Us baby boomers have a lot on our minds these days. And exercise is moving out there to the forefront, right? We know that as we age it is becomes difficult to find time to exercise but London found an interesting way to help aging boomers. A park with low impact equipment designed for improvement of balance and flexibility.
The idea is to have a playground for the elderly. And while this might sound like a novel idea Exercise areas aimed at the elderly are popular in Europe and Asia so why not the UK? And why not the United States as well? What a great idea to have a playground for the elderly. Meet friends and exercise more!
It relieves the aches and pains they we get as we age. The thing is when we are young no one tells us how it is going to feel as get older. If we have parents, older relatives or friends willing to share that information great but if not we are on our own. With our culture being youth oriented it “seems” as if the elderly just well, age. But the human body does more than that, it changes and it begins to slow down and not be as flexible.
It is never too late to exercise. When boomers were young the neighborhoods and entertainment was different you just got out there and played on the playground with all the other kids but as we got older we lost touch with the simplicity of exercise. Let’s just call it movement. For example, take a look at walking for exercise. It seems that our culture has determined that without the right shoes, the right clothes and a good pedometer we can’t walk correctly. How can that be? How long have been living on this planet and not known how to walk? We can find ways to walk more like take the stairs at work or park further out in the parking. They recommend 10,000 steps a day but I find just moving around I get that. If I have to stop and put on the right shoes or the right outfit I will never get those steps!
So when the idea of a playground for the elderly got my attention I could see how easy that would be to just play and not call it exercise that dreaded stuff that takes a plan to do. Playing is fun not work. And when I think of how our culture has made exercise drudgery I visualize runners all decked in out the right shoes, the right clothes, Ipod in ear with a serious look of basic survival fighting elements. No laughing, no playing, no friends just isolationism driven by the need to make exercise another “work” in progress in life.
Boomers know that life is too short to do that. I like the idea of a playground, don’t you? One thing I do know now that I failed to get while I was fighting my way through life is…..you don’t get a do- over on today. This one day is here for today and never again. What you do with it, how you use it will be only today. I say let’s go to a playground, do some gentle stretching and forget about calling it exercise. Let’s call it fun!