Pete Cross, 82 year old Health & Fitness Expert at ACAC, joins Les Sinclair to talk about health and wellness for an aging society. Segment sponsored by The Senior Center.

1)          Resolutions for the New Year – “forget them!”
Instead, consider making a daily resolution: a few, short term goals are attainable!

2)          Know yourself: create an environment for active living that you like and want to return to day after day. Few of us have the drive or self-discipline to work out on our own. Consider the entry level programs at local fitness centers such as ACAC where one can enter a 60-day program of supervised fitness for only a $1.00 a day.

3)          Remove isolation from your life; become more social; turn to friends to provide the encouragment you need to be more active.  The Sr. Ctr. offers a wide variety of physical activities to meet the needs of introverts as well as extroverts: classes, walking groups, serious hiking groups; softball, etc!

4)          Keep Moving – this will maintain the necessary blood circulation so vital to both mental and physical health!  – this is the message for 2015: the goal is to sit nor more than a  total of 4 hours each day. Hard to achieve for most of us!

How many hours do you sit daily? Work to reduce this number by walking more or using a standing desk, now becoming popular…or at least get up at least once an hour and develop the habit of stretching arms and legs for a minute or two.

One increasingly popular way to keep the muscles active while watching TV or reading is to sit on a “physioball” – those big colored balls common in exercise centers and available locally at Dick’s or ACAC sites. If your balance isn’t great, then obstain a base that keeps the ball stationary. A ball helps posture, balance, and the activation of many muscles.

5)          Maintaining or improve your muscle strength!  The loss of muscle mass starts in the 40’s and happens faster after age 70. Weakness alone is the primary reason for requiring assisted living.

6)          The most important muscle group to keep strong: the quadriceps or thigh muscles. These are primary movers for getting up out of a chair and off the toilet, the most basic requirement for maintaining your independence in daily living.