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One of the easiest ways to stay strong and healthy is prevention. The old saying “An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure”, is so true. The older one becomes, muscles do atrophy, which attributes to weakness. The good news, this is preventable, as muscles do not know how old they are and will happily respond to one working and strengthening them.
It is never too late to start a wellness action plan, making short term goals that will become healthy habits for the rest of your life. A good place to start is by moving, make Activity, a way of life. Walking is the best and least expense exercise one can do. An active body equals a healthy heart, strengthening the heart muscle and helps to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
Here are some prevention tips:
Squats – Sit down and stand up from a secure chair ten times. This movement will help keep the legs strong and the hips flexible. Yes, it will raise your heart rate, which means you are doing cardio exercise.
Safety – Clutter free and clear obstacles from walkways, hallways and stairways. Remove rugs that can be tripped over and check that electrical cords are out of the way.
Falls – We work hard to prevent falls, but if you should fall, gather your thoughts and check to make sure you have not broken any bones. People come running to help you and the first thing they do is start pulling on your arms. Please do not let anyone do this. First, they are never going to get a person up this way and may injure themselves in trying to help the person on the floor. If possible get on your hands and knees, bring one leg in front of you, bending at the knee. Now you are ready to have someone help you up. Have them put their hands under the shoulders, your armpit, on the count of three; the person on the floor pushes with their leg and the hands under the shoulders will assist in standing up, with minimum injury risk.
Staying strong helps balance, arthritis, osteoporosis and flexibility. If all one did was twenty sit downs and stand ups a day, this one movement will facilitate getting up from the dinner table or bridge table with ease, getting in and out of a car, being able to get up on the table at the Doctor’s office, all with little effort.
With summer right around the corner, I remind all of my clients how important water is.
Water is the key essential to life. Our bodies are made of 70% of water and when we become dehydrated, muscles may cramp, constipation can occur and digestion can become sluggish. Many Urinary Tract Infections result from dehydration. So grab that water and enjoy. You can add a slice of lemon to the water to increase the alkalinity in your body. You are now are your way to increasing better health.
The greatest risk to your health is not doing anything. Start today to make that commitment to yourself to become stronger, which will help you have the quality of life you deserve.
