7 Ways to Stay Young at Heart

Number 4: Move Your Body

Sitting around all the time won’t do you any favors if you’re trying to stay young at heart, not to mention in your body! It’s the opposite, in fact. If you don’t move your body enough, you’re going to age faster and end up with more health problems than you otherwise would have.   

Yes, that means you need to engage in that dreaded topic known as exercise. It doesn’t mean you need to join a gym and start doing daily cardio, however. That’s good for you and if you like that sort of thing, then you should do so.   If not, don’t panic because you have other options. Exercise has somehow become synonymous with going to the gym in our society over the last couple of decades, but there’s no reason it needs to be. Exercise is simply moving your body.   

That means getting up and doing things. Any purposeful activity you engage in that makes you move your body is exercise. Yoga and tai chi are two low-impact forms of exercise that are popular with seniors.   

Do you want to know one of the best forms of exercise you can engage in outside of a gym? Gardening. Growing a vegetable or flower garden is a great way to get in shape or stay in shape.   

Walking is a great form of exercise too. You can walk on a treadmill if you want, but there’s no reason to. You can walk at the mall (some malls have walking clubs), at the park, on the beach, or on walking trails.   

Hiking, swimming, and canoeing are also great forms of exercise if you’re healthy enough for them. Bicycling is also favored by many seniors. You can purchase a recumbent or electric bike to make it easier.   

A type of exercise often overlooked as such is dancing. Every form of dancing is great exercise. Most towns have a place offering dance classes for seniors and many communities have older adult dances regularly. Some places offer a different form of dance each month -ballroom one month, line dancing the next, and so forth.   

As usual, the most important thing is not what kind of exercise you choose, but that you choose to exercise at all and that you do so regularly. That’s what will keep you young and fit.   

 (Important note: if you’re not used to exercising, get your doctor’s permission before you start-regardless of your age!)

Check back next week for the next part of the 7 Ways to Stay Young at Heart series. Tell me, What's Your favorite way to stay active? - feel free to leave me a comment below! 

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