If you feel the stiffness of age, first of all, do not panic! We all start to feel it and, yes, it may feel like it’s coming a little early, but it’s not irreversible. If you’re starting to feel a little more stiff, like you’re not as agile as you once were, or that your joints can’t take as much punishment as before, here are a few ways to get back on your A-game.
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Get active
It might sound like obvious advice and you might have been hoping for a shortcut but unfortunately, those just don’t exist when it comes to making meaningful changes towards a healthy lifestyle. There are plenty of easy ways to become more active, whether it means simply getting up and outside more often, or adding routine exercise sessions to your daily schedule. However, the fact is you need to strengthen your muscles to better support your body.
Practice exercises that target mobility
Our range of mobility starts to decrease naturally as we age in part due to the fact that we are not using our body to its fullest extent. Mobility exercises are just as important as cardiovascular and strength training. Whip out those yoga mats and consider downloading an app that takes you through different yoga courses, or attend a local course if you can find one. These exercises target the joints, strengthening them while building your stamina and helping us build balance as well.
Look at your waistline
Again, not the advice that everyone wants to hear, but excess body weight is going to increasing make it harder on your joints as you get older, especially your knees. Without management, this can eventually increase your risk of arthritis, which could lead to having surgery. Weight management is 90% diet, so cutting out excess sugars, managing your carbs and fat, and getting rid of processed food as much as possible can all do a lot of good. Not only does a healthy diet help manage your weight, but it also gives your body the nutrition it needs to stay stronger for longer.
Don’t push yourself too hard
You might be panicking and wanting to strengthen your body as soon as you possibly can. However, if you jump immediately into the most intense exercise plans you can find, you risk injuring your body by inflaming and stressing your joints. Your muscles need to be built to support those joints, so pace yourself, build up gradually, increasing the challenge bit by bit. It’s also important to know when enough is enough. Overusing parts of your body is going to see diminishing returns while increasing your chances of injury. When you do exercise, make sure to wear shock-absorbing shoes so your joints don’t take the brunt of the activity.
There’s plenty you can do about the stiffness you might be feeling. However, if you don’t take the time to address it now, it will get worse and worse as time goes on. The ageing process is in full swing, which means we have to be even more careful about how we take care of our body. So if you feel the stiffness of age, do something about it now.