FAQs
Your Bone Density-
Bone density declines with age leaving you with a weaker, less dense, and more brittle skeleton. On average a person loses 1% bone mass per year after age 35. This loss can increases risk of fractures in the forearms, wrist, vertebrae, and hips.
In approximately 25% of post-menopausal women there is enough bone loss to be diagnosed as osteoporotic. More women die each year from hip fractures related to osteoporosis than breast cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer combined. Each year about 300,000 people are admitted to the hospital with hip fractures and about 1/2 never go home again.
Risk Factors for Osteoporosis
Aging, Race/Heredity, Inactivity, Hormone Loss, Poor Diet, Small Frame, Smoking and Alcohol Abuse, Excessive Caffeine and Dietary Protein Consumption, Lack of Sunight, Low Calcium Intake
Prevention for Osteoporosis
A number of studies show that a prolonged span of weight-bearing exercise such as walking, running or cycling can reduce the rate of bone loss.
Strength training increases bone density. In one study of women over 40 found those who strength trained didn’t lose, but gained 1% bone mass.
Stress repeatedly placed on bone causes it to grow stronger, no matter what age!!
Evidence strongly suggests that a brisk walk daily, along with a strength training program, can be a crucial factor in preventing the developent of osteoporosis.
Find the weight bearing activity you like best and will stick with. Meet with a qualified trainer to help you set up a safe and effective exercise program. Get started today!!
8. Your Blood Pressure
An increase in blood pressure with age is not inevitable. Lifestyle changes can prevent or reverse high blood pressure. Changing your lifestyle is a very personal decision, and many people don’t even know they have a choice!
For some people small changes are enough, for others bigger changes are necessary. Our genes do play a role, but they are more of a predisposition and not a death sentence. For most people, if the lifestyle changes are big enough, they can reduce or completely get off medications.
What are some changes you can do to lower blood pressure and keep it down?
* Restrict your sodium intake
When you have high blood pressure, excessive salt intake starts to damage the kidneys, making it harder to get rid of excess sodium. This causes the blood pressure to go even higher. The worst sodium offenders are table salt and processed foods.
* Switch to more of a plant-based diet
DASH is a good diet to check out. Animal protein, particularly red meat raises blood pressure
* Exercise has an impact in preventing or controlling hypertension
What kind of exercise? The kind you enjoy and will stick with! And, if you don’t like to exercise think of it as doing it for the people you love. Do it for your husband, wife, significant other, your children or grandchildren.
Just walking 20 or 30 minutes most days of the week has almost the same benefits as doing more intensive exercise. A single exercise session can lower your blood pressure by 5 to 7 millimeters of mercury, and may last the rest of the day.
Exercise also reduces stress, anger, and depression.
For many people losing 5 or 10 pounds is one of the easiest ways to lower blood pressure and stay off medications.
This can become a great motivator to starting an exercise program!!
Always consult with your doctor first!
Your Body’s Blood Sugar Tolerance
“Glucose tolerance” means your body’s ability to control blood sugar (glucose). Aging takes a toll on your ability to use this sugar from your bloodstream, which can lead to hypertension. Impaired glucose tolerance displays no symptoms so most people don’t even realize they are at risk.
By age 70, approximately 30% of women and 20% of men (I’m betting these numbers are higher since this article came out!) have an abnormal glucose tolerance level, increasing their risk of type 2 diabetes. This developing blood sugar intolerance is among the most devastating changes associated with aging.
Here are three factors associated with glucose metabolism we have control over and can change:
*increased body fat
*inactivity
*a diet high in fat
Combining a healthy nutritious diet, low in fat and high in vegetables, whole grains and lean protein, with regular exercise can often transform what was previously an insufficient amount of insulin- which stimulates muscle cells to utilize glucose from the blood- into an adequate amount.
Strength training exercises are especially critical to reinvigorating your body’s glucose tolerance and lowering your diabetes risk; besides helping to lower body fat, strength training has been shown to increase your muscles’ insulin sensitivity.
reference: Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter
Your Aerobic Capacity
What is your aerobic capacity? It’s how much oxygen your body can process within a given time.
For optimal aerobic capacity you need healthy lungs, a strong heart, and an effective vascular network. This is another biomarker that naturally declines with age. By age 65, both men and women have typically 30-40% less aerobic capacity than young adults. But, older people who exercise regularly lose less.
Researchers have found that while both young and older people benefit from regular aerobic exercise, the positive changes in older people come almost entirely in the muscles ability to utilize oxygen (oxidative capacity), rather than in the heart or cardiovascular system. Here’s another reason why you need strength training, as well as aerobic activity in your exercise program.
When you build muscle, you create more muscle cells to consume oxygen. The more demand for oxygen from your muscles, the greater utilization of oxygen and your aerobic capacity.
To learn more: Biomarkers: The 10 Determinants of Aging You Can Control by William Evans, PhD, and Irwin Rosenburg, MD
Your Body Fat Percentage
As we get older our musculature shrinks and our fat tissue increases. So even if your bodyweight hasn’t gone up, chances are you’ve probably lost muscle and gained fat. Muscle weighs more than body fat, so the scale can be deceiving.
Instead of focusing solely on losing weight, concentrate on increasing muscle and shedding fat.
A useful tool for measuring your risk of developing chronic diseases associated with aging is calculating your BMI (Body Mass Index). Go to any number of websites such as National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (NHLBI), enter your height and weight and it will calculate your BMI.
It’s important to focus on your “ideal BMI”- the figure that represents the lowest risk for chronic disease or mortality. These numbers will change with age.
Ideal BMI for women:
Age range 30-39 (23.4) 40-49 (23.2) 50-59 (25.2)
Overweight: 25.0-29.9 Obesity 1-30.0-34.9 11-35.0-39.9 111-40.0+
Distribution of fat on your body is a predictor of your risk for chronic disease or mortality. It’s healthier to be a “pear shape” than an “apple shape”. Body fat stored above the hips increases your risk.
Researchers found the waist to hip ratio was 3x more effective than BMI in predicting cardiovascular disease. To figure your own ratio divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. Example: 36″ waist and 40″ hips = ratio of 0.9
For women anything over 0.85 indicates a greater risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. If you combine a high BMI with a high waist-to-hip ratio your risk is magnified.
So what’s the best way to attack excess body fat?
A combination of exercise and a healthy nutrition plan. You will maintain muscle while losing fat, raise your metabolic rate, burning more calories, feel stronger and look great!!
