Seniors
Moving To Slow Aging
By
May 10, 2008 - 8:34:31 AM

(HealthNewsDigest.com)-The best way to find the fountain of youth could be to start walking--or dancing, or anything else that requires you to move about.

That’s the advice from experts who say that remaining active and engaged can help people retain their health and vitality throughout their senior years.

For example, aging expert Kevin O’Neil, M.D. says ballroom dancing is one of the best activities for moving and staving off age-related disease because it requires one to be active, to think intellectually about the next steps, to move in harmony with a partner and to be emotionally engaged, all at the same time.

Alternate forms of positive movement for seniors include gardening, yoga, water aerobics and tai chi.

“Movement is truly one of the best remedies we have available to us, especially as we age,” says Dr. O’Neil, who is editor of “The Optimal Aging Manual” and Optimum Life® medical director for Brookdale Senior Living. “No other single life change is capable of impacting so many areas of health and wellness as daily activity, especially for seniors.”

According to Dr. O’Neil, even actions associated with using Nintendo’s Wii promote positive movement via an interesting combination of recreation and exercise.

Keep Moving

Dr. O’Neil recently created Movement is Medicine, a program to promote wellness in seniors. The program encourages individual activity to meet the guidelines of 30 minutes of moderate daily activity established by the American Heart Association and American College of Sports Medicine.

“The goal is to improve the health and wellness of older adults through the development of a tailored physical activity plan,” says Dr. O’Neil, who is now introducing the program at Brookdale communities across the country.

The program was launched as part of the company’s Optimum Life initiative, a lifestyle that holds that balance over six dimensions of wellness--purposeful, intellectual, social, physical, intellectual and spiritual--fosters optimal wellness regardless of one’s physical condition, limitations or age.

“Although everyone cannot be equally healthy at any age, we can all be optimally healthy by doing the most with what we have, and it all begins with movement,” says Dr. O’Neil.

For more information, visit www.brookdaleliving.com.

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