Exercise protects your brain
Our brains can change, no matter what age we are. Exercise helps this process. Exercise promotes the release of a protein by the name of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). Any chemical or hormone with the suffix ‘–trophic’ attached to it means that it is associated with nutrition and growth. So BDNF nourishes and promotes growth of nerve cells. It plays a key role in memory formation and maintaining the health of the nerves we already have.
BDNF levels decease as we age – it is easier to learn new things when we are young. But regardless of what age you are, you can always benefit from the nourishing effects of BDNF following a good bout of exercise.
Bones can grow stronger
We start to lose bone density from about the age of 30. But this process depends hugely on how we live our lives – with exercise and nutrition being vital to the maintenance of strong, dense bones. Astronauts, while in space, lose as much bone density in one month as a post-menopausal woman loses in one whole year. Zero gravity means their bones are never under strain. Our bones, like everything else in our body, are alive and adapt to the strains of life. If bones are not under strain, our body reabsorbs minerals from them to use elsewhere.
Strength training (like lifting weights) has been shown to slow, stop, or occasionally reverse, bone density loss, even in older women who suffer from osteoporosis (low bone density).
Wild people stay strong
There are people living today who lead lives not dissimilar to how our ancestors may have lived 50,000 years ago. These hunter gatherers are much more active than the average person in our western societies. Elderly hunter gatherers (yes, many of them live well into their later years) are much stronger and fitter than their western counterparts. The average 70-year-old member of the Aché tribe in the forests of eastern Paraguay is as strong as an average 55-year-old British person. Why is this? They stay physically active and involved in the day-to-day tasks within their tribe.
So, I hope I have convinced you that the common saying is wrong – you can, in fact, teach an old dog new tricks.
