EXERCISE AS A TOOL FOR HEALTH PROMOTION IN OLDER PEOPLE: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

As people live longer there is now a larger population of elderly people, with this group suffering a higher prevalence of ill-health. The aims of this literature review are to examine the age-related physiological changes that increase the risks of deteriorating health in older people, identify some of the mechanisms whereby exercise may realistically slow down health deterioration in older people and prolong their ability to carry out daily activities, identify which exercises are most beneficial as a tool for health promotion in the elderly, and try to define what the nurse´s role is in using these exercises. The goal of this literature review is to make nurses more aware of the usefulness of regular exercise or physical activity as a tool for health promotion, and to highlight the important role nurses can play in the delivery of these exercises or activities. Regular exercise or physical activity has many benefits with regard to health promotion in the elderly. It can help to regulate weight, blood pressure, cardio-vascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and many others. As a person gets older their physical well-being can rapidly decline and they can lose their ability to carry out everyday tasks such as washing and eating. It is important that older people are encouraged to undertake some form of regular physical activity in order to slow down this decline and to prolong the ability to independently carry out activities of daily living (ADL). Nurses can play a crucial role in this aspect of health promotion by explaining the benefits, encouraging elderly people to participate, and as part of a multi-professional health care team, help to tailor these activities to suit each individual according to limitations. The literature researched has shown that regular exercise or physical activity has many benefits as a tool for health promotion in older people. The literature has also shown that the benefits can be achieved through different types of exercise from aerobics or endurance training, weight or resistance training, or repetitive exercises aimed specifically at activities of daily living such as transferring between a bed, walking set distances representing the distance between rooms in a house, and stretching to mimic the movements of dressing. Limitations of the research, such as inconsistencies in the type, duration, and intensity of the exercises used in the different studies, as well as the specific targeted area of the body make it difficult to say what the most beneficial exercise prescriptions are with respect to health promotion in older people, and further, more specific research will need to be done in the future in order to find this out.