For most people, taking the time to go to the gym has never been an easy decision, and that choice only becomes less appealing as time goes on.

Most Americans over the age of 45 live busy lives. Between ensuring the financial stability, familial obligations, and planning for retirement, most people have the beach in mind when they think of how they want to spend their retirement years, not the weight racks.

While exercise is important for adults of all ages, it’s actually more important that we maintain and train our bodies as we transition into our later years. Consider the following reasons why working out and exercise is essential for anyone over the age of 45:

1. You Can Keep Your Heart Healthy

It’s no secret that many of our bodily functions will begin to deteriorate as we move past our middle ages. And unfortunately, one of the most important functions we begin to lose is our heart’s ability to provide much-needed oxygen to each part of our bodies.

The National Institutes of Health goes into further detail about changes to our cardiovascular system as we age, but one thing is apparently clear. Aerobic capacity (the ability of the heart and lungs to get oxygen to your body) decreases about 10% per decade. This process will only accelerate as you get older.

By maintaining an exercise routine that matches the current ability of your cardiovascular system, you can work to ward off the adverse effects of cardiovascular dystrophy. You may not be able to stop this decline entirely, but exercise has been proven to help you slow down the clock keep your heart as healthy as possible and for as long as possible.

2. You’ll Ward Off Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is one of the many words we don’t want to hear as we age. Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens your bones and lowers their overall density. It affects more than 50 million Americans.

Many of us already know that a calcium-rich diet goes a long way towards the continued health of your bones. However, it is this diet alongside consistent exercise that can prove to help slow down symptoms, or improve your daily life with Osteoporosis.

Consider taking up sports or similar forms of strenuous activity to use your muscles and bones. By keeping up with a good working routine, you’re working to ensure that Osteoporosis doesn’t dictate whether or not you can live your best life.

3. You’ll Look Better

Growing older isn’t very kind to your physical appearance. As the body changes, we can expect to see many changes—from hair loss and metabolism slowing, to drooping skin and the dreaded weight gain. Looking our best can be more and more difficult as the years go on.

This is where exercise is especially important. Taking the time to work on your body and improve the strength of your muscles will allow you to increase flexibility and lose excess weight. And while there are a host of other benefits to exercising, the truth is that spending more time working out will increase our physical appeal.

If you’re looking to impress your spouse, or simply feel better about your own self image, a little bit of exercise can go a long way towards a vibrant and more youthful body.

4. You’ll Lose Those Extra Pounds

As you shift into your autumn years, chances are, you’re beginning to work less or even retire. This transition into a more sedentary lifestyle can wreak havoc on your current diet, as your body requires fewer calories in order to keep your body functioning.

This excess food can mean that your retirement years  bring unwanted weight gain and obesity, even if you don’t change a thing about what you eat.

If you don’t want to change your current diet, or if you would simply like to drop the weight you already have, working out and exercising regularly will help you lose the extra pounds and approach a healthier and more stable weight. The longer you can keep yourself at your optimum weight, the longer you can expect to ward off the normal aches and pains of aging.

5. You Can Reduce Your Aches and Pains

As we age, we begin to realize that our body takes longer and longer to shake off the soreness of a new injury or bruise. By the time we’ve passed our forties, there’s a good chance we’ve collected several aches and pains that remain indefinitely, and become a part of our daily life.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s been shown that working out and keeping active in our later years can alleviate or reduce the common ailments we may begin to feel

Working out through strength training exercises, such as lifting weights or performing other exercises heavy on the joints, can help to keep you out of the chair and out doing what you love to do—without any need to stop for a break or to rest.

Things to Consider

There are many difficulties when transitioning away from middle age. From keeping up with the added prescriptions to feeling more sore by the day, it can sometimes feel as if life is getting worse, and not better.

But that isn’t the case at all. Many options are available to older Americans, from a host of rx coupons to reduce cost on important medication, to 24-hour gyms and other exercise centers.

Conclusion

By being proactive with our health and taking the time to work out our body each day, we can expect to alleviate our aches and pains, keep our bodies healthier, and ward off the ill-effects that time can bring to us.

We hope that this list has provided you with just a few of the many reasons why working out and exercising is essential to the aging adult. A healthier body means a healthier and more productive you. 

How have you adjusted to new aches and pains as you have begun to age? Leave us a comment in the section below.