A physical fitness and athletic ability survey released by the Japan Sports Agency on October 8th warns of a lack of exercise among middle-aged and elderly people. People who regularly exercise seem to be maintaining their health even during this coronavirus pandemic. According to sports medicine experts, muscle mass decreases by 1% per year starting in your 40s. By the time you reach your 70s, your muscle mass will have decreased to about half of what it was in your 20s. There are aerobic exercises and strength training as measures to prevent this reduction to about half.
Walking is a light aerobic exercise. This walking increases the amount of blood circulating in the periphery, which has the effect of preventing diseases. It is true that blood has the function of transporting and supplying oxygen and various nutrients to various organs. People over the age of 65 seem to be of the opinion that any type of movement is fine, and they only need to do about 40 minutes of physical exercise every day. Strength training is just as important as aerobic exercise. Increasing skeletal muscle mass through muscle training itself is effective in preventing and improving lifestyle-related diseases. The more muscle you have, the more your metabolism increases and the more efficiently you burn fat. This will prevent obesity and lifestyle-related diseases. Among strength training exercises, squats are recommended because ``aging begins in the legs.'' Once your feet are strong, you can walk freely. Your body will be able to do aerobic exercise anytime.
What should we do to ``enjoyably prevent'' physical decline as we age? This will be a major challenge going forward. A hint to solving this problem was found in a collaboration between a nursing home and a supermarket. In general, simply being confined to a nursing home will accelerate the aging of the brain in a broader sense. One supermarket has created special carts for elderly people to assist them with their shopping. Nursing care and welfare facilities and supermarkets have teamed up to begin an experiment in which people can shop using special shopping carts. People in need of care who participated in this trial were able to move around the supermarket more freely. They began to become more motivated to get what they wanted. With a special cart for nursing care, they can experience the joy of being able to shop freely without putting any strain on their legs or back. As you shop, you maintain motor, arithmetic, and spatial awareness in the store. It seems that even elderly people who are reluctant to undergo rehabilitation in nursing care facilities are willing to practice in the facility using special carts. Such endeavors appear to be an ideal environment for the elderly.