Doc, I am old, I have 6 grandchildren, what needs to exercise?
I was just waiting for grandchildren activity while tidying the house, sweeping or mopping up my sweat, what is enough?
Doc, I have heart disease what it safe for me to exercise?
The above questions often I get when meeting with patients aged over 60 years. Regular physical activity has a good effect to improve the health of the elderly (aged), but physical activity that one will pose greater risks than benefits.
Exercise in the elderly should be differentiated based on several conditions:
The illness such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes or arthritis.
Exercise habits before
The cognitive status of patients: is there a dementia?
History of previous falls
As an initial guide to start training in the elderly, determine first whether the circumstances allow? Are there any contraindications? This should be answered by your family doctor first after a good inspection.
Part I of this article will focus on understanding kondisiyang happen to an elderly person and about exercise and proper diet, the specifics will be discussed in section II.
In healthy elderly still decreased levels of muscle mass by 40% and replaced by fatty tissue. In addition to the case of a quantitative decrease in muscle mass, muscle strength qualities that there are also down. Other changes in the musculoskeletal system of the elderly also include changes in bone strength and composition. Loss of bone mass is a typical illustration of the elderly as a result of bone mineral loss, changes in the hormonal system, decrease in activity and lack of exposure to sunlight.
As we get older, there is a decrease in systemic organ function, such as a decrease in kidney function, heart function, eye and cognitive (intellectual) that must be considered before planning a diet and appropriate exercise.
The following discussion is about some changes in organs that are important to know.
The heart is a muscular organ (mostly muscle) that play a role in pumping blood to circulate throughout the body. Heart experiencing chronic heavy loads due to disease of the disease, will experience muscle enlargement. Unlike the biceps muscle that could be trained to swell and grow stronger, enlargement of the heart muscle will cause muscle fatigue and failure in the blood pumping. When it has reached the limit of tolerable threshold will cause complaints such as fatigue, shortness of breath and severe conditions can occur cardiac arrest.
The kidneys are organs whose main function is to filter blood and remove toxic products of metabolism maupunracun we consume inadvertently. In healthy elderly, the kidneys will still function well. In bodybuilding athletes who consume high protein without previous abnormalities, kidney would not be significantly impaired, even in kidney donors so that only has one kidney, still enough to function in supporting the needs of the body. But if kidney damage caused primarily by hypertension, diabetes, recurrent infections, or kidney stones, there will be changes in the structure and function. Scarring will accumulate in response to repair the damage so that the existing filter will not work either. As a result of kidney failure are shortness, severe vomiting to seizures that requires you to do dialysis.
Cognitive brain. In the elderly, generally (but not always) a decline in intellectual function / cognitive. Diseases that we often see is dementia / dementia, parkinsonism, stroke with various symptoms. Some of the above conditions can indeed be prevented and one of them is with regular physical exercise.
Impaired vision and hearing. In the elderly several common disease is cataract, retinal disorders as diabetes and hypertension. Decreased function of the eyes and ears must be considered in planning for the sport because it will affect the balance of the system and the risk of falls in the elderly.
Impaired or decreased organ function above must first be understood and adapted to plan physical exercise in the elderly. Exercise is wrong or right will lead to a more dangerous risk, but with proper exercise, the benefits of exercise for the elderly will also be very significant.
Part II will discuss the proper training and the benefits of exercise and diet for a certain disease conditions.
