The Gunnison Valley HealthSpot
The Gunnison Valley HealthSpot is a monthly resource for information on
a variety of topics ranging from the best way to get a good night's
sleep to women's health.
Fitness for older adults
with Megan Mensing and Julie Ebert
For older adults, regular exercise is vitally important and can help control
your body weight, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. In addition
to fighting osteoporosis, regular exercise can strenghten your muscles,
bones, and ligaments as well as lower your risk of falling or other injury.
Even if you haven’t been active for a while, you can start slowly
with easy exercises at home to build your endurance, strength, balance,
and flexibility.
To build your strength, try chair push ups. It’s easy, sit in a chair
with side rails, place your hands on the rails and press your bottom off
the chair using your arms. This will work your biceps, shoulders, and
triceps. You can also try a modified push up against the wall. Stand with
your toes 12 to 18 inches from the wall, lean forward slightly and place
your hands on the wall, and slowly bend your elbows to lower your body
towards the wall until your nose nearly touches it. Then slowly straighten
your elbows and return back to standing position. Start slowly and build
up repititions over time. You can even turn it into a competition with
yourself to see if you can get in more repititions each day.
For balance, try a few basic exercises right at home. Try standing behind
a sturdy chair and rest one hand on the back of it. Lift up your right
leg and bend your knee slightly. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat with your left leg.
For older adults, easy exercises like these at home can go a long way to
improving your fitness and maintaining your health.
Check in regularly or check the Crested Butte News, Gunnison Country Times,
or Gunnison Shopper for the latest monthly HealthSpot topic. You can also
hear the HealthSpot on KBUT.
Previous Healthspot Topics:
January 2017 - Behavioral Health with Behavioral Health Specialist Lori Fuller
February 2017 - Heart Health with Cardiopulmonary Director Jason Platzer
March 2017 - Opioid Abuse Prevention with Dr. John Tarr and Kari Commerford
April 2017 - Blood Testing with the GVH Laboratory Team
May 2017 - Women's Health with Family Birth Center Director Holly Rickert
June 2017 - Summer Skin Care with Dermatologist Dr. Anthony Timko
July 2017 - Proper Bike Fit with Rehab and Athletic Medicine Team Member
Michael Kugler
August 2017 - Concussion Management with Rehab and Athletic Medicine Team
Member Kristin Grimes
September 2017 - Healthy Sleep for a Healthy Life with Cardiopulmonary
Director Jason Platzer
Otober 2017 - Breast Cancer Awareness and Prevention with Dr. Stephanie Timothy
November 2017 - Developing Your Child's Language Skills with Speech
Therapist Jen Moore
Gunnison Valley Health
711 North Taylor Street | Gunnison, CO 81230 | 970-641-1456