Easy At-Home Exercises for Seniors to Keep You Thriving
“Staying active is one of the most essential keys to healthy aging. As you get older, your agility and reaction time slow. This can increase your risk of falling or injury, but that doesn’t mean you should stop moving.”
Seniors can benefit tremendously by committing to regular at-home exercises.. Thrive throughout your golden years with these easy, at-home exercises for seniors.
Benefits of Physical Activity for Seniors
Staying committed to moving regularly can feel like a chore when you’re just getting started. But once you create a routine, you’ll start to feel some of the many benefits of physical activity for seniors.
Regular physical activity can help increase your lifespan and keep your body in prime condition, no matter your age or physical ability. Exercise also helps improve your balance and mobility, reducing your risk of falling as you age.
Another benefit of staying active is getting your regular dose of post-exercise endorphins. Exercise can help boost your mental health and help fight off conditions like depression, insomnia, and dementia.
Reduce Fall Risk with Chair Exercises
Chair exercises are an excellent way for seniors to exercise at home safely. A chair exercise routine doesn’t need to be complicated, and it’s one of the best ways to stay active as you age.
Here are a few examples of safe, simple, and easy chair exercises that you can do at home:
Bicep curls
Shoulder circles
Toe taps
Knee lifts
Core twists
Seated tap dance
After a while, you might feel like these exercises are becoming too easy. If that’s the case, you can add some light equipment - like resistance bands or lightweight dumbbells.
Get Your Daily Steps In with Simple Aerobics
Simply staying mobile throughout the day can help keep you healthy. Take mobility breaks if you’re watching TV or read a book. Every so often, do a few laps through your house to get your muscles moving and your heart rate up.
Try these easy, at-home simple aerobics moves to get your blood pumping:
Farmer’s walk
Single leg stand
Tandem stance
If you want to switch up your daily flow, you can also find various free, online aerobics classes for seniors. They can help safely introduce you to new exercises that you might just fall in love with!
Increase Mobility and Flexibility with Yoga
Yoga is one of the best ways to improve your mobility and flexibility. Improving your agility not only helps keep you flexible, but it can also reduce your risk of injury and falling thanks to improved balance.
You also don’t need any equipment for yoga, which makes it the perfect at-home exercise. Here are a few yoga moves for seniors:
Tree post
Warrior II
Bridge
Balancing mountain
Knee to chest
One of the best things about yoga is that it can be modified to accommodate your needs. You can make it even more low-impact by switching to chair yoga. Like other chair exercises, chair yoga almost completely eliminates all risks of falling. You can get your stretch on and increase your mobility and balance without the risk of injury from falling.
Stick with At-Home Exercises That Work for You
Remember: you don’t need to go crazy with exercise - unless you want to. It’s about finding activities that you feel comfortable with. Don’t push yourself outside of your comfort zone, or you might injure yourself. All it takes is about 20 minutes per day to reap the rewards of staying active.