Benjamin Button is Fiction But You Can Grow Older Healthier

Many of us have wondered what it might be like to live backward lives, or to have the wisdom of age with the body of youth. This is exactly that mechanism present in the excellent David Fincher film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The title character of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is born in 1860, without explanation, as a man of 70, complete with wrinkles, long beard and cantankerous attitude. From then on, he grows younger each year, until, seven decades later, he passes on peacefully as an infant.

I thought this might be a good time to delve into many of the myths that surround aging and anti-aging and to detail some exercise routines specifically for older people. I also covered the topic of strength training for seniors in an earlier post. Read more

10 Benefits of Strength Training for Seniors

Strength training is just what older bodies, even very old or frail ones, need to fight the loss of muscle mass and strength, according to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The ACSM believes that strength training is the most important exercise for older adults who aren’t fit, and that it should come before aerobic activity, not afterward, as is typically the case.

For all older adults - not just the frail elderly - a regular program of strengthening, combined with aerobic exercises, can help reduce or prevent many functional declines associated with growing older, according to the ACSM. Read more