After 60, Maybe We Should Stop Calling It Exercise

For much of our lives, we have been told that we need to exercise.

The word itself can be intimidating. Exercise sounds like something that requires workout clothes, a gym membership, perspiration, and perhaps a personal trainer urging us to do one more repetition.

As we get older, that image can become even less appealing. Some of us have arthritis. Some have balance problems. Some tire more easily than we once did. And some simply have no desire to spend our later years in a gym.

Perhaps we have been thinking about it the wrong way.

Instead of asking, “Am I getting enough exercise?” perhaps we should ask, “Am I moving enough?”

That is a very different question.

Our Bodies Were Made to Move

The human body was not designed to remain in a chair for hours at a time.

Yet modern life makes that remarkably easy. We sit while watching television. We sit at the computer. We sit while reading. We sit in the car. We sit while talking with friends.

And the older we become, the easier it is for sitting to gradually occupy more and more of the day.

The alternative does not necessarily have to be vigorous exercise. Simply getting up and moving more frequently can be worthwhile.

Walk to the mailbox. Carry your groceries into the house one bag at a time. Water the plants. Put away the dishes. Walk around the room while talking on the telephone. Get up during television commercials. Take the long way through the supermarket.

None of these activities sounds impressive.

That may be precisely the point.

Small Amounts Add Up

One of the most encouraging developments in our understanding of physical activity is the growing recognition that movement doesn’t always have to occur in long sessions to matter.

Think about what that means after 60.

Suppose you get out of your chair and walk around the house for three or four minutes several times during the day. Perhaps you take a 10-minute walk after breakfast and another after dinner. You do a little gardening. You straighten the kitchen. You walk down the hall to visit a neighbor instead of calling.

By bedtime, you may have accumulated a surprising amount of activity without ever “exercising.”

This way of thinking may be especially valuable for people who have become discouraged because they can no longer do what they did at 40 or 50.

We don’t have to compete with our younger selves. We need to work with the bodies we have today.

Don’t Underestimate Ordinary Activities

There is another benefit to ordinary movement: it gives us reasons to remain engaged with life.

Walking to see a friend is physical activity, but it is also social activity.

Gardening requires movement, but it also gives us something to nurture.

Shopping gets us onto our feet, but it also gets us out into the world.

Playing with a grandchild may be more physically demanding than we realize – and infinitely more enjoyable than walking on a treadmill.

The best physical activity may be the activity we actually want to continue doing.

Make Movement the Default

There is a simple experiment we can all try.

For one week, don’t worry about “getting enough exercise.” Instead, look for opportunities to move.

When you have been sitting for a while, stand up.

When you can walk instead of drive, walk.

When there are two ways of accomplishing something, occasionally choose the one that requires a little more movement.

If you are physically able, take the stairs once in a while. Park a little farther from the entrance. Walk while you are waiting for the microwave. Put on some music and move around the living room.

We should, of course, respect our individual limitations and follow our doctors’ advice when medical conditions affect what we can safely do.

But aging does not automatically mean becoming motionless.

Quite the opposite.

One of the great goals of growing older is maintaining our independence for as long as possible. And independence itself requires movement: getting out of a chair, walking across a room, carrying something, reaching, bending, balancing and navigating the world around us.

Perhaps exercise is not something separate that we have to add to our lives.

Perhaps movement is simply part of living.

And after 60, one of the best things we can do for ourselves may be very simple:

Sit a little less. Move a little more. And keep participating in life.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you developed the habit of sitting for longer periods of time? Do you think it’s good for you – or the opposite? What small thing can you do, starting today, to move more throughout the day?