A Woman's Guide to Fitness for Every Decade
Getting regular exercise is essential for maintaining good health at any age.
Adolescence
Goal: To improve mood and confidence, concentrate on fun physical activities.
Only 27% of high school students engage in the advised 60 minutes of physical activity every day, seven days a week (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Regular physical activity can benefit adolescents' mental health in addition to enhancing physical fitness. More than 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders each year, with 13 to 17-year-olds experiencing the highest rates (Merikangas et al., 2010). While both sexes can experience anxiety problems, teenage females are more likely than boys to experience them. In adolescent females, regular exercise boosts self-esteem, elevates mood, and encourages a positive body image. Teenage girls' parents and other caregivers should support fun, self-selected hobbies. Furthermore, rather than focusing on weight loss at this time of life, physical exercise should promote wellness and smart lifestyle choices.
Being fit in your 20s
Goal: Put an emphasis on forming healthy habits to reduce your risk of having cardiovascular disease in later life.
Young adulthood is a time for both career and personal development. Eating healthy and exercising frequently can be challenging due to the pressures of possibly earning a degree, starting a profession, and managing changing personal relationships. The ordinary twenty-something may not put long-term health at the top of their priority list, but Northwestern University experts think they should. More than 3,000 participants were monitored in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) trial. Ages of participants at the start of the study ranged from 18 to 30. Researchers discovered that participants with high physical activity scores and other good habits, such as never smoking, eating a balanced diet, and avoiding alcohol to a moderate extent, had considerably lower cardiovascular disease risk profiles by middle age.
Being fit in your 30s
Goal: Emphasize consistent exercise to support bone health.
Low bone mass is a symptom of osteoporosis, which is the main cause of bone fractures in women over 50. (National Institute of Health for Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center, 2015). While bone loss and disease progression start far earlier than the traditional diagnosis of osteoporosis, which occurs in the fifth or sixth decade of life. Around age 30, bone mass reaches a peak, and at this point, bone resorption—the process of demineralizing bone—begins to outpace new bone formation. This causes bone loss over time. Active women in their 30s should include bone-healthy physical activity. Load is crucial in choosing exercises for constructing and maintaining strong bones. Here are some pointers for picking the appropriate kinds of exercise:
·Workouts that include resistance should be a part of your exercise routine. For the health of your bones, heavier weights are preferable than lighter ones.
·Include weight-bearing exercises like stair climbing and dancing several times a week when choosing aerobic exercises. While low-impact exercises like swimming and indoor cycling are excellent for increasing fitness, they won't strengthen your bones as much as weight-bearing exercise. Include high-impact aerobic activities like tennis and jogging if you can.
·For further protection, use the progressive overload approach. Increase your training load and intensity over time to maintain gains in bone health and muscle fitness.
Exercise in Your Forties
Goal: By doing resistance training, prevent the loss of muscle that comes with aging.
Around age 40, sarcopenia, or the loss of muscular mass and strength, starts to occur. It progresses at a pace of 5 pounds every ten years. Reduced muscle mass can impair functional ability, cause unintended weight gain, and frequently trigger muscular imbalances linked to lower back discomfort and other musculoskeletal abnormalities. Thankfully, you are not helpless in the struggle to stop muscle wasting. Recreational athletes between the ages of 40 and 81 who trained four to five days per week were the subject of a cross-sectional study. Researchers discovered no measurable decline in total muscle mass or strength with aging (Wroblewski et al., 2011). One of the first studies to show that declines in muscle mass formerly attributed to aging may instead be caused by inactivity It seems that the proverb "use it or lose it" holds true in this situation.
Exercise in Your Fifties
Exercise for menopause-related health maintenance.
In the United States, cardiovascular disease is the primary factor in both male and female fatalities and disabilities (Benjamin, 2017). However, a woman's risk of heart disease and a heart attack drastically increases after menopause. Although they are unsure of the specific cause, researchers think that a drop in estrogen levels may be to blame (American Heart Association, 2015). Menopause causes many women to lessen their activity levels, yet continuing an active lifestyle might help them maintain their best health at this stage of life. Exercise not only protects against cardiovascular disease but also helps to reduce menopause-related symptoms.
Keeping fit in your 60s
Keep moving to avoid falling.
Every year, one in four persons over 65 experience a fall. Women fall more frequently than men among older seniors (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). The systems that keep us from falling out of balance gradually become less effective as we age. Our reaction times also slow down, making it more difficult for us to catch ourselves when we trip and avoid falling. To prevent falls, it's crucial to take care of our eyes, wear appropriate footwear, and keep our homes free of trip hazards. All fitness regimens for adults over 65 should include balance training to lower the chance of falling.
In your 70s, 80s, and Beyond: Fitness
Objective: There is never a bad time to start exercising.
Maybe you've had a rocky connection with fitness over the years. Or perhaps you've never really had a strong connection to exercise at all. The good news is that it's never too late to start exercising if this describes you. Exercise can help slow a deterioration in functional ability in persons in their 70s and 80s. As we approach our late 70s and early 80s, we frequently reach the disability threshold, which is the moment at which people start to struggle with activities of daily living like washing and dressing themselves. However, by continuing to lead an active lifestyle, this can be postponed. In this stage of life, emphasis should be placed on exercise regimens that incorporate motion patterns that mimic daily tasks.
Health benefits of exercise are present at every stage of life. So, make sure to prioritize exercise, whether you're 19 or 99.
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