50+ Lifestyles

The Key to Staying Pain Free, Reduce your Risk of Chronic Disease and Stay Independent….Get Moving! May is Senior Health and Fitness Month

By Marie A. Wisely
Choice Home Health Care Inc., CPHQ-Agency Administrator

Evidence suggests people who are active have a lower risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, depression and dementia.  As little as 30 minutes of vigorous exercise per day, five times per weeks can starve off some of these debilitating chronic diseases.  “As people get older and their bodies decline in function, physical activity helps to slow that decline,” says Dr Nick Cavill, a health promotion consultant. “It’s important they remain active or even increase their activity as they get older.”

What is considered vigorous exercise? Exercise that increases a person’s heart rate for more than 10 continuous minutes. Examples include moderate to fast walking, running, riding a bike, playing tennis, mowing the lawn (push mover) and swimming. Unfortunately, regular household chores are not counted toward your 30 minutes of exercise per day, because under normal circumstances a person’s heart rate is not increased for a sustained period of time.

May is National Senior Health Fitness Month, and May 27th is national Fitness Day (last Wednesday of May).  National Senior Health & Fitness Day is organized as a public-private partnership by the Mature Market Resource Center, a national information clearinghouse for the older adult market. The goal is to get over 100,000 older adults to participate in activities at more than 1,000 locations throughout the U.S. The common goal for this day: to help keep older Americans healthy and fit.  Local participation includes area agencies on aging, banks, health clubs, churches, health care facilities, malls, retirement communities and senior centers.

All it takes is to get moving!  How much you get moving depends on your individual health status.  If you’ve been inactive for a while, you don’t have to jump right into a vigorous exercise plan.  You can start slow building up your tolerance and fitness levels as you go.  You can build up activity gradually to reach 30 minutes per day.

Choice Home Health Care, Bettendorf Iowa, has been chosen as one of the finalists in the Dream Big Grow Here business grant program through the University of Northern Iowa Regional Business Center.

“We are excited to be chosen as one of the finalists and want to thank everyone who voted for us and passed the word on to friends and family.   We believe in the power of music and memory through this innovative program and we are all looking forward to the next level of the contest”, stated Marie Wisely, Agency Administrator.

The next step is a pitch off event held in conjunction with the EntreFEST on May 21st in Iowa City to determine the six industry winners of $5,000.  The six will then compete in an additional pitch off for the $10,000 grand prize business grant.

During the online portion of the grant program, the Dream Here Grow Big website logged over 100,000 users for a total of 75,665 votes; roughly half the votes from Iowa.  Choice Home Health Care is one of three finalists chosen from the eastern Iowa.

“Thank you” to all who had helped

and keep people aware of the status