The Benefit of Weight Lifting

 

A new study from Iowa State University indicates that weightlifting has some profound health benefits when it comes to the health of senior citizens. The benefit might not be exactly what you are thinking, either. According to the research, lifting weights is good for the heart health of the elderly.

 

The exact extent of the benefit is still being investigated, but the preliminary research says that lifting weights can reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke by anywhere from 40 to 70 percent in the elderly population. This didn’t need to be extensive exercise, either. There were no additional benefits found if the individual spent more than an hour lifting over the course of a week. Weights did not need to be heavy, either. The person in question found benefit just by spending some time with this resistance exercise.

 

Over 13,000 individuals were looked at during the course of this study. The findings were published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Although it wasn’t just seniors that were looked at in this study, the results certainly do apply to them. However, because it also involved looking at younger individuals and tracked them over time, there is now even more research backing up the importance of exercising early in life and making it a routine into the senior years.

 

What’s more, the benefits that weight lifting provided to elderly individuals were completely independent of other physical activities. Researchers were carefully to identify if the people in the study were active with other forms of exercise. If they were, the researchers took this into account with their reporting. While endurance activities like jogging, walking, cycling, and swimming all can provide health benefits to the cardiovascular system, lifting weights is a different type of activity. This is one of the first studies to look at the benefits that a resistance exercise can have on heart health. Hopefully, this will be something that encourages more seniors to take charge of their health and get some more exercise in. Even those that are unable to walk or get around with ease can take advantage of lifting as a form of exercise.

 

Even light weight lifting can provide benefits to seniors.

 

Really, there are a few other benefits to lifting weights. Look at the world of track and field if you are not convinced about this. For many years, distance runners avoided lifting because of the fear that extra muscle would slow them down over a long period of time. Today, that is known to not be true. In fact, lifting regularly helps distance runners to avoid injury and prevent stress fractures because it strengthens both the muscles and the bones around the area that is being exercised. The same principle can be true for seniors that lift. They don’t need to be endurance athletes to reap the benefits that come with this exercise. By lifting, muscles and bones can both be strengthened. This can help to prevent injury, improve balance, and keep the heart healthier, too.

 

If you have questions or concerns about a new exercise routine for an elderly loved one, speaking with a doctor can be helpful for getting started safely.

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