Boosting Your Immunity -5 Over 50? Why Physical Activity is so Important for you NOW!
Apr 26, 2020
[The Foolish Couple are founders of the Foco Academy, nutrition specialists and success coaches. We focus on teaching Jack Canfield’s Success Principles and applying the principles to the 3 areas of life that money can’t buy, that is, Health, Time, and Love Relationship.]
We started releasing our ‘Boost your Immunity’ blog series in response to the Covid-19 Coronavirus. So, what do we think are important for boosting your immune system?
Know Your Numbers
First thing is to know your numbers. We started off by talking about metabolic efficiency and how it is important to track your health numbers and what your optimal numbers should look like.
Banish Fear
In the second episode we talked about fear. You are probably aware of how fear can heighten your stress level, but fear could also lower your immune system. To help you face your fears, we have included an exercise in episode 2 that may help you release those fears.
Eat the Rainbow
In the third episode we talked about what we should be stocking our food shelves with. To buy fresh and whole fruits and vegetables, to shop the colors of the rainbow, and to eat less of the processed dull white and brown stuff. We included a downloadable PDF for you.
Don't Over-sanitize your home
In the last episode, we talked about how over sanitizing your home may actually cause more problems with your health.
Over 50? Exercise is more important for you
Today we are going to talk about the importance of exercise when you are 50 and over.
If there’s one thing this shelter-in-place has taught us, it is that we need to move. Being stuck inside our home is hard. We want to go out, get some sun, move around. And mobility is even more important if you are, like us, over 50.
Recently, a study published by the CDC Morbidity and mortality Weekly report,reported that about 90% of patients with Covid-19 that were hospitalized had one or more preexisting conditions. The most common was hypertension (49.7%), obesity (48.3%), chronic lung disease (34.6%), diabetes (28.3%) and cardiovascular disease (27.8%). There were more men than women at 54%. So maybe you don’t have any pre-existing conditions. But if you are over 50, like us, then age also puts you at a higher risk. 74.5% was over 50 with highest rates for those over 65 years old.
As most of us has been stuck at home for over a month, I am sure that has disrupted a lot of our daily rituals, especially our physical activity. Since the shelter in place, we have been encouraged to stay at home and only go out for essential services such as grocery shopping, get prescriptions, gas or go to the bank. Getting exercise is not one of the essential services and it should be.
Our daily rituals are disrupted, and that actually includes a lot of the daily physical activities we normally do. Before shelter in place, there is so much physical activity that we take for granted, daily walks around the park, walking to take public transit, walking to work from parking lot, taking stairs to work. This is not including all the exercises that most people do throughout the week like going to the gym, taking HIT classes, yoga classes, swimming and sports activities. You no longer have drop in basketball games, tennis, or bowling.
Studies have shown that reduced physical activity can affect our health, especially older people and those with chronic conditions. Physical inactivity has been linked with obesity, coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancers. This list sounds familiar right, it should be because these are the major underlying conditions that people who died over 50 had.
Physical inactivity could be worse for some people, especially for those older because it all comes down to cardiorespiratory fitness.
Cardiorespiratory Fitness
Cardiorespiratory fitness is the ability of your heart and lungs to supply oxygen to all your muscles during physical activity. When you are younger, your cardiorespiratory fitness is strong, but it normally declines with age. That’s why some kids seem like they can run around forever and why some seniors have problems catching their breath when walking faster. Cardiorespiratory fitness has shown to improve insulin sensitivity, cholesterol, body shape, blood pressure and Inflammation.
As we age, we tend to be less active and this in turn lowers our cardiorespiratory fitness. Now with our daily rituals interrupted, we are moving a lot less, no walks to work, playing sports with friends or going to the gym. And for the older population this is more pronounced.
If you are more tech savvy, there are a lot of online exercise apps out there that you can download to your phone, tablet or computer and be like a drone and just follow what you see on the screen.
For some of us who are a little older, we are used to connecting with people and doing activities with friends. We like to go on hikes, play sports such as golf, bowling, tennis and badminton together. We don’t just see it as exercise, the socializing is just as important to us as the exercise.
Stay Motivated
I do notice that when I try to work out alone, at home, it is harder to stay motivated. When the exercise is too hard or too boring, I’d just stop doing it, go walk around, drink some water, or just take a break. No one is watching me, so it is harder for me to stay accountable for myself.
I hate working out alone, even though I know exactly what I need to do. It’s just so hard being accountable to yourself. It is so much more fun doing activities with friends such as hiking, tennis and badminton. It’s that social connection that makes it feel less like exercise and more of a social event for me that keeps me more accountable and makes me more competitive to do better. It’s just not the same as watching some stranger yell at me on the phone or tv to work harder or go faster.
Here's Our Gift To You - to keep you motivated and get you moving
So, from now until May 15th, we are offering our concierge online personal training to you for free. The difference with this training is that you don’t do this alone. You grab a group of friends or family and train together online. This keeps us socially connected while keeping each of us accountable to work out.
But if you want personal one on one training, we will offer that too. And doing exercises live with a trainer does help keep you accountable and keep pushing you harder. The concierge online personal training will give you a fun environment to exercise and hang out with your friends at the same time. You can see each other working out and maybe even get a little friendly competition going.
I hope you take this opportunity to boost your cardiorespiratory fitness by grabbing a few friends and working out together with me. I would love to get to know each of you better and looking forward to seeing you in our concierge workout session soon. Click this link to book your free session now.
If you missed any of our first three episodes, make sure you watch them and get our gifts. Download our Free Metabolic Efficiency List and also learn more about how our digestive health is important to your immune system in our Free “gut matters” book and how chronic inflammation in your cells can cause you to be immunocompromised in our free webinar in the links provided.
In our next episode, we are going to talk about Vitamin D deficiency, and what problems that can cause especially with your immune system.
Until next time, love what you live, and live what you love.
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We believe that healthy relationships start with health. We help you achieve total success in health and in relationships through nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle. If you know someone who can benefit from this blog, share with them. Let them know that you care about them. And of course, leave us any comments below. We love to hear from you.
We are not medical doctors. This blog is not intended to diagnose medical condition, or replace your health care provider. The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only. Statements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always consult your personal physician before starting any fitness or exercise program or changing dietary habits. The content of this site is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is not a substitute for a medical exam, nor does it replace the need for services or counsel provided by medical professionals. However, we do hope to inspire you to become healthier, more self sufficient, and more aware of options.
