Combat Loneliness with fitness

I read an article in New York Times, Loneliness Can Be Deadly for Elders; Friends are the Antidote by Paula Span, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/health/loneliness-elderly.html

By the age is 75, 25% of men and nearly 46% of women Live alone. A person can be described as lonely even if they live with somebody. Not everybody who is alone is lonely. But everybody who is lonely affects how they age in their health. 

Many times when you have read an article you can check out where writer got the information. Many times these are studies written in medical journals following the scientific method. Paula was using a study in 2012, Loneliness in Older Persons a Predictor of functional Decline in Death. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1188033 

The study points out that functional decline and death will actually follow all of us. Loneliness is a factor that can bring it quicker. Loneliness is different than depression and there can be people who are lonely but not depressed. Obviously if you're lonely and depressed it can be a double whammy. I am not sure whammy is an exactly medical word.

One of the goals of healthy aging is to develop a strategy to maintain our independence and the ability to do the things we want. 

I have been developing a theory that seniors should develop a fitness program to improve fitness with strength, flexibility, and aerobics. We were younger the order maybe aerobics, strength, flexibility in regard to maximum health. Noticed that the order changes as we age. According to Dr. Cooper we need to work out more with resistance as we age. Dr. Cooper may put aerobics second in that movement helps give flexibility. As we age flexibility becomes more important.

So as we get older it is a good idea to include fitness in our daily routine. By doing so I believe as we age this will improve her functional fitness to take care yourselves. By improving our fitness we are not just maintaining our strength, aerobics, and flexibility but improving it. 

To improve our fitness we are realistic in knowing as we get older our improvement is not as quick as it was when we were younger. We improve at a slower rate, but we do improve.

In reading Dr. Cooper’s books we can actually add muscle even in our 90’s but it does take a little bit of effort.

As we age there are more setbacks and resets in our fitness. We should be prepared to start again after an injury or illness. In my blog how many times have reset my progress. 

We are all different and as we age we all lose friends through movement and death. Some of us are more capable of replacing friends. Some people loved being alone and others are not loved in their loneliness. Everybody can use a friend.

I wish I could start a movement where everybody used telephones to actually talk. If everybody could call a person once a week who is lonely. 

As long as were thinking retro, just think of reintroducing in cursive writing where once a month we wrote a letter. 

Are you alone? How are you dealing with it? Has it going on for a long time? Are you becoming less able to take care of yourself? Change may be very difficult? But you may need one.

Work with your doctor, but it is time to improve your fitness. One block walks, climbing a half flight of stairs, using a chair senior fit programs for strength. After warming up your body on a stationary bike (preferred a recumbent stationary bike) learn to stretch again. Better fitness will help you take care of yourself. 

If loneliness is hurting you than reach out to people who can help you. Relieving suffering is a good goal. I am a big fan to having a psychiatrist on board of your medical team. Who needs pain? Keep walking