Train Smarter, Play Harder
What if you could know your individual injury risk and take informed action to avoid ever spending time on the sideline? NOW YOU CAN!!
While any type of exercise appears to add to your longevity, here’s what the research shows about how to get the biggest longevity boost from your physical activity. These tips can help adults of any age to strengthen their bones, so they can age comfortably. It is never too late to start!
1. Start small:
Don’t have a half hour to exercise each day? Recent research reveals that all physical activity – no matter how small, can make a big difference in your health.
2. Seek out new opportunities to increase your heart rate!
3. Find a partner (or a group)
When you play with friends, it increases your social connections, well- being, and your bone health! And, when an activity is fun – you will stick with it!
A study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings indicated that playing a team sport may help extend your lifespan more than exercising solo. Researchers tracked about 9,000 people for 25 years and found that playing tennis added an average of 9.7 years to life expectancy, followed by badminton (6.2 years) and soccer (4.7 years).
If tennis is not your thing, consider the fast-growing game of pickleball, which blends tennis, badminton and table tennis. Or get out a bike that may have been collecting dust in the basement.
4. Add more time each day
While any amount of exercise adds to life expectancy, the more you exercise, the greater the benefit — up until about 450 minutes a week, says Alpa Patel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society and coauthor of a study analyzing the link between physical activity and mortality. People who exercise that much — which equates to a little more than an hour a day — have a 37 percent lower risk of premature death compared with those who don’t exercise at all, according to Patel’s study.
5. Work on your balance
One study in the BMJ found that 53-year-old people who had the ability to balance on one leg with their eyes closed for more than 10 seconds had a lower risk of premature death. Plus, cultivating good balance also helps prevent falls. So stand on one leg while brushing your teeth every day! Yoga and martial arts classes also help with balance – plus are often done in a group setting.
Feel free to contact the experts here at RegenMD with any questions about boosting your bone health!
Key Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/rethinking-the-30-minute-workout
