Phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty (PA) is vi­tal in pro­mot­ing over­all well-be­ing through­out a per­son's life. Ac­cord­ing to Lang­ham­mer, Berg­land, and Ry­d­wik [2018], "PA is any bod­i­ly move­ment pro­duced by skele­tal mus­cles that re­sults in en­er­gy ex­pen­di­ture. PA en­com­pass­es ex­er­cise, sports, and phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ties as part of dai­ly liv­ing, oc­cu­pa­tion, leisure, or ac­tive trans­porta­tion.

Ex­er­cise is a sub­cat­e­go­ry of PA that is planned, struc­tured, and repet­i­tive and has a fi­nal or in­ter­me­di­ate ob­jec­tive for im­prov­ing or main­tain­ing phys­i­cal fit­ness. Phys­i­cal func­tion is the ca­pac­i­ty of an in­di­vid­ual to per­form the phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ties of dai­ly liv­ing. Phys­i­cal func­tion re­flects mo­tor func­tion and con­trol, phys­i­cal fit­ness, and ha­bit­u­al PA."

As in­di­vid­u­als age, main­tain­ing an ac­tive lifestyle be­comes even more cru­cial. Reg­u­lar phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty of­fers nu­mer­ous ben­e­fits that can pos­i­tive­ly im­pact the age­ing process, both phys­i­cal­ly and men­tal­ly. This col­umn will ex­plore the sig­nif­i­cant ad­van­tages of phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty for old­er adults, high­light­ing its role in en­hanc­ing phys­i­cal health, cog­ni­tive func­tion, emo­tion­al well-be­ing, and so­cial in­ter­ac­tions.

Body

First­ly, phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty pro­vides many health ben­e­fits for old­er adults. Reg­u­lar ex­er­cise helps to main­tain and im­prove car­dio­vas­cu­lar health by re­duc­ing the risk of heart dis­ease, high blood pres­sure, and stroke. En­gag­ing in aer­o­bic ac­tiv­i­ties such as brisk walk­ing, swim­ming, or cy­cling strength­ens the heart and im­proves cir­cu­la­tion, en­sur­ing a health­i­er car­dio­vas­cu­lar sys­tem.

Sec­ond­ly, phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty con­tributes to main­tain­ing bone health and pre­vent­ing os­teo­poro­sis, a com­mon con­di­tion in age­ing. Weight-bear­ing ex­er­cis­es like strength train­ing and walk­ing help stim­u­late bone growth and re­duce the risk of frac­tures, pro­mot­ing bet­ter over­all skele­tal health.

Third­ly, reg­u­lar phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty aids in main­tain­ing a healthy body weight and man­ag­ing chron­ic con­di­tions such as di­a­betes and arthri­tis. By burn­ing calo­ries and in­creas­ing mus­cle mass, ex­er­cise helps to pre­vent weight gain, im­prove in­sulin sen­si­tiv­i­ty, and al­le­vi­ate joint pain as­so­ci­at­ed with arthri­tis.

Last­ly, phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty en­hances flex­i­bil­i­ty, bal­ance, and mo­bil­i­ty, re­duc­ing the risk of falls and in­juries. En­gag­ing in ac­tiv­i­ties like yo­ga, tai chi, or bal­ance ex­er­cis­es im­proves sta­bil­i­ty, co­or­di­na­tion, and mus­cle strength, im­prov­ing over­all phys­i­cal func­tion and in­de­pen­dence in dai­ly ac­tiv­i­ties.

Cog­ni­tive func­tion ben­e­fits

In ad­di­tion to phys­i­cal health ben­e­fits, phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty sig­nif­i­cant­ly im­pacts cog­ni­tive func­tion and men­tal well-be­ing in old­er adults. For ex­am­ple, stud­ies have shown that reg­u­lar ex­er­cise im­proves mem­o­ry, at­ten­tion, and prob­lem-solv­ing abil­i­ties, re­duc­ing the risk of cog­ni­tive de­cline and de­men­tia.

Phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty pro­motes neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, the brain's abil­i­ty to form new con­nec­tions and adapt to chang­ing cir­cum­stances. In ad­di­tion, ex­er­cise in­creas­es blood flow to the brain, de­liv­er­ing oxy­gen and es­sen­tial nu­tri­ents, which sup­port the growth of new brain cells and en­hance cog­ni­tive func­tion.

