Senior Brain Fitness

Do you ever walk into a room and forget why you came in there?

Do you ever call someone by the wrong name?

Do you find that you're losing your keys more often as you get older?

A lot of seniors worry about cognitive decline as they get older. Most of us know someone who has Alzheimer's or dementia.

It's natural to forget where your keys are and then start to worry that maybe you have Alzheimer's, but that's usually not the case. It's just part of the normal cognitive decline associated with aging.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do something about it.

I recently posted a new article called "The Secret to a Young Brain." It explains what really makes your brain tick and it will show you how to keep it in good shape. Check it out.

Balance and Fall Prevention Lecture

If you live in the greater Chicago area, come to Gottlieb Health and Fitness Center in Melrose Park Thursday, October 2 at 7pm to hear me talk about balance and fall prevention. We will cover:

• The cause of poor balance.


• How to improve stability.


• Why the leg muscles are so important in preventing falls.


• What to discuss with your doctor if you're concerned about your balance.


• How to reduce falls at home.


• and more...

The lecture is free of charge and all are welcome. The fitness center is on the Easternmost end of the hospital campus.

Stick around afterwards and say hello.

Is Your Balance Getting Worse?

Do you know why your balance may get worse as you get older?

The astronauts living at the International Space Station also experience a decrease in the quality of their balance, but in a much shorter amount of time.

Whereas it may take twenty years of slow deterioration before you notice your balance is not so great, astronauts spend a year in space and come back to Earth with balance impairments.

What can we learn from this? To find out more, click here for the full Astronauts and Balance article.

While you go read that, I'm going to contact NASA and see if they would like to read The Balance Manual.

Boldly going where no book has gone before!

5 Things You Need to Know About Your Balance

1. Balance tends to deteriorate with age.

2. Poor balance increases the possibility of falling.

3. Balance can be improved.

4. Occasionally doing two exercises you saw in a magazine will not improve your balance.

5. You need a structured program of balance exercises that will consistently and safely challenge your sense of balance.

The Balance Manual demonstrates a variety of exercises for balance that can be done at home with no equipment in less than ten minutes a day. It also shows you how many to do, how long to do them, and how often to do them.

If you're serious about preventing falls with better balance, The Balance Manual can help.

Senior Exercise Video

I've just uploaded a new video to YouTube.  It covers the Four Essential Components of an Effective Senior Exercise Program.  Those components are cardiovascular exercise, strength training, balance training, and flexibility.  

The video goes over how often you should be doing each of those as well as other parameters and recommendations.  Click here to check out this new senior exercise video.

A Great Online Medical Resource

"What's this bump?"

"Is this a rash?"

"Why does my shoulder hurt?"

You've probably asked yourself one or more of those questions at one time.  You think everything is going well, and then one day you notice something that wasn't there yesterday.

And you worry.

Usually, it goes away, or the doctor tells you there's nothing to worry about.  Next time, before you start worrying check out WebMD.  Click here to go to WebMD.

They have a neat "Symptom Checker" where you point to the part of your body that you're concerned about.

Then you click on the symptoms you're feeling, and it tells you what it may be, and it tells you all the details about that condition.  

It's real easy to use, and it may give you a little peace of mind next time you notice something weird.

Free Cardiovascular Exercise

Most doctors agree that the best exercise for just about everyone is walking.  Walking is the most basic form of movement--it's what our bodies were designed to do.

You also don't need any equipment.

Well, Fall is just about here, and pretty soon it will be colder, so take advantage of every precious day where the temperature is above 50 and get out there and walk!

I recommend at least 20 minutes at least 3 times per week for starters.  If you can, try to get up to 40 minutes 5 times a week.

What's Brain Fitness?

Someone asked me to elaborate on what I mean by brain fitness. The brain is just like your muscles in that it also needs exercise to keep in shape, and it will deteriorate with disuse.

The way to "exercise" the brain is to engage it in tasks that require thinking, learning, and the use of imagination.

Typically, as someone gets older, they do less new things and less things that require in-depth thinking, and life becomes a routine that involves very little learning, just repetition of the same tasks every day, because repetition is safe.

Unfortunately, this allows brain degradation.

It's a vital part of the Total Fitness philosophy because what good is a strong heart and muscles if your memory and wits are in poor condition?

P.S. Cardiovascular exercise is also good for your brain. You can read about that in an article I wrote by clicking here.

Three Keys to Successful Balance Training

If you are getting started with balance training exercises, there are really three things you need to make sure you're doing:

1. Variety - Don't do the same exercise the same way every day.  You need to present your sense of balance with a variety of challenges.

2. Progression - Your exercises need to get harder as time goes by if you want to see continued improvement.  There are many ways to make balance training more difficult.

3. Consistency - In order to see real results, you need to do the exercises regularly, a minimum of 4 times per week.  Every day would be ideal. 

If you want more guidance, check out The Balance Manual.  It will show you a variety of balance exercises and teach you how to progress the difficulty as you get better at them.  It also includes an exercise log where you can keep track of what exercises you do and how often you do them.

It Begins!

Welcome to the Total Senior Fitness Blog!  The idea behind "total" is that we will cover all areas of senior fitness, such as:

• Heart health
• Strength
• Balance
• Flexibility
• Nutrition
• Brain fitness

Be sure to check back often, and if you have a question, just leave a comment below.