One of the mottos of our Caring Medical clinic is “Keeping People Active for Life!” Living year-round on Sanibel through the hot and humid months proves a bit challenging regarding exercising outside. (BTW, we enjoy meeting many of our fellow exercisers out there on the multi-use paths. You inspire us too!)
The heat and humidity make running, even walking outside, more challenging. Exercise has many benefits, especially as we age. If we do not keep moving as we live into our 60s, 70s, and 80s, we are headed to a nursing home! Studies show that once you lose the ability to ambulate 2 blocks, your chance of needing nursing home care increases 7-fold. Enhancing and preserving mobility helps maintain our ability to function, as well as improves our physical and psychological well-being. Working on cardiovascular, strength, and balance aspects of health will maximize long-term function, maintain balance, prevent falls, and keep the mind strong!
If the weather is too hot for our comfort level, we need adjust our exercise regimes. Realize that our pace slows in the heat, we require more fluids, electrolytes, and carbohydrates in our diets, and we may need to find other ways to stay active. Some suggestions include changing from walking/running-focused activities to other activities such as lap swimming, pool running, bike riding, indoor treadmill running or walking, rec center classes, combination workouts that include walking with weights, or exercise regimes in the pool. It is amazing what fun it is to do strength and running exercises in your pool! Check out FluidRunning.com or Google “water workouts” and you will find a lot of great ideas. Remember, sitting is now the new cigarette smoking. It can kill you! Let’s get up and get out there! See you on the paths!