Regular physical activity can help the body maintain, repair, and improve itself to an amazing degree. And most older people -- even those who are ill or disabled -- can take part in fitness programs. Exercise is the key to a healthy, active life well into later years. Exercise strengthens the heart and lungs, lowers blood pressure, and protects against the start of adult-onset diabetes. It can build and tone muscles and help keep joints and tendons more flexible. Physical activity may also give more energy, improve sleep, and help lessen tension. It may even help extend life.
OSTEOPOROSIS
Exercise can strengthen bones, slowing down the progress of osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disorder common in older women. Studies have shown that women can slow bone loss by exercising 30 to 60 minutes three times a week. Exercises, particularly weight-bearing or strengthening workouts, put a helpful stress on bones and thus encourage new bone growth. Patients confined to bed, like astronauts under weightless conditions, lose bone mass; however, normal bone mass can be restored when exercise is resumed.
Even in old age physical frailty can be reversed. Exercise can improve the muscle strength and mobility of people who are well into their nineties. The NIH reports that in one study, men and women (ages 86-96) tripled their leg muscle strength by exercising with weights.
A study at Washington State University in Spokane found that abstaining from coffee for as little as two weeks can raise calcium levels and reduce the rate of bone breakdown in women who consume less than one glass of milk daily. But coffee intake had no effect on women who already drank more than one glassful.
For those who suffer from arthritis, back pain, sciatica or other musculoskeletal pain syndromes, a new topical cream just hitting the market may spell relief. Called MyoRx, the antioxidant-rich cream was developed at the University of Washington in Seattle and has shown good results with few adverse effects for periods of longer than five years.
RESEARCHERS HAVE AT LAST CONFIRMED WHAT MANY HAVE LONG SUSPECTED: THERE IS A DIRECT LINK BETWEEN A WOMAN'S EXPOSURE TO POPULAR MEDIA AND HER OWN BODY IMAGE.
The more media a woman is exposed to, the more likely she is to have the symptoms of an eating disorder . . . and the greater the possibility for dissatisfaction with her own body.In the study, researchers at Arizona State University asked 238 women how much time they spent the month before reading health, fashion, entertainment or gossip magazines. They were also asked how much time they spent watching TV. Then the women were asked about the importance of thinness and their feelings about their bodies. The most media saturated women had the greatest likelihood of having eating disorder symptoms. Women with more exposure to the thinness imagery were also more likely to believe that a woman must be thin to be attractive. This, of course, increased the likelihood of dissatisfaction with their own bodies.
Osteoporosis, a bone disorder primarily of the elderly marked by decrease in bone mass and more serious in women; can cause fractures and back pain; recommendations include increasing calcium-rich foods in diet, weight-bearing exercise, cessation of smoking; treatment includes calcium supplement and hormone- replacement therapy, and etidronate dosages presently on experi- mental basis. WOMEN'S HEALTH FORUM ON AMERICA ONLINE
