One great way to keep healthy for longer is by exercising regularly. If you are taking care of an elderly loved one, working out with them can be beneficial to you both. But when you are exercising with someone who has limited mobility or issues like vertigo, it can be a little tricky. Here are some tips on how to work out with your elderly loved one.

Why Should Seniors Exercise?

It is crucial that your loved one, and you for that matter, keep exercise in the daily routine. The CDC advises that seniors get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic workouts a week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity. This means that they should be doing exercise at least 20 minutes a day if it is light or 10 minutes a day of an intense but manageable exercise.

The CDC also advises that strength training is done at least twice a week which makes sense because as we age our bodies start to become weaker. And not just in our muscles, our bones, organs, and brain as well. Working out can help keep your loved one healthy for longer as well as more mentally stable.

How Can Exercise Help Seniors?

• Improves flexibility and mobility
• Reduces depression and anxiety
• Boosts the immune system
• Reduces pain
• Helps with arthritis
• Can reduce symptoms of dementia

Why Should You Work Out With Your Senior?

If it is for only twenty or ten minutes a day, then why do you need to be around? Isn’t this something that they can do on their own? After all, it is all about encouraging independence right? Well, there are a couple of benefits of working out with your elderly loved one that you should consider before you throw them in the gym.

Injury Prevention

Falls can happen. But when you are around, you can help make sure they happen less. You can also make sure that they are doing exercises in the right posture to help prevent muscle injuries.

When Injuries Happen

If they fall, you can be there to help them up. You know them better than most, you can have the best idea of when you need to call an ambulance and when they just need to go home and rest. If they injure themselves during a workout, you can help them learn how not to make a mistake again.

You’re Each Other’s Motivation

How many people can say they go to the gym every day or never skip a day of lifting weights? There are some real health conscious people out there, but normal folks often have to push themselves to get to the elliptical. When you are caring you’re your senior and doing exercises with them, both of you can push each other to stay on a schedule having the motivation to keep each other healthy and accountable.

It’s Good For Your Relationship

Working out together is a great bonding experience. You are together when you are feeling good, and your endorphins are flowing and growing together. Spending this required time together can also help you make sure that your senior isn't socially isolated.

It’s Good For Your Health

You don’t have to be a senior to benefit from working out. If you commit to this exercise routine, you’ll also start to see a difference in your body, health, and mind. Why not do something healthy with the someone you love?

Exercises That Are Good For Seniors

Light Weights

Getting light weights is good for strength training in your seniors. Doing these types of workouts can help with the following:

• Bone density
• Upper and lower body strength
• Enhanced metabolism
• Improve balance and joint health

Water Aerobics

Water aerobics is so great because you can’t fall and it makes harder exercises easier for your senior. Water aerobics can help with the following:

• Decrease bone and muscle loss
• Increase strength and balance
• Improve flexibility and joint health

Yoga

Yoga is a great way for seniors to do light amounts of exercise and still reap many rewards. Doing yoga can help your senior with the following:

• Improves heart health
• Great for stroke recovery
• Improves sleep
• Manages diabetes, arthritis, and inflammation
• Improves digestion
• Reduces depression and anxiety
• Improves cognitive performance

Dancing

While your senior may not be able to break dance or tango, there are several different types of dancing that can help them regain their mobility and have a blast doing it.

• Tai Chi dancing
• Line dancing
• Square dancing
• Ballroom dancing

Dancing has shown to have the following effects on participants:

• Reduce depression and anxiety
• Improve strength and balance
• Reduce dementia symptoms
• Improved heart health
• Alleviate stiffness
• Improve social skills and connection

Walking

Something as simple as walking can be very beneficial to you and your loved one. Pick an easy path that doesn’t have many climbs and flat terrain and this exercise can help with the following:

• Improves circulation
• Improves bone density
• Strengthens muscles and balance
• Improves sleep
• Improves breathing
• Lowers Alzheimer’s risk
• Improves joint health

What About Seniors With Limited Mobility?

Not every person is going to be in the same situation. Some seniors can get up out of their chair and get to work while others have a difficult time brushing their teeth. If you have a senior with limited mobility, remember these four tips when working out with them.

• Start slow
• Be consistent
• Remember to stretch
• Know when to stop

When You Need Extra Help With Your Senior

You may have additional obstacles that are making exercising with your loved one more difficult. There are tools you can use to make this experience more enjoyable and beneficial to both of you.

Get A Personal Trainer

You might not know all the ins and outs of a workout. You might not know the right posture to have when lifting weights to prevent injury. Having a personal trainer can help you both learn the best way to work out and can give you good exercises that can benefit you both the best.

Talk To Their Doctor

Your senior’s doctor knows their body better than anyone. They can tell you what is within their realm of possibilities. Knowing the limitations of your senior can help prevent injuries and help you have a better idea of when it is okay to push and when you need to let them take a break.

Using CBD For Your Senior’s Work Out

Taking CBD oil can also be beneficial to both you and your senior when it comes to exercise. Before you decide to implement this into your routine, make sure you let your doctor know. If you or your senior are on any medication, the CBD oil can interfere with the medicine making it less effective. Your doctor can also help to monitor you and your senior's health while you use CBD hemp oil to make sure that it is the best route for you both to take.

How Can CBD Help With Exercise For Seniors?

Energy

One reason we don’t work out is that we are so tired all of the time. Especially seniors. Often they will have an illness that causes fatigue making even the smallest tasks feel impossible to accomplish. CBD oil may be able to help with low energy by acting as a wake-promoting agent. CBD hemp oil also helps with the REM stage of the sleep cycle, helping you and your senior get a more restful sleep to have more energy the next day.

Pain

Many seniors, and maybe even you, experience frequent pain that can make working out hard to do. Even though many workouts can help relieve pain, the motivation is hard to muster up when you are already feeling it. CBD oil elevates an endocannabinoid named anandamide which binds to the CB1 receptor. This interaction helps regulate the neurological functions, one function being your sensitivity to pain. CBD hemp oil can help reduce your sensitivity to pain by making your brain send out fewer pain signals.

Motivation

It can be hard to get motivated to work out when you suffer from mental or physical illness. Depression is one of the illnesses that can hinder our motivation the most. CBD oil has shown in studies to help with depression by elevating chemicals that are normally lacking in depressed brain. CBD oil helps to modulate the limbic system as well, which is where the motivation comes from helping you to feel it naturally.

How To Use CBD For Working Out

Some of the best ways to help with working out in pain is using CBD topicals. It can help reduce the pain making it easier to accomplish exercise goals. Make sure that you still keep in mind that they need rest and to take breaks. Often, pain is our body’s signal to us that we need to chill out. So make sure that even though the pain might not be there, they still need to take it easy and take enough breaks.

For motivation and energy, taking CBD pills, tinctures, oral sprays, concentrates, e-liquid, and suppositories are all great options. These types of CBD hemp oil products can get into the internal problems that are keeping you or your loved one from working out like depression, pain, or low energy. Stop by our shop today to see what would work best for you!

Do you have any tips on exercising with the elderly? We would love to hear about it in the comment section below!