Is exercise really necessary as you age?

A person must come to terms with the amount of poisons and toxins he/she is ingesting each day.

by Becky Coffield — 

There are several reasons why exercise regimes often fall by the wayside as one gets older. The problem is usually not the exercise routine itself, but may actually be in the imbalance of hormones and nutrients in an aging person’s body.

There comes a day when many life-long exercisers are tempted to throw in the towel. After years of pumping iron, peddling for miles, pounding the pavement and aerobicizing with Jane Fonda (or Denise, Debbie, Gilad, et al), it seems that the battle of the bulge is an uphill struggle, and a struggle that, at most, simply maintains a shaky status quo, body-wise.

For those who’ve never exercised much at all, the battle is lost before it’s even begun. Fat, flab, bat wings and rolls pop out at random.

Exercise and eating well

It is important to remember that exercise helps, even though physical results may not be as noticeable or dramatic as they once were. Exercise may be keeping many diseases at bay, such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and depression. Staying fit also helps the bowels function properly, improves circulation and gives one a sense of accomplishment and well-being.

At some stage (the earlier the better), a person must come to terms with the amount of poisons and toxins he/she is ingesting each day. Responsible and healthful selections of food will help greatly in the fight to maintain health, weight and physical appearance. There are myriad excellent resources to help one understand the necessity of taking care of the body nutritionally. Diana Schwarzbein’s book, The Schwarzbein Principle, is a good place to start.

Hormonal adjustments

It may be that natural hormonal decline has more to do with one’s sagging muscles, growing middle and thinning hair than any other factor. A mountain of information is available for those who wish to learn about bioidentical hormone replacement.

Despite the controversy over these hormones, there is growing interest and demand. Medical practitioners tout these hormones for helping with all manner of physical problems. Neal Rouzier, M.D., in How to Achieve Healthy Aging, notes that bioidenticals help people improve their daily life, from helping decreased libidos to heart disease, high cholesterol, Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, stroke, skin atrophy and other conditions.

Living well

There is no magic pill for living well. The desire to live a long and healthy life requires commitment to exercise, good nutrition, stress reduction and, for some, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

Exercise may not seem such a burden and may achieve greater results when one is feeling well, energized and nutritionally supported.

Becky Coffield is a freelance writer who writes for numerous publications. She is also the author of several award-winning books. www.rlcoffield.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 27, Number , December 2008/January 2009.