Meaning of Physical Activities for the Elderly: A Review

Wangui Anthony Muchiri¹, Oloo Micky Olutende^1, , Issah W. Kweyu¹ and Esther Vurigwa¹

¹Department of Health Promotion and Sport Science, School of Public Health, Biomedical Sciences and Technology, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega, Kenya

Cite this paper

Wangui Anthony Muchiri, Oloo Micky Olutende, Issah W. Kweyu and Esther Vurigwa. Meaning of Physical Activities for the Elderly: A Review. American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2018; 6(3):79-83. doi: 10.12691/AJSSM-6-3-3

Abstract

Aging is a process of inherent change that has separate or joint effects on the individual identity. Aging brings about physiological, psychological and other kinds of changes to the human body. The frail elderly people present a clinical syndrome which comprises of unintentional body weight loss, muscle weakness, slow walking, self-reported exhaustion and low level of physical activity among the elderly people who are over the age of 65. When these changes occur the health benefits of fitness are retained and regress slowly. It is of importance to note that although some of the changes brought by aging can’t be controlled some can be controlled feasible in many of the body organs through exercise. The increasing use of preventive care, better medical management of mobility and changing lifestyles in older persons, exercise has beneficial effects on health and longevity. Psychological care plays useful part in coping with these situations. It also boosts self-esteem, self-confidence and self-worthy and therefore the purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of exercise to the aging persons and how the same helps reduce the effects of aging. This will be done by elaborating how exercise affects different body systems with age. In conclusion, the findings of this paper provide empirical evidence for the importance of supportive environments for the elderly people to continue performing meaningful occupations outdoors

Keywords

physical activity, elderly, health promotion, exercise

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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