Belmont Village Quarterly Newsletter
on Senior Living

Maintaining a Healthy Resolve for 2007

Keys to Physical & Mental Fitness

New Year’s resolutions are often like “pie-crust promises,” easily made, easily broken, and none more so than those involving fitness and exercise.  While we all want to be more fit, developing and sticking to a regular routine can be difficult, especially for older adults with limited access to equipment and support.  However, recent research indicates that staying active is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves to maintain mental and physical fitness and overall wellbeing. 

To help residents keep their fitness resolutions year-round, each Belmont Village community is equipped with a Center for Life Enhancement (CFLE).  The Belmont CFLE is a professionally supervised onsite fitness center, with physical fitness equipment specifically designed for seniors.  The Centers are overseen by physical therapy providers and offer a range of services, from wellness programs to physical, occupational and speech therapy services.  Regular exercise classes are also conducted at our communities to give residents a variety of ways to participate and stay fit. 

Studies have long shown that regular exercise improves balance, increases mobility and reduces the risk of falls for seniors, in addition to improving circulation and heart health.  Now we’re seeing that what is good for the heart is good for the brain, too.  Findings from a multi-institute review conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicate that reducing blood pressure, weight, and cholesterol, controlling (or avoiding) diabetes, and not smoking can all contribute to brain health as we age. 

The review board also found that some studies indicated a close correlation between physical activity and brain health, meaning that the exercises we do to reduce the risk of heart disease may also reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. 

Research/Resources

The review referenced in this article is a part of a new trans-NIH initiative, Cognitive and Emotional Health Project: The Healthy Brain, launched by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).   The goal of the “Healthy Brain Project” is to assess the state of research that seeks to determine the factors that affect cognitive and emotional health in older adults and to evaluate the ways in which cognitive and emotional health may affect each other.

More information about the NIH’s Healthy Brain Project is available on the NIH website:

http://trans.nih.gov/CEHP/