There are as many ways to work fitness into the daily routine as there are people, and local seniors will check some of them out on the 13th Annual National Senior Health and Fitness Day, Wednesday, May 31.
The Department of Recreation and Health Promotion will serve as an official host site for the day with Fitness-A Lifetime of Benefits. From 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., participants will join an estimated 150,000 seniors at more than 1,000 locations - all on the same day - as they walk, dance, play and learn their way to better fitness and health.
Each year, event coordinators in every state invent imaginative ways to engage seniors in regular exercise. Experts know that even small increases in physical activity can lead to better health. NSHFD gives older adults an opportunity to begin or renew a commitment to fitness and to celebrate the active senior lifestyle.
The Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health concluded that "older adults can obtain significant health benefits with a moderate amount of physical activity, preferably daily."
Among the benefits are increased cardiorespiratory endurance, as well as stronger muscles, which help reduce the risk of falling and improve the ability to perform the routine tasks of daily life.
Moderate physical activity also can reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, colon cancer, and feelings of depression and anxiety. To gain these benefits, people should engage in regular physical activity on all, or most, days of the week.
National Senior Health and Fitness Day, coordinated by the Mature Market Resource Center, is always held on the last Wednesday of May as part of Older Americans Month. May is also National Physical Fitness and Sports Month.
For more information about Fitness-A Lifetime of Benefits, contact Joan Jerman at 248.3241 ext. 3119.
Jerman is with the Bay Mills Department of Recreation and Health Management.
