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SAR dean wants an exercise revolution for older Americans
By David J. Craig
Many Americans envision lazy days reading the newspaper in a rocking chair when they imagine themselves growing old. Even simple activities such as climbing stairs or carrying groceries, after all, are widely considered risky endeavors for elders.
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| Massachusetts residents Pat Bastoni and Don Jacobs perform stretching exercises similar to those offered by Sargent College’s Strong for Life fitness program, which was designed by SAR Dean Alan Jette to allow seniors to remain active. Photo by Jill Kooyoomjian | |
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But to the contrary, according to Alan Jette, dean of BU’s Sargent
College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, one of the most significant
behavioral risk factors threatening the health of older Americans is a
sedentary lifestyle. He says the conventional idea that becoming immobile
is a natural part of aging has created “an unrecognized epidemic”
of
inactivity in the United States.
“The dangers of inactivity are quite striking for people of all
ages, but particularly so for the elderly,” says Jette, who also
directs BU’s Roybal Center for Enhancement of Late-Life Function
and codirects SAR’s Center for Rehabilitation Effectiveness. “It
causes you to lose bone mass, muscle strength, muscle bulk, and aerobic
capacity, and it causes lean body mass to be replaced with fat. It also
can lead to depression and poor sleep. All of these things contribute
to illness, morbidity, and death.”
Research done by professors at Sargent College and elsewhere, Jette says,
has shown that regular exercise helps older people stay physically strong,
remain mobile, and enjoy a better quality of life than those who do no
exercise. However, Americans tend to pick up the habit of laziness relatively
early in life: a recent study found that 56 percent of adults 45 years
and older do not exercise regularly, he says, and that 35 percent of Americans
ages 65 and older do no regular leisure time physical activity, such as
taking a long walk.
And while the health risks of inactivity are significant for people of
any age, it has particularly dire consequences for older people because
it sets in motion a vicious cycle of inactivity and health problems. “Inactivity
can lead to a permanent loss of physical function in older people,”
Jette says. “When you no longer can get around, it is unhealthy
and it generally hurts your quality of life. You also are more at risk
of losing your balance, which, of course, often leads to serious injury,
such as fractured hips, and that is a huge problem in this country.”
So what kind of physical exercise is appropriate for seniors? Jette points
to U.S. Surgeon General recommendations that stipulate that 30 to 45 minutes
of moderate exercise such as walking briskly, cycling, or swimming, on
most days of the week is beneficial for people at any age. Walking is
the simplest way to exercise and it brings substantial health benefits,
he says, although he warns that people who have been inactive for a long
time should start by walking short distances and should expect some aches
and pains at first.
Of course, finding a safe place to walk can be challenging in U.S. cities,
which are designed with automobiles in mind. “We’ve set up
our cities in a way that makes it very difficult for people to incorporate
physical exercise into their daily lives, which has to be the answer to
this silent epidemic of inactivity,” says Jette. “I don’t
think gyms and health clubs are the answer, because they’re not
accessible to many people and they certainly are not made to be inviting
to older people.
“We need to change our environment so that it’s easy for people
to get exercise in their everyday lives,” he continues. “When
I travel to Scandinavia to do research, I see older people who are physically
active at a much higher level than people in this country -- they walk
a lot, they bicycle all over the place, and their streets are set up to
make it very easy for people to get around without a car.”
But until our society becomes less automobile-dependent, Jette is determined
to increase public awareness of the importance of getting exercise however
and wherever possible. About 10 years ago, he created an exercise program
called Strong for Life, which helps seniors maintain their ability to
perform routine physical tasks by following an exercise videotape that
stresses simple arm, leg, and back movements. The program now is offered
at senior centers around Boston, through area managed-care organizations,
and across the United States through Faith in Action, a faith-based volunteer
organization that works with frail older people in their homes.
“The first step to beating this epidemic is raising public awareness
about the fact that physical inactivity is a serious problem,” Jette
says. “Right now, there is not a lot of broad-based outreach regarding
exercise that’s being done, and currently that is what my own academic
work centers on: figuring out the best ways to reach large numbers of
older people and showing them how they can stay engaged with life, and
how they can avoid withdrawing into a narrower scope of physical activity,
which so often becomes a downward spiral.”
10 January 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations