Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Actions and exercises to improve posture by Kathy M. Shipp, PT, MHS, PhD
It is true that gravity takes its toll as we age. The pull of gravity on our bodies over decades of living can result in body alignment that brings the head, shoulders and upper back forward. These changes occur gradually, so often people do not realize the changes have occurred and have become fixed; a person may suddenly realize that bringing the head up and back, pulling the shoulders back, and reducing the forward curve of the spine is not possible.
Fortunately, attention to good alignment throughout every day and targeted exercise can prevent poor posture with aging. Even those with long-standing poor alignment can improve to some extent.
Exercise
Minutes to motivate exercise by Patricia Ryan, MS
For people who are reluctant or casual exercisers, the messages surrounding physical activity can be confusing—and intimidating. Or, if they find they are still gaining weight despite walking around the block or to a nearby store, it may seem that physical activity isn’t living up to the promises.
As a professional, you know there are several ways of translating the familiar formula for planning an exercise program:
Exercise
Team Ironman . . . for every age and ability! by Linda Schmidt
It is understandable why the Ford Ironman World Championship is held every year in beautiful Kona, Hawaii. After visiting that tropical paradise, I starting thinking about how wonderful it would be to recreate such an event where people of any age and ability could have the enjoyment of participating in an Ironman—and spend a week in paradise.
What better place than a life care community to have an Ironman? The people who live there have participated in challenging careers and sports during their lives. And, there is no better way to get people involved in health and fitness than to set a goal that includes having fun, working together with friends and associates, and encouraging each other to succeed. The idea of producing an Ironman at La Loma Village, a life care community of approximately 150 independent residents with a staff of approximately 57, began to take shape.
Program profiles
Happiness-enhancing activities for older adults by Annette Henricksen and Christine Stephens, PhD
People generally agree that happiness is desirable. In addition to being a popular goal, researchers have found that happiness is associated with other good things in life, like health, friendship, income, work performance and marriage.
Happiness usually comes along with desirable behaviors and attributes, such as sociability, likeability, pro-social behavior, positive views of self and others, coping and creativity (Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005). Happiness has been suggested to cause many of these outcomes. Thus, happiness can be beneficial in numerous ways, which has positive implications for individuals and society and suggests that promoting happiness is a wise investment in social and public health (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2007).
Program design
Plan programs for healthy eating
Nutrition is an important component of the physical dimension of wellness. After all, good nutrition in concert with physical activity helps older adults maintain a healthy weight, reduce their risk of chronic disease and enjoy overall health (Dietary Guidelines for American, 2010).
March is National Nutrition Month in Canada and the United States. Both the Dietitians of Canada and the American Dietetic Association promote this month by providing educational materials for consumers and health professionals to use. These materials provide a rich store of information for hosting healthy eating events during March.
Program design
Review the new health and activity guidelines
Any organization has the ability to produce a “guidelines” document, and many of them do as part of their missions to educate their stakeholders. Medical and health care societies, government agencies, associations, universities, research centers—guidelines come from all these sources.
In general, guidelines relevant to health care and lifestyle activities are produced by forming a committee (or more than one group) of people with academic and practice expertise to compile research on a topic and sort it according to the quality of the studies. Based on the evidence, the group makes recom-mendations.
