EXERCISE & AGEING
Active AGEING
Elderly people represent a large, and growing, section of the population who need to exercise – but who are currently being largely ignored by the health and fitness industry. Kath Hudson reports
O
f the 28,000 trainers registered with REPs, only 1,243 have the training to be able to prescribe exercise
for an older population with age-related diseases. This means that, for every 8,000 elderly people in the UK, there’s just one qualifi ed fi tness instructor – a decline of 31 per cent over the last fi ve years. This in spite of statistics from Nuffi eld Health which show that members aged 60 years and over visit the gym more often than teenagers. They also have higher levels of disposable income, and previous studies have shown them to be more loyal customers than other age groups. Older people also have, arguably, a more pronounced need for guidance when at the gym: performing unbalanced, inappropriate routines could in some cases exacerbate health conditions. So there’s a growing demand for
well-structured exercise among this population. There’s also a vital need.
According to The Keiser Institute on Aging in the US – which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for older adults – we lose around 50 per cent of our strength between the ages of 30 and 80 years. Addressing this can help individuals maintain an independent, fulfi lling lifestyle for longer. Exercise also boosts the body’s
immune system to help ward off fl u and sickness, reduces the risk factors of illness and chronic disease, and helps improve brain function – including helping in the prevention and management of Alzheimer’s and dementia. With many older people isolated, the social element of any exercise plan is also of great value. So why isn’t the sector more geared up to cater for this population, with trained staff and appropriate programming? Older people are a hard-to-reach population – any initiative targeting them is likely to need outreach in some form – but the rewards are there.
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Older people visit the gym more often than teenagers
We take a look at a selection of existing schemes which offer food for thought to operators looking to enter this area of provision.
LIVEABILITY PROJECT Liverpool, UK, is one city that’s realised spending money on keeping seniors independent and healthy is a sounder investment than paying for their healthcare. If current trends continue, by 2024 half of Liverpool’s population will be aged 50 or over, which has prompted the Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust to look for effective ways of helping older people improve their health, fi tness, quality of life and reduce the risk of falls. The Liveability project is an example
of this: it involves community nurses engaging with those at risk, such as widows and elderly people living alone, and encouraging them to come to a leisure centre. There they take part in exercise such as tai chi, line dancing,
November/December © cybertrek 2012
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