More­over, phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty pos­i­tive­ly af­fects mood and men­tal health. For ex­am­ple, ex­er­cise stim­u­lates the re­lease of en­dor­phins, neu­ro­trans­mit­ters that pro­mote hap­pi­ness and well-be­ing, re­duc­ing symp­toms of anx­i­ety and de­pres­sion. Phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty al­so pro­vides a sense of ac­com­plish­ment and self-con­fi­dence, boost­ing self-es­teem and over­all men­tal well-be­ing.

Emo­tion­al well-be­ing and so­cial in­ter­ac­tions

Reg­u­lar phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty ben­e­fits old­er adults emo­tion­al­ly, con­tribut­ing to a more pos­i­tive out­look and in­creased over­all life sat­is­fac­tion. Ex­er­cise pro­vides a nat­ur­al stress re­lief mech­a­nism, re­duc­ing feel­ings of ten­sion and anx­i­ety. In ad­di­tion, it helps to im­prove sleep qual­i­ty, lead­ing to bet­ter rest and re­ju­ve­na­tion.

Fur­ther­more, phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty can serve as a plat­form for so­cial in­ter­ac­tions and com­mu­ni­ty en­gage­ment. Par­tic­i­pat­ing in group ex­er­cise class­es, sports, or walk­ing groups al­lows old­er adults to con­nect with like-mind­ed in­di­vid­u­als, fos­ter­ing a sense of be­long­ing and ca­ma­raderie. These so­cial in­ter­ac­tions com­bat feel­ings of lone­li­ness and iso­la­tion, com­mon among old­er adults, ul­ti­mate­ly pro­mot­ing men­tal and emo­tion­al well-be­ing.

Phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty is es­sen­tial to healthy age­ing, of­fer­ing many ben­e­fits for old­er adults. Reg­u­lar ex­er­cise pro­motes phys­i­cal health by im­prov­ing car­dio­vas­cu­lar fit­ness, bone den­si­ty, weight man­age­ment, and over­all mo­bil­i­ty.

Over­all, ac­cord­ing to Moreno-Agosti­no et al. [2020], there is "a pos­i­tive im­pact of phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty on healthy age­ing, at­ten­u­at­ing de­clines in health and func­tion­ing. Phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty pro­mo­tion should be a key fo­cus of healthy age­ing poli­cies to pre­vent dis­abil­i­ty and fast de­te­ri­o­ra­tion in health." Szy­choas­ka and Dry­gas [2022] state, "Phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty is as­so­ci­at­ed with in­creased chances of suc­cess­ful age­ing…pro­mot­ing a lifestyle that in­creas­es chances of suc­cess­ful age­ing should be among the pri­or­i­ties of pub­lic health pol­i­cy-mak­ers, as the pop­u­la­tion of old­er peo­ple is con­stant­ly grow­ing."

The Caribbean re­gion should be con­cerned about build­ing in­to its so­cial de­vel­op­ment poli­cies and pro­grams that will fa­cil­i­tate greater phys­i­cal among the en­tire pop­u­la­tion as the age­ing pop­u­la­tion grows. In an ECLAC study, "The Age­ing Caribbean: 20 Years of the Madrid Plan of Ac­tion," Quashie and Jones [2022] rec­om­mend two mea­sures that speak to the im­por­tance of phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty "Adopt poli­cies, strate­gies, and pro­grams to ad­dress NCD risk fac­tors such as obe­si­ty, to­bac­co and al­co­hol con­sump­tion, and phys­i­cal in­ac­tiv­i­ty through poli­cies to pro­mote phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty in schools, work­places and com­mu­ni­ties; and de­vel­op pro­grammes to fa­cil­i­tate old­er per­sons' en­gage­ment in so­cial, ed­u­ca­tion­al, recre­ation­al, sport­ing, cul­tur­al and civic en­gage­ment in their com­mu­ni­ties, with par­tic­u­lar at­ten­tion to those be­long­ing to the most mar­gin­alised groups."

The emer­gence of an ac­tive 5K run­ning/walk­ing cal­en­dar post-COVID-19 pro­vides an ex­cel­lent op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­alise the ben­e­fits of phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty aligned with the Unit­ed Na­tions Prin­ci­ples for Old­er Per­sons 1991. The gen­er­al themes of the UN Prin­ci­ples are par­tic­i­pa­tion, in­de­pen­dence, care, self-ful­fil­ment, and dig­ni­ty. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, pub­lic and pri­vate pools, recre­ation grounds, and gyms are spaces where old­er per­sons can re­alise the mul­ti-faceted ben­e­fits of phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty. How­ev­er, an em­brac­ing cul­ture must en­sure that old­er per­sons are wel­come and ap­pre­ci­at­ed in all recre­ation­al and sport­ing spaces.