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Archive for category Exercise

Tai Chi Reported to Ease Fibromyalgia

Aug 21

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By PAM BELLUCK

The ancient Chinese practice of tai chi may be effective as a therapy for fibromyalgia, according to a study published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A clinical trial at Tufts Medical Center found that after 12 weeks of tai chi, patients with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, did significantly better in measurements of pain, fatigue, physical functioning, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education. Tai chi patients were also more likely to sustain improvement three months later.

“It’s an impressive finding,” said Dr. Daniel Solomon, chief of clinical research in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “This was a well-done study. It was kind of amazing that the effects seem to carry over.”
nytimes.com

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A growing number of baby boomers see sports as a way to feel young again

May 24

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BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ

The sky is the color of freshly brewed coffee when Liliana Retelny slips her 27-foot shell into the still waters of Miami Beach’s Indian Creek and begins her daily three-hour routine. She rows. She rows as the rising sun stains the clouds, as students practice with their crew teams, as the sounds of a waking city begin to fill the air.

Retelny, 47, is practicing to compete against rowers two decades her junior. The Aventura psychotherapist already has won two silver medals in the Central American Games, placed 20th in World Cup competition and second in her division in Israel’s Maccabiah Games. All this in a sport she took up only four years ago, when her daughter was rowing for her high school team.

“I love it,” said Retelny, who competes under her maiden name, Boruchowicz. “For me this is not work. It is not a matter of discipline. When I’m on the water, I’m the happiest. I feel alive and young.”
miamiherald.com

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Baby boomers put more boogey in their step, beware ‘boomeritis’

Apr 23

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By Cassie Piercey

They dominate this country’s society – 78 million in the U.S., making up nearly one-third of our nation’s population, according to the Census Bureau.

They are the baby boomers — an influential and burgeoning demographic of late 40-year-old to 60-somethings born during the World War II birth rate boom lasting from 1946 through about 1964.

One of the biggest generations the U.S. has seen, baby boomers are living longer than their predecessors – but, though their age may qualify them for AARP membership, don’t be so quick to label all boomers an inactive bunch of senior citizens. Celebrities George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres and even the material girl Madonna are included among the ranks of baby boomers.

Boomers are hardly slowing down; most are fighting the sands of time to remain fit and, as Rod Stewart sings, stay “forever young.”
sdnn.com

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Skaters Coach 101

Mar 23

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If roller skating is one of the fun physical activities you hate to give up as you age, the Skaters Coach might be for you.

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Double the Odds of Seeing 85

Mar 9

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When It Comes to Longevity, Regular Exercise May Be the Most Potent Weapon Against Disease

By RON WINSLOW

The leading edge of the baby boom generation turns 65 next year, which means a new milestone looms on the horizon: age 85.

So what do boomers need to do not just to survive to 85, but to live healthy lives into old age and not break the bank at the federal Medicare program?

The most important strategy, according to the latest research to look at the question, is to be physically active in middle age. “If you are fit in mid-life, you double your chance of surviving to 85,” says Jarett Berry, a cardiologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Put another way: If you’re not fit in your 50s, your projected life span “is eight years shorter than if you are fit,” Dr. Berry says.
wsj.com

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Fat boomers less able to do chores

Nov 14

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By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – America’s baby boomers are likely to have far more trouble moving around as they get older than their parents had, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

They studied disabilities among several age groups and found that people in their 60s were less able to do daily activities like walking up a flight of stairs or using a vacuum cleaner than people in their 70s.

Rising rates of obesity — two-thirds of American adults are either obese or overweight — may be to blame.

“If you have more weight, you wear out your joints faster and report more disability,” said Dr. Arun Karlamangla of the University of California at Los Angeles, whose study appears in the American Journal of Public Health.

“Clearly there is an obesity epidemic, and that is why you are seeing a worsening,” he said in a telephone interview.
reuters.com

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As baby boomers flock to get fit, gyms prepare for aging exercisers

Oct 31

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boomers
Jenny Lee, Canwest News Service

Many mainstream fitness centres have been reluctant to
“grey” their enrolment even as membership continued to decline over the past four years, but that is now finally beginning to change, Colin Milner, CEO of Vancouver-based International Council on Active Aging said in an interview.

Over the next 10 years, the 18- to 49-year-old market will grow by 0.6% and the 50-plus market will grow 25%, Milner said, yet most clubs still cater to the younger market. Many older adults want – or need – personalized fitness programs that take into account health issues such as bum knees and rotator cuffs. Yet, most older adults are not sure exactly what to do when it comes to exercise, Milner said. Some lack the energy to exercise, others find traditional gyms unpleasant or intimidating.

Older adults also spend more of their income on health than any other need or activity.
nationalpost.com

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Not enough boom in Baby Boomer generation

Sep 30

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BY SHANNON PROUDFOOT, CANWEST NEWS

Contrary to their healthy living image, baby boomers are “drifting” into old age with poor eating habits, too little exercise and decimated savings, said Robert Butler, CEO of the International Longevity Center.

“We do not have a healthy population moving into old age,” he said recently when opening a weeklong workshop on aging issues run by the ILC, a non-profit think-tank. “It’s a huge social change. I don’t think we can do in time the things that will most benefit them.”

However, Butler said he hopes boomers will still be “energetic” about bringing on changes that will benefit the generations to follow them.

By 2015 there will be more people in Canada over 65 than under 15, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent population projections. And the number of seniors is expected to double during the next 25 years.

In a report issued by the ILC, “The Future of Living: Independently,” boomers — the generation born between the end of the Second World War and the early sixties — are urged to plan ahead for old age and create “a meaningful social dialogue on aging.”
canada.com

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Weight training may help prevent muscle loss after age 65

Sep 15

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By LiveScience Staff

It’s a sad fact that muscles shrink as adults age. But new studies are starting to unravel how this happens — and what to do about it.

Past research has shown that the bodies of older people build muscle from food less efficiently than young people. Now researchers at the University of Nottingham in England have also found that a mechanism that prevents muscle breakdown works less effectively in people over the age of 65, resulting in a “double whammy” effect.

For the elderly, less muscle mass means not only a loss of strength, but also increases the likelihood of injuries from falling. However, the new research suggests weight training may help older people retain muscle.

The study, detailed in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, compared the effects of insulin (a hormone released to slow muscle breakdown after eating) on a group of people in their late 60s to a group of 25-year-olds.
livescience.com

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