Life is all about movement. The elderly must engage in appropriate mental and physical labor. Exercise is particularly necessary. Modern medical research has confirmed that exercise can enhance oxygen absorption and promote the metabolism of cells in the body. At the same time, exercise is also the most effective measure to promote compensatory function recovery. Exercise can also improve people's mood, make them feel invigorated and full of energy. Exercise is an important part of elderly health care.
I. The Impact of Exercise on Muscles
As people age, muscles undergo degenerative changes, manifested as thinning muscle fibers and muscle atrophy. Muscles become less elastic, weaker, less enduring, and less coordinated, and fatigue easily. Muscle aging causes the greatest pain for the elderly, making it difficult for them to move and decreasing their stability and ability to take care of themselves. In reality, the process of muscle aging varies from person to person, with natural aging only accounting for 1/3 of the causes, and the other 2/3 being attributed to lack of exercise.
From the perspective of exercise physiology, muscles are "use it or lose it". The more muscles are used, the more developed they become, while unused muscles will atrophy, as seen in muscle atrophy in paralyzed patients. On the contrary, people who engage in regular physical exercise have good muscle elasticity, flexibility, quick and agile movements, and good stability.
Regular physical activity can delay muscle atrophy and degenerative changes. Stretching and contracting muscles during exercise can increase muscle endurance, contraction strength, explosive power, and coordination, as well as restore elasticity and improve sagging skin.
In exercise, the heart muscle continuously increases endurance and contraction strength, improving the heart's stroke volume per minute and reducing the heart rate, reducing the burden on the heart. Generally speaking, people who engage in regular exercise have well-developed heart muscles and strong beats.
II. The Impact of Exercise on Bones
Bone aging refers to osteoporosis, which is caused by bone decalcification. The phenomenon of bone decalcification due to osteoporosis can occur after puberty and is most pronounced between the ages of 50 and 70. After decalcification, bone becomes less resilient and more brittle, making it prone to fractures that are difficult to heal, causing great pain for the elderly. Experts point out that exercise is one of the three basic measures to prevent osteoporosis.
Why can exercise prevent bone aging?
The main reason is that exercise can promote blood circulation and provide sufficient nutrients to bone tissue. Exercise can also mechanically stimulate bone tissue, promoting the deposition, absorption, and storage of calcium in bone tissue and bone growth. Therefore, regular participation in sports is an effective measure to prevent osteoporosis and reduce the incidence of fractures in the elderly.
III. The Impact of Exercise on the Circulatory System
Exercise can thicken the heart wall, strengthen cardiac contraction, increase heart capacity, dilate coronary blood vessels, improve myocardial blood supply, and improve the ability of the heart to utilize oxygen, thereby increasing the overall body's oxygen utilization rate.
Furthermore, exercise can alleviate microvascular spasms, promote blood circulation, and improve blood supply to important organs such as the brain.
Exercise can also enhance metabolism and control body weight. It can increase high-density lipoprotein in the blood, help reduce and eliminate arterial cholesterol, promote fat consumption, prevent obesity, and inhibit lipid deposition on the vascular wall.
People with heart disease generally have lower levels of high-density lipoprotein in their blood. Experts point out that exercise seems to be the best way to increase high-density lipoprotein in the blood. This conclusion was drawn after a survey of 4,600 men and women. Due to the impact of exercise on the cardiovascular system, long-term exercise can effectively prevent hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and other diseases. According to a study report from Harvard University's survey of 17,000 graduates, regular participation in active exercise can reduce the risk of heart attacks by 35%. It can be seen that exercise has a certain therapeutic effect on hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and other conditions.
IV. The Impact of Exercise on the Respiratory System
Exercise helps enhance the movement of the chest, increases the activity of respiratory muscles, and strengthens respiratory movements. The increased elasticity of the lungs allows more alveoli to fully expand, thereby enhancing lung ventilation function and ensuring timely intake of fresh oxygen and excretion of carbon dioxide. The enhanced respiratory movements and improved ventilation function significantly improve the decreased lung capacity caused by elderly emphysema. With increased oxygen content in the blood, oxygen supply is sufficient, making people feel energetic and increasing their memory.
