The challenge for older adults.The population
of
older adults is growing with each passing year. Born in 1961, it will
not take long till I will have joined the force of older adults myself
as wel. Currently about 32% of the Canadian population is over the age
of 50 years. This number will Increase to approximately 41% in 2026.
It is obvious that this increase in number will have a tremendous impact on all aspects of our society in the years to come. It is for this reason that the World Health Organization (WHO) came with the statement that ageing not only is a privilege and a societal achievement, but that it is also a challenge, a challenge that requires joint approaches and strategies. The challenge is two-fold:
As we age into mid-life we begin to experience a decline in our physical abilities. It creates concern and demands our attention. And with reason for being physical able to perform all sorts of activities of daily life is directly related to the quality of life. The causes of the decline in our physical abilities are: time, disease and disuse. The passing of time is a fact, we can't control that. Disease is a result of internal failure or external exposures that damage our body. We can do a lot to prevent ourselves from contracting a disease, but we can't control it completely. The third cause is disuse, also known as sedentary living. This is something we can control. To what extend is different for all of us, but we all have power over our physical activity. A sedentary living is devastating for our body. You may not always notice it, but it is there. The tricky thing is that physical systems deteriorate graduallly. We get used to it, learn how to live with it and accept it as an inevitable fact of life. But we shouldn't. Not to the extend we often do. The best proof for this is that once people finally become physically active, they often experience a dramatic improvement in their overall physical ability and, consequently, in their quality of life. And that after just a few weeks of increased physical activity. 60% of older adults are inactive which makes them susceptible to acute and chronic illness and is as harmful to health as smoking. Therefore, Physical activity is a must, an absolute must to remain able to bend, lift, carry and move with ease, or in other words: to maintain independence. The next pages are about:
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