Sometimes as we age it can be difficult to find activities that are easy enough to get us up and moving yet challenging enough that we feel like we’ve truly completed a workout. While, ultimately, this distinction will depend entirely upon your comfort and mobility level, there are certain exercises that many seniors find that they truly enjoy participating in. Yoga, tai chi, and personal fitness training sessions are all very popular, but yoga is probably one of the most popular. Additionally, yoga is easily found in senior independent living in Michigan and across the country.
What Exactly Is Yoga?
There’s often a misconception among seniors that yoga is a new age exercise method that they can’t participate in, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. While it is true that yoga has gained quite a bit of popularity in recent years, yoga does not exclusively branch off from new age wellness ideals.
Yoga is an exercise regimen that focuses not only on your physical well-being, but also your mental well being. While several of the poses are likely too difficult for your average senior, the majority of the poses involved in yoga are easily adaptable for anyone, regardless of flexibility or fitness level. Yoga is one of the few exercises that can truly meet you where you are without having to push yourself.
Whether you’re in senior independent living in Michigan or a twenty-something in the big city, yoga may be for you.
1. Chronic Pain Relief
Yoga is wonderful for building up balance and mobility, and being able to build up these aspects of your fitness is incredible for helping to deal with chronic pain. As you age, your joints become inflamed due to constant use and pressure, and by completing some simple yoga stretches and exercises, that joint pain can be greatly reduced.
In fact, several studies have shown that seniors who participate in wellness activities like yoga use less pain medication than those who do not do exercise or who do more high impact exercise routines.
2. Better Sleep
Seniors struggle with insomnia on the whole more than any other age group. For some seniors, this is a major issue that greatly affects their day to day lives. Lack of sleep can cause many physical health problems as well as intense and emotional mood swings which is a huge hit to a senior’s mental health.
Yoga, however, is a great sleep remedy. Physical activity and exercise is a great way to naturally tire your body out to promote better sleep, and the practice of yoga itself encourages mindfulness and better mental health. Even when you aren’t actually doing the yoga poses, you can easily incorporate the mindfulness aspect of yoga into your daily life and daily tasks. Practicing mindfulness when you’re laying down to sleep is an incredible way to help soothe any anxieties from the day and promote better sleep.
3. Decreased blood pressure and stress
Did you know that yoga can help decrease your blood pressure even more than other calming activities like listening to music, reading, and more? It’s true! Not only is yoga a great, low-impact form of exercise, the entire premise behind yoga is to reduce stress. Lower stress levels reduce blood pressure, leading to better heart health. It’s a win all around!
4. Better balance and mobility
Something that many seniors struggle with is maintaining a good sense of balance as they age. A lack of balance and struggling with mobility can hinder you or a senior loved one from doing things that they love to do – from going on a hike, to going Christmas shopping, or even playing with the grandkids. Good mobility and balance is paramount to a happy and healthy lifestyle, and yoga can be a vital part of maintaining that.
By doing different yoga poses, you can gain more flexibility in your joints to make it easier to get more active. More flexibility and mobility means more opportunities to spend time with your family, both in the retirement community and out of it. You’ll be amazed at what kind of benefits you’ll see if you practice yoga regularly and incorporate it into your daily exercise routine!
5. Easier breathing
As you age, your respiratory system begins to slow down. As a result, breathing and other circulatory systems like that can struggle to meet all of your body’s needs. However, when you practice yoga, you might be surprised at the improvement that you see.
Regular exercise like yoga helps you to improve on your breathing as it helps to build strength in your cardiovascular system. However, yoga is unique in that the practice itself focuses heavily on mindfulness and specific breathing techniques that aid in that mindfulness. Learning new breathing techniques during your study and practice of yoga can improve your day to day life, especially if that’s an area that you tend to struggle with. Even if you don’t stick around for the exercise aspect, you might enjoy adding a few calming breathing techniques to your day to day stress management.
Enjoying Yoga at Senior Independent Living in Michigan
When you join a yoga class at Reserve at Red Run, you know you’re going to be participating in an activity that’s great for both your physical and mental health. Our independent senior living in Michigan offers yoga classes specifically geared toward our seniors, allowing you to experience the benefits that yoga brings to the table in a way that’s designed to best be beneficial to you. Plus, if you try yoga and find out that it isn’t quite what you’re looking for, we have other exercise methods like tai chi to help fill in the gaps!
At Reserve at Red Run, it’s important to us that our senior residents have a long, happy, healthy, and active life, whether that be through yoga or another exercise of their choosing.
If you’re interested in seeing what Reserve at Red Run can bring to the table for you, contact us and schedule a tour today!
