The good news is that it is never too late to adopt a more active lifestyle. Most people who have difficulty sticking with a health-promoting program usually make it too complex. Why not make it easy? Along with activities that promote cardiovascular fitness, such as walking or cycling, we can add all sorts of great activities – from leisure pursuits (dancing, bowling) and indoor work activities (vacuuming or sweeping the floor) to outdoor work activities (gardening and washing the car) and recreational sports (golf, volleyball, softball). We have hundreds of choices for healthful activities! The key is to find something that you truly enjoy, and then stick to it.

I once read that we don’t stop playing because we get old; we get old because we stop playing. So true! A look at the older population reveals that balance is an issue. Maybe it’s because we don’t walk on the railroad tracks anymore or don’t try to walk on a raised cement rail; maybe it’s because we stopped jumping on a pogo stick or no longer ride our bikes. Do you remember walking on stilts? See, we stopped playing, so we got old.

Balance starts to decline by the age of 25. That makes sense because this is about the time we start supporting a family and become too busy to play. When we notice that our sense of balance is gone, we make excuses not to go for a walk because we might fall. More and more time is spent sitting and not exercising.

It is well documented that as we age, we lose our strength. Here is where the phrase “use it or lose it” is accurate. Strength improves our independence, allowing us to do many things on our own. When we lose our strength, we lose our autonomy.

All too often, I hear people remark that they can’t do this or can’t do that. This attitude will age a person faster than anything. Pretty soon that same negative person won’t even show up to say those words. If we instead train ourselves to say, I’ll try, the results may become positively phenomenal! Movement is the essence of life; with little or no flexibility, we can no longer perform the activities of daily living.

Endurance exercises are those that enhance breathing and heart rate. Endurance seems to be something that declines with age – perhaps because we don’t challenge ourselves to try for that extra mile or another 15 minutes of walking, running or bike riding. We need to push ourselves to stretch for that next level of fitness that comes from consistency with determination.

Strength training is composed of five basics: strength, endurance, balance, flexibility, and a positive mental attitude. These are the five things that are essential to keeping us young. Some say that strength training is the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth.

Most gerontologists and epidemiologists breakdown the older population by age: those aged 50 to 64 are the older age of youth; those 64 to 75 are the young old; those 75 to 85 are the older old; those 86-plus are the frail old or old-old; and those 100 years and older are centenarians. Physical educators and exercise physiologists differentiate between chronological and physiological age. Chronological refers to the person’s birth date; physiologic or biological age is the physical condition, energy level and the body strength of the individual.

I heard Mickey Mantle once say, “If I’d known I would live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” Let’s start taking care of ourselves today!