Just because your body is getting old, doesn’t mean you have to too!

Age is a state of mind and we can buy into the stereotyping of ageing and let an older person move into our body OR we can reclaim our power, stay young while growing older, be physically active and become stronger.

As we age we need to move more – not less. We need to improve our balance, flexibility and strengthen muscles in order to avoid falls; as alarmingly 1 in 5 falls are responsible for serious injury, with falls leading the way as the main cause of death from injury in older adults (Kelley et al., 2014). Scary as that sounds, the good news is that research shows that yoga and strength building programs can significantly reduce the incidence of falls by up to 40% (Judge, 2003)? and it’s never too late to start.

Declines in mobility, flexibility, balance, coordination and strength are associated with the ageing body. These are vital functions of the body that safeguard independence and an optimistic quality of life (QoL). There is mounting evidence and firm belief recognising that yoga is favourable to an ageing body, seeing cognitive improvements, a reduction in the incidences of falls, physical and mental health and well-being, in addition to reducing the periods spent within the healthcare system.

Our contemporary society is giving rise to younger retirees, as young as 60 and is often accompanied by a sedentary lifestyle; so promoting active lifestyles and minimising physical inactivity are crucial to slowing down the aforementioned health deterioration. Improving physical fitness and function are key elements to ensuring independence and positively impacting QoL (Chen et al., 2008)?. Daily activities that promote and enhance a good QoL include everyday physical actions such as driving, cooking, housework, travel, shopping, socialising, dancing, exercise and gardening are all dependent on movements that require strength, flexibility, mobility, agility and balance.

Poor balance is one of the main causes of falls, is acknowledged as a key risk factor with the majority of falls occurring in the home and contributing to hip fractures; further to this, 1 in 2 of these falls actually occurs while walking forward. The simplest most basic everyday movements i.e., changing position, getting off the toilet or out of the bath, reaching up, bending down, picking up bags/children/animals, moving on stairs, turning and backing up have been related to contributing to falls. Whereas low intensity strength training, exercising and balance training including yoga have been linked to reducing the rates of falls.

An uptake in Complementary and Alternative therapies (CAM) is on the rise in the United States by as many as 1 in 4 adults adopting CAM. Yoga currently ranks in the top ten commonly used and most popular therapy with 88% of American ageing adults claiming yoga as being beneficial in treating conditions related to heart diseases, allergies, back pain, disturbed sleep, arthritis and joint pain and diabetes.

VaVa Yoga has developed a new yoga programme specifically designed for seniors and people who have impaired mobility, in this we take into consideration hip and knee replacements, weight gain, sedentary lifestyle and stiffness & reduced strength related to ageing. Clients will see improvements in their balance, mobility, strength, flexibility, *ROM (see footnote), cognitive capacity, pain management, sleep, vitality and self-efficacy. The litmus test is to help clients avoiding the health care system, maintaining independence and ultimately improving their QoL.

The saying “better early than late, better late than never” applies succinctly to this yoga program as doing ‘something’ is better than doing ‘nothing’. So don’t be a fall statistic and come to this special yoga class, GENTLEMEN you're welcome too! Call me for enquiries (number below), learn new skills, (while getting stronger), meet new faces and lets get you mobile again.

Yoga is for everybody. Namaste, Ashlí

*[ROM - Range of movement or motion. Joints must have good flexibility so that they can achieve ROM. Flexibility is the ROM surrounding a joint and represents the muscles, ligaments, bones, tendons and the joint itself. The various joints do various jobs in the body and have their own unique level of flexibility which is expressed in degrees of movement].

References

• Chen, K. M. et al. (2008) ‘Physical fitness of older adults in senior activity centres after 24-week silver yoga exercises.’, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(19), pp. 2634–2646. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02338.x.
• Judge, J. O. (2003) ‘Balance training to maintain mobility and prevent disability’, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25(3 SUPPL. 2), pp. 150–156. doi: 10.1016/S0749-3797(03)00178-8.
• Kelley, K. et al. (2014) ‘The Effects of a Therapeutic Yoga Program on Postural Control, Mobility, and Gait Speed in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.’, Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 20(12), pp. 949–945. Available at: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov /pmc/articles/PMC4270164

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