The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched Go4Life — an exercise and physical activity campaign designed to help older adults fit exercise and physical activity into their daily lives, to maintain good health. The campaign provides resources including an interactive website, an “evidence-based exercise guide in both English and Spanish” (in the form of an online book on exercise), and an exercise video.
“Go4Life offers exercises, motivational tips, and free resources to help seniors get ready, start exercising, and keep going,” NIA says. The campaign’s mission is to “Motivat[e] older adults to become physically active for the first time, return to exercise after a break in their routines, or build more exercise and physical activity into weekly routines.”
Interactive Go4Life Website
As part of the Go4Life campaign, NIA has created a Go4Life website, which contains resources on exercise to help seniors get going with the right kinds of exercises, stick to it, monitor their progress, and maintain healthy exercise routines for good health.
In a section called Get Started Today, the site includes information and tips on topics including:
- How Exercise Can Help You
- Four Types of Exercise
- Stay Safe
- Learn About Healthy Eating
Get Set:
- Finding Your starting point
- Set Your goals
- Make a Plan
- Common Questions
Go!
- Try These Exercises
- Track Your Activities
- Keep Going
- How Are You Doing
The site also contains a Cheering Section For Family and Friends, to help family caregivers and friends cheer on your senior loved one (and yourself). It also provides a series of Tip Sheets for Family and Friends.
Online Book
The NIA also provides a helpful online book, Exercise & Physical Activity: Your Everyday Guide from the National Institute on Aging, with more comprehensive information on exercise, including chapters on:
Chapter 2: Get Set
Chapter 3: Go!
Chapter 4: Sample Exercises
Sample Exercises – Strength
Sample Exercises – Flexibility
Chapter 5: How Am I Doing?
Chapter 6: Healthy Eating
Chapter 7: Keep Going
Video/ DVD
The NIA also offers a Go4Life DVD – Everyday Exercises from the National Institute on Aging, which can be ordered online from the NIA. The video/ DVD is a companion to the above online book. On the video/ DVD, Personal trainer Sandy Magrath and friends demonstrate the exercises and provide tips and success stories to motivate viewers to be more physically active.
More Information
See Links to Additional Resources on exercise, provided by the NIA as an appendix to its online book, referenced above.
See also the HelpingYouCare™ resource pages on:
Diet & Nutrition: Physical Wellness
And see all of the HelpingYouCare™ resource pages on
Wellness/ Healthy Living for Seniors & Caregivers
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Copyright © 2011 Care-Help LLC, publisher of HelpingYouCare™.
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