Contrary to traditional thinking, regular exercise helps, not hurts, most older adults.
Older people become sick or disabled more often from not exercising than from exercising. Those who have chronic diseases, or risk factors for them, may actually improve with regular exercise, but should check with their doctor before increasing their physical activity.

There are few reasons to keep older adults from increasing their physical activity, and “too old” and “too frail” are not among them.

If you plan to work your way up to a vigorous level, check with your doctor first if you are a man over 40 or a woman over 50. Also check with your doctor first if you have any of the conditions listed under “Checkpoints.”

Your doctor or cardiac rehabilitation specialist can give you guidelines for physical activity if you have had a heart attack recently. Controlled exercise usually is an important part of long-term heart-attack recovery.

People with conditions called “abdominal aortic aneurysm” or “critical aortic stenosis” should not exercise unless their physicians tell them they can.

Almost all older adults, regardless of age or condition, can safely improve their health and independence through exercise and physical activity.

Checkpoints

You have already read about precautions you should take if you have a chronic condition. Other circumstances require caution, too.

You shouldn’t exercise until checking with a doctor if you have:

* chest pain
* irregular, rapid, or fluttery heart beat
* severe shortness of breath
* significant, ongoing weight loss that hasn’t been diagnosed
* infections, such as pneumonia, accompanied by fever
* fever, which can cause dehydration and a rapid heart beat
* acute deep-vein thrombosis (blood clot)
* a hernia that is causing symptoms
* foot or ankle sores that won’t heal
* joint swelling
* persistent pain or a problem walking after you have fallen
* certain eye conditions, such as bleeding in the retina or detached retina. Before you exercise after a cataract or lens implant, or after laser treatment or other eye surgery, check with your physician.

Chances are good that, if you have a chronic disease, you see a doctor regularly (if you don’t, you should, for many reasons). Talk with your doctor about symptoms that mean trouble — a flare-up, or what doctors call an acute phase or exacerbation of your disease. If you have Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), for example, you know that the acute phase of this disease should be taken very, very seriously. You should not exercise when warning symptoms of the acute phase of CHF, or any other chronic disease, appear. It could be dangerous.