Let's extend our healthy lifespan! Care exercises to stay active and energetic forever
As we get older, it can become harder to move our bodies, and we may feel our stamina declining.
Some of you might be thinking, “I want to take preventive steps before my body becomes less mobile.”
In this article, we introduce exercise routines for elderly adults to help maintain a healthy body!
We’ll cover a wide range of exercises—from simple routines you can do while seated to slightly more challenging ones.
Use these ideas as fun ways to extend healthy life expectancy, perfect for day services or recreational activities in care facilities!
- [Seated] Fun Health Exercises for Older Adults and Seniors
- [For Seniors] Recommended Easy Strength Training
- [For Seniors] Hand and finger play roundup: Finger exercises that lead to brain training
- [For Seniors] Easy and Fun Core Training
- [For Seniors] Let's try customizing the usual Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra exercises!
- Summary of exercises for seniors: introducing preventative care movements by body part.
- Recommended simple exercises for recreational activities for the elderly
- For Seniors: Fun and Lively Exercise Recreation
- [For Seniors] Stretching Exercises: Easy and Safe to Do
- [Today's Recommendation] Gentle Health Exercises for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Fun Exercises You Can Do While Seated
- For seniors: Enjoyable exercises done while seated, accessible for wheelchair users.
- For Seniors: Effective Recreation for Preventing Care Needs—Have Fun While Staying Healthy
Let's extend our healthy life expectancy! Care exercises (1–10) to stay active and energetic forever
Finger exercises
By consciously focusing on your finger movements, you can improve the force used when grasping objects and also train your brain.
Start with a simple exercise: extend your hands forward and alternate between making a fist and opening your hand.
Then progress to movements that make you aware of each individual finger.
When folding your fingers one by one, it’s important to say each finger’s name as you move it and pay close attention to where you are applying force.
Gradually increase the tempo and aim for smooth finger movements.
Adding more complex actions—such as turning your hands over or moving fingers alternately—further enhances the brain-training effect by engaging your thinking as you move.
stick exercises
While seated, you hold a stick and train your whole body by moving it.
The key points are that holding the stick helps you focus your awareness all the way to your hands and allows you to move both hands evenly.
By directing your attention to the stick, you can create a well-extended body position, so even simple bending and stretching exercises can be expected to have greater effect.
With movements like twisting the stick, this exercise strengthens large areas such as the back and lower back, while simultaneously training finer parts like the wrists and elbows, as well as your grip strength and the ability to grasp the stick.
Stepping exercise
This is an exercise that trains the whole body by doing big marching movements while seated and then adding various elements to them.
First, it’s important to maintain proper posture and focus on moving your legs thoroughly.
If you move your arms in time with the marching, it becomes an exercise for the arms and shoulders; if you speak in rhythm, you can also add the benefits of mouth and speech movement.
By combining the marching with other movements in more complex ways, you also incorporate thinking about rhythm, which may provide brain-training benefits as well.
Let's extend our healthy life expectancy! Care exercises (11–20) to stay active forever
Foot muscle training with a towel
An exercise to strengthen the muscles of the feet using a towel.
One appealing point is how easy it is—just prepare a towel.
Sit in a chair, spread the towel at your feet, and move it using your feet.
Focus on toe movements: pulling the towel toward you with your toes and folding the towel with your toes.
By paying attention not only to the overall muscles of the feet but also to the toes, you can improve the power of your walking.
If you’re not used to it, your toes may be hard to move at first, so take your time and get used to it slowly.
Posture-improving exercises using a towel
As we age, a forward-leaning posture—so-called hunching—tends to become more noticeable.
It’s said that hunching occurs as the back and chest muscles tighten over time.
When posture deteriorates, even just standing can be tiring, so exercises to correct posture are very effective! This routine uses a towel and simple movements, yet by continuing it you can expect improvements in posture.
All you do is hold a towel with both hands and move your arms forward and back, so it’s easy for older adults to try.
Why not incorporate it into activities at home or in senior care facilities?
balance cushion
Using a balance cushion—which is often used to train the core—let’s focus on body balance while strengthening the legs.
The standard approach is to stand on the balance cushion and perform a training exercise that stabilizes the body, bringing awareness to the entire leg.
However, since there is a risk of falling when doing this alone, make sure to create a setup where you can get off the cushion immediately, such as having someone there to support you.
If your strength is diminished and it’s difficult to maintain balance, it’s recommended to start with a seated exercise: sit in a chair and apply pressure to the balance cushion placed under your feet.
pedal pedaling
There’s a device that lets you focus on ankle and knee movement while applying downward force, similar to pedaling a bicycle.
By moving your feet alternately with an awareness of rotation, you can promote smooth joint motion, which can also help with walking.
If you want to focus on joint movement, it’s best to set a lighter resistance; if you want to focus on stepping force, a heavier resistance is recommended.
Being able to use it while seated is another key point—it’s convenient because you can train your legs while doing something else, and it also trains your concentration by performing two tasks at the same time.