Important markers for aging well that your doctor may not test for

Can our level of fitness predict how well we will age? More importantly, can we increase our level of fitness to improve how we age? Some medical research suggests we can. 

This is exciting news if you’re interested in increasing your health span (the length of time a person is healthy – not just alive).

Even though life spans (the number of years we are alive) are increasing, health spans (the number of years we are healthy) are not necessarily keeping pace. Many of us who’ve endured the heartbreak of watching elderly loved ones lose their strength, mobility (and eventually) their independence want a different outcome for ourselves. Focusing on ways to maintain our aerobic fitness, flexibility, muscular strength and balance, may be important steps in increasing our health span. Or at the very least, by optimizing our fitness as we age, we may be able to reduce our own gap between health span and life span which the Regenerative Medicine journal estimates as roughly nine years. 

At some point in the future, when you go to the doctor, in addition to checking your weight, temperature, blood pressure and cholesterol, you might be tested for aerobic fitness, flexibility, muscular strength and balance.

But you don’t have to wait until these additional tests become routine. It’s possible to do some at home. NOTE: If you’re new to exercise, always check with a physician before starting a fitness program for the first time.

Overall fitness is important at any age, but maintaining it as you age is an important factor if you desire retaining mobility and independence. Aerobic fitness reduces the risk of many conditions including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke and certain types of cancer, just to name a few. Flexibility enables you to perform many of the tasks required for daily living and independence. Muscular strength and balance help prevent falls which are a strong predictor of the need for requiring nursing home care in the future. 

Fitness tests (where you compare your results to a table of age-adjusted standards by gender) can include the:

• 1-mile walking test where you time how quickly you can walk one mile 
• sit and reach test where you tape a yardstick to the floor and see how far you can stretch in a seated position
• chair stand test where you see how many times you can go from a sitting position to a full stand within 30 seconds
• 10 second balance test where you attempt to stand on one foot for 10 seconds.

As part of its program called Fitness Reaching Older Gen’s, the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department developed a helpful Senior Fitness Test Kit that includes seven tests that can be used to assess fitness so identified weaknesses can be treated before causing serious functional limitations.

What if you try some of these tests and are concerned about your score? Use the results as a conversation starter with your doctor. Then, under his or her guidance, start moving. Adults should get at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity per recommendations from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. If you have been sedentary for a while or have a very busy schedule, 150 minutes per week may sound like a lot of time. But it’s very achievable (approximately 22 minutes per day) if you break it down across a seven-day week. Getting 150 minutes of exercise per week can be as simple as doing this every day: set a timer on your phone for 11 minutes, then head out your door and walk until your alarm goes off. When the alarm rings, turn around and go back. 

150 minutes (i.e., 2-1/2 hours) of exercise per week is the recommended minimum and walking is a great start. To continue to improve our fitness, we should get more exercise and a greater variety. Our bodies are designed to “use it or lose it.” Walking, running, cycling, stair-­climbing, swimming, dancing and aerobics classes are just a few options. Other ideas include starting a full-body stretching routine 2 to 3 times per week. Incorporate resistance and weight-bearing exercises or take core-strengthening classes like yoga, tai chi, dance and Pilates. Take up a new sport or return to one you used to enjoy such as pickleball, tennis, golf or racquetball.

Ultimately, the best fitness routine is whatever you enjoy that gets you moving and that you’ll stick with over time.