According to relevant data, regular exercisers can have a maximum oxygen consumption rate of 80 ml per minute per kilogram of body weight. Non-exercisers, especially those who sit for long periods, have a rate of only 30-50 ml per minute per kilogram of body weight. It is even lower for patients with coronary heart disease. Exercise increases lung ventilation and oxygen intake. Improved breathing function helps prevent and treat respiratory system diseases.
V. The Impact of Exercise on the Digestive System
We know that exercise deepens and accelerates breathing, increases muscle activity, and causes the movement of abdominal organs, which in turn stimulates the secretion of digestive fluids, improves the body's digestive function, increases appetite, enhances metabolism, facilitates digestion and absorption of nutrients, and strengthens the body. Increased activity of the abdominal and diaphragm muscles can also act as an automatic massage on the digestive organs, speeding up gastric and intestinal movements, improving blood circulation, and promoting digestive function, preventing constipation.
Exercise helps prevent and treat common digestive system diseases in the elderly, such as ulcers, gastric ptosis, functional gastrointestinal disorders, constipation, and decreased digestive function.
VI. The Impact of Exercise on the Brain
Active participation in sports can improve intelligence and bring unexpected benefits. The reason is as follows:
1. Exercise accelerates blood circulation, improves cardiovascular function, and provides the brain with sufficient nutrients and oxygen in a timely manner. According to measurements by medical physiologists, blood circulation occurs 4-5 times per minute during rest and can reach up to 7 times during exercise. Therefore, after exercising for a while, you will feel clear-minded, clear-thinking, and quick-witted.
2. People who regularly engage in physical exercise have more stored energy substances, such as blood glucose, liver glycogen, and creatine, compared to the general population. This prevents a decrease in brain function due to low blood sugar and a lack of physical energy. Regular exercisers also have more myoglobin, which stores oxygen in muscles. With sufficient oxygen supply, metabolic waste products such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide generated during labor and mental activity can be quickly eliminated, preventing fatigue.
3. Exercise not only activates the excitatory centers of the cerebral cortex but also improves the brain's regulatory function, the activity intensity of brain cells, reaction speed, flexibility, accuracy, and the ability of the nervous system to tolerate fatigue. At the same time, scientists have found that exercise can increase the weight of the cerebellum and the thickness of the cerebral cortex, helping to tap into the intellectual potential of the contralateral brain.
Why do athletes often have more coordinated and agile movements, sharper vision, and quicker reflexes? It is because their nervous systems are frequently trained. Scientists have also found that exercise promotes the release of special chemicals such as endorphins in the brain due to increased mental and emotional excitement, which has a positive effect on the development of memory and intelligence. Some scholars in China have also conducted experiments that show short-term exercise during breaks can increase visual and auditory sensitivity by 30% in fatigued individuals.
VII. The Impact of Exercise on the Immune System
Exercise, especially running, can improve the body's anti-cancer ability. From a physiological perspective:
1. Running increases blood circulation, increases the number of white blood cells in the blood, and neutrophils in particular have the ability to phagocytose bacteria. It has been measured that running for 10-15 minutes for middle-aged and elderly individuals can increase the number of white blood cells in the blood by 50%. 2. Running promotes increased metabolism in the body, which can prevent the malignant transformation of aging cells. During running, substances such as lead and silver in the body are excreted with sweat, which has an anticancer effect.
3. Running increases lung capacity, allowing people to inhale more oxygen than usual. Studies have found that increased oxygen intake can prevent tumors because tumor cells are anaerobic. Even if cancer occurs, it can still have a therapeutic effect and prolong life.
4. Regular running enhances metabolism, promotes appetite, improves digestive system function, and ensures the full absorption and utilization of essential nutrients in the body. With a strong material foundation, the body's anticancer ability is enhanced.
5. Running regulates the activity of the nervous system, bringing a cheerful and optimistic mood. Clinically, it has been found that many cancer patients develop the disease due to suppressed emotions or mental trauma.
