Seven great ways to fight aging

It's no secret that exercise can keep the body young. It allows people to maintain sufficient physical strength and do the things they love. Canadian fitness expert and physiotherapist Maureen Hagan said: "Exercise is like serotonin in a young person's body. It can affect a person's youthful appearance, the way they move and everything they can accomplish." Hagan introduced the exercise secrets she summarized from teaching practice and clinical research. No matter what type of exercise seniors enjoy, they can benefit from the following seven anti-aging exercises; not only will it help them move their bodies more easily, but they will also avoid injuries and feel younger.

1. Master the essentials of squatting

The key to squatting is: it is very necessary to master the correct exercise posture. Older women may need to squat with their toes slightly apart; this simple solution allows the femur to align properly with the hip joint and the knee to rest over the ankle instead of dropping into it. By adopting the correct exercise method, the strength of the knee joint will become stronger and the frequency of knee pain will be reduced. Men's hip joints are structured differently than women's, so they should squat with their toes pointing forward. In addition, when standing before squatting, women need to separate their feet slightly wider than their hips, which will make it easier to complete the squat.

2. Strength training can change the way genes are expressed

The assertion that people cannot change their genes is only partially true. Although older people cannot change the way their genes are made up, they can change the way certain genes are expressed, which is called genetic epigenesis. Strength training is one of the best ways to achieve this goal. Research shows that just 26 weeks of resistance training can reverse the aging process at the genetic level. "Older people, provided they don't have serious medical conditions, can still strength train all muscle groups just like younger people," Hagen said. In addition, resistance training can also maintain muscle mass because as people age, they lose about 2.3 kilograms of muscle every 10 years, while fat increases by 4.5 kilograms in the same period. Therefore, in order to maintain a balance between muscle and fat, the elderly should also perform strength training.

3. Use your brain more when exercising

One of Hagen's favorite sayings is: Physical exercise is like using your body to do crossword puzzles. The greater the amount of such activity, the greater the involvement of the brain and the better the fitness effect. For example, exercises that can improve the reaction time of the elderly include playing tennis, table tennis and badminton; exercises that can improve memory, such as ballroom dancing and Zumba; exercises that can change the direction of the body, such as taekwondo and rhythmic step aerobics, etc.

4. High-intensity interval aerobic exercise is more efficient

Although the minimum exercise level recommended by health guidelines is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, Hegen found through research that 240 minutes of aerobic exercise per week is most beneficial to heart health because aerobic exercise can improve mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are energy-generating organelles in human cells that typically decrease with age. If the elderly feel that 4 hours of aerobic exercise per week is too long and too heavy, or if they do not have enough time, intermittent aerobic exercise will most effectively improve the elderly's aerobic fitness while saving exercise time. Alternate high-intensity exercise with low-intensity recovery breaks.

5. Let the left and right brains talk to each other

When exercising, the elderly can do more exercises that cross their legs and arms over the midline of the body. This is because the neural connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain deteriorate with age, causing brain delays, meaning the left and right hemispheres have difficulty and trouble communicating with each other. Crossing your limbs encourages an active dialogue between the two sides of the brain and strengthens the neural connections between the two hemispheres. Many movements in yoga and Pilates meet this requirement.

6. Change your approach to high-intensity activities

Many older people are afraid of jumping because they think it will hurt their knees or hips. "Older people need to incorporate some jumping into their daily lives because they need the impact to build bone density," Hagen said.

This doesn't mean they need to do crazy jumping movements, just powerful steps (like the force of squashing a bedbug) are enough; they can also do exercises such as lunges, squats, high leg raises and jumping rope.

7. To encourage more walking, bring a pedometer

The average person only walks 2,000 steps a day, but sports experts strongly recommend increasing this amount to 10,000 steps, which is more beneficial to health. Research results show that simply tracking walking conditions can double the distance a person walks. Therefore, the elderly may wish to bring a pedometer when taking a walk for exercise. They will unknowingly increase their walking mileage and constantly challenge their own records.