The influence of physical exercise on the health of the elderly.
With the aging of our population, the mental health of the elderly has attracted more and more attention from the whole society. As an effective means to improve physical health, physical exercise also plays a good role in regulating and promoting the mental health of the elderly. This paper expounds the influence of physical exercise on the mental health of the elderly and the exercise prescription suitable for the elderly, aiming at guiding the elderly to exercise more reasonably and promoting the coordinated development of body and mind.
Physical exercise; Older people; Mental health; Exercise prescription
First, the importance of mental health status of the elderly
With the implementation of the family planning policy and the extension of life expectancy, the process of population aging in China has gradually accelerated since the beginning of 2 1 century. The scale of population aging is huge, and the development of population aging is becoming more and more serious. The number of disabled and semi-disabled elderly people who need nursing has increased sharply, which is also a serious social problem facing China. With the advent of an aging society, the problem of aging has attracted more and more attention from the whole society. Physiological function is aging and degenerating. Physical diseases seriously affect the quality of life of the elderly. At the same time, the mental health of the elderly is also one of the important factors affecting their health and life safety. Therefore, paying attention to the mental health of the elderly has become one of the things that all sectors of society need to put on the agenda.
In modern society, the elderly are not very conscious of their mental health. It is found that the common mental diseases in old age are mainly manifested in the following aspects (1): they can't adapt to the idle state after retirement, think that they have become a burden to the family and society, lost their value of existence, and have a low evaluation of themselves. (2) Inferiority: Due to the reduction of economic income and social status of the elderly after retirement, it is easy to have a deep sense of loss and inferiority because they feel that they are not respected and valued; (3) Night psychology. Losing interest in life, losing confidence in the future, and feeling pessimistic and disappointed about the prospect of life due to reasons such as widowhood, children leaving home to work, old age or illness; There is a negative gray psychology towards anyone and everything. (4) Insecurity. Some old people have antipathy and prejudice to the outside world, so they close themselves up and rarely contact with others. At the same time, they also feel lonely and helpless and become afraid of the outside world. The mental health of the elderly is directly related to their health and happiness in their later years. The mental health of the elderly is very important to their lives, so people pay more and more attention to it.
Second, the impact of physical exercise on the mental health of the elderly
As an effective means to improve health, physical exercise has been widely accepted as an active lifestyle. With the progress of society, the improvement of material life and the development of medical care, the life span of human beings is gradually extended. The mental health function of physical exercise is manifested in two aspects: long-term psychological benefit and short-term psychological benefit [1]: long-term psychological benefit refers to the influence of long-term systematic participation in physical activities on some stable psychological characteristics of individuals, that is, the effect of reducing depression, improving cognitive function and establishing psychological self-concept; Short-term psychological benefit refers to the unstable influence of single physical activity on individual psychological state in a short time, that is, improving emotional state, reducing anxiety level and reducing stress and tension.
The research shows that [2], the elderly who take part in physical exercise can effectively relieve their emotions with the increase of exercise years; Older people who do not participate in physical exercise have more serious psychological anxiety and depression than those who participate in physical exercise. Another study shows that [3], the elderly who often participate in physical exercise can quickly adapt to the change of social roles, and will not become lonely and anxious because of retirement, at the same time, enhance their self-confidence and update their values quickly.
The longer the elderly regularly participate in physical exercise and physical exercise, the more effectively they can maintain their physical and mental health, and the more effectively they can delay the decline of human function. Physical exercise can promote the mental health of the elderly in the following ways:
1. Physical exercise can adjust the mentality of the elderly and stabilize their mood. Physical exercise can compensate emotional loneliness