10/ exercise

[ SPOTLIGHT / HAMILTON]

McMaster University’s Stuart Phillips is a professor in kinesiology who studies how exercise affects strength and muscle mass in older people.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve learned a lot about aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming) and what it can do for health. It’s a great way to promote healthy aging.

But what about strength? Strength-training research has advanced by leaps and bounds, and we can say with confidence that being stronger as we age is as important as being aerobically fit. People need to stay fit but build strength by working against an external resistance. The resistance could be your own body weight; it could be actual weights or elastic exercise bands, but it’s all about developing strength and power.

“Exercise does as much for your mind as it does for your body: it leads to reduced risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and depression. In fact, it’s now an almost weekly occurrence that we’re able to list yet another benefit of what exercise can do to positively affect your health – for example, a reduced risk of 13 of the 26 most common types of cancer.

“It would be great to see more of the built environment become exercise-friendly: bike lanes, walking paths, parks with playgrounds that are accessible and aimed at seniors. Aging in place requires solutions that are age-friendly; recreation and physical activity have to be front and centre. Seniors’ exercise parks like the one the City of Toronto recently built in North York are a great example: we played in parks as kids and, let’s face it, it never really goes away.”

THE FUTURE

Barcelona, Spain, has built playgrounds for older adults designed to improve fitness and decrease isolation. According to a report from the U.S. Public Radio International, the parks are designed to improve the health of body and mind. “A few of the stations are, in fact, games where you match colours or shapes or numbers.”