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.
Topic- Program profiles
Safely Challenge Physical Abilities By Dan McClure, MA
Have you ever made a teaching mistake like I did years ago? One Saturday morning I was teaching a "boot camp" class for older adults. I broke the group of D6 into pairs and handed each couple a 4-pound medicine ball. Without any instruction, I said, "Now step 5 feet away from each other and play 2-handed catch."
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Friendly competition motivates exercise
Once a year in May, the wellness directors at multiple Erickson Retirement Communities get together to plan a day that will motivate as many residents as possible to exercise. They calculate the mileage and time to travel among the communities, then challenge residents to "travel" that distance through exercise. This year the total mileage between all campuses was 1,163 miles; it would take 45,520 minutes to travel them. These numbers were the program goal.
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Mather's - More Than a Cafe: providing venues for engagement by Carla E. Windhorst, MBA, BA, and Linda Hollinger-Smith, PhD, RN
Many people prefer to continue living at home as they age and find they can benefit from strong ties to their communities. In order to age well, these older adults must have access to resources and programs that enrich their lives. Mather LifeWays, an Illinois-based senior services organization, has created a chain of venues in the metro Chicago area to help adults remain engaged and connected within their communities.
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Texercise: supporting healthy living across the life span
Recognizing that individuals vary in ability to engage in healthy behaviors, the Texas Department on Aging created the Texercise health and fitness program in 1998. Today, the thriving intergenerational initiative focuses on building and strengthening the capacity of local communities to develop fitness and nutrition activities.
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Americans in Motion: partners in health, partners in fitness by Toni Lapp
When the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) created a fitness initiative in 2003, there was a certain amount of discomfort in the organization. How would it look to unveil a program encouraging physicians to lead active, healthy lives, when the incoming AAFP president tipped the scales at 286 lbs.?
Similarly, how could physicians logically lecture their patients on becoming more active if physicians themselves did not model an active lifestyle? That question went to the heart of AAFP’s Americans in Motion (AIM) initiative: teaching by example.
Program profiles
The wellness pinnacle
The NuStep Pinnacle Award was among the first awards to honor organizations that provide wellness services for aging men and women. Created by NuStep, Inc., the Michigan-based maker of exercise equipment, NuStep’s awards program continues to promote the importance of actively managing fitness and wellness as we age. The initiative also strives to motivate organizations to maximize their health and wellness programs.
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