Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Topic- Exercise
Delaying Parkinson's with regular exercise by Jackie Russell, RN, BSN, CNOR
Probably the best-known person living today with Parkinson's disease is actor, advocate and author Michael J. Fox. Diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's at age 29 in 1991, he retired from acting in 2000, the same year he launched The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. While the foundation has transformed the Parkinson's landscape over the past two decades, Fox has inspired people with his return to acting, his activism and his best-selling books. In his new publication, No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, the 59-year-old announces plans to retire again from acting due this time to declining health. But he also writes about the years after his first retirement, during which he worked with a movement disorder specialist who focused on nutrition, physical therapy and fitness. That time, he says, was "restorative, less stressful," enabling him "to get a better grip on the disease." Diagnosed typically in older people, Parkinson's is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, a disorder characterized by "loss of neurons [nerve cells] in the central nervous system, which leads to deficits in specific brain functions.".... What causes Parkinson"s remains largely unknown. There is no cure. Symptomatic treatment options include medications, surgical therapy, lifestyle modifications and physical activity.
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Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: Understand and apply the 2018 recommendations by Kathie C. Garbe, PhD, MCHES, and Mary E. Sanders, PhD, FACSM, RCEP, CDE
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PAG), initially launched in 2008, has served as the preferred source for policy, programming and funding for physical-activity programs throughout the United States for a decade. In 2018, based on the expertise of 17 nationally recognized leaders in health and physical activity, a second edition was published. These updated guidelines reflect more extensive, science-based guidance that further emphasizes how regular physical activity leads to improved overall health and reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. The PAG's second edition was motivated by new findings that regular physical activity over the long term can produce significant health benefits, especially in light of new data showing disturbingly low activity levels.
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Splash! Gravity & levity: Belt out a water workout in any depth by Mary E. Sanders, PhD, CDE, RCEP, FACSM
Yoko Holcombe has been teaching water exercise at the Big Canoe Fitness Center in Jasper, Georgia, for 15 years. The facility’s swimming pool has shallow- and deep-water sections, and her longtime regular participants say they love the feeling of working out in the water with the support of a buoyancy belt. This equipment suspends an individual with feet off the bottom in shallow or deep depths. In this article, we'll explore the advantages of adding a buoyancy belt to exercise at any depth. Then we'll incorporate this equipment into an all-depths workout that includes different formats for variety and fun.
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Splash! Infusing the flavor of pilates into water exercise by Mary E. Sanders, PhD, CDE, RCEP, FACSM
Joseph Pilates developed and taught a method of exercise that kept him physically robust until he died in his 80s. Pilates is practiced on land as a means to improve performance, to rehabilitate an injury and to achieve health and wellness. Researchers have defined the popular discipline as "a mind-body exercise that requires core stability, strength, and flexibility, with an attention to muscle control, posture, and breathing." ... With respect to my pilates colleagues, and in the spirit of cooperative learning, I'd like to take this opportunity to apply some of the discipline’s core concepts, so together, we develop an innovative, synergistic, "pilates inspired" experience in the pool.
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Splash! Improving swim skills & drills, part 2: the backstroke, breaststroke & butterfly by Mary E. Sanders, PhD, CDE, RCEP, FACSM, and Nebojsa Bikic
By addressing common mistakes in technique, swimmers of all ages can enhance their skills to produce safer, smoother and more effective strokes that improve swimming performance. Part 1 of this article explored common errors and corrective drills for the freestyle stroke, or front crawl. In part 2, we’ll tackle the “3 Bs” of swimming strokes: the backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly.
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The Power of Posture: a program to encourage optimal posture by Terry Eckmann, PhD, and Dayna Stoddart, BScPT
Many parents encourage their children to “sit up straight” or “stand tall” to help them develop good posture. Why? Adults understand the impact of good posture on appearance. Fewer may realize that good posture is vital to overall health and well-being. The Power of Posture program promotes body awareness and alignment, functional movement patterns, and proper movements to encourage optimal posture.
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