Exercising at Home:
A Safe Alternative When It's Slippery Outside

Seniors can maintain cardiac health without leaving home...

Exercising at home: a safe alternative when it's slippery outside. Photo credit: Mark Ridout, Toronto Rehab

(NC)—It's important to stay fit in the long winter months but it's also a time to exercise caution. Death rates among older people can go up by as much as 60% in cold weather.

If you're older and worried about harsh conditions outside, don't give up. Here are 10 exercises you can do at home.

"Finding a few minutes for these exercises will help maintain cardiac health, strength and balance," says Liz Inness, physiotherapist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Canada's largest provider of adult rehabilitation services.

Flexibility

• Circle your arms slowly to stretch the upper body.

• Sit down and extend your knee straight out. Then, pump your ankle up and down to stretch leg muscles.

Strength

• Stand at the kitchen counter and do small knee bends.

• Do sit-to-stand exercises. Simply sit down then stand up.

• From a standing position, go up on your toes, then down again.

• March on the spot.

• Do side leg raises while standing at the kitchen counter.

Balance

• Balance on one leg. (Do this near something you can grab onto if necessary.)

• Tap step. Move your right foot forward, to the side, to a position behind you, and back to the starting position. Do the same with the left foot.

Endurance

• Keep walking! Apartment hallways and indoor shopping malls are excellent places for walking.

"When exercising, elderly people should feel a moderate sense of effort, but nothing more," adds Inness. "Start with a few repetitions of each exercise, and build up gradually."

Anyone with health problems should check with a health professional before starting a fitness program.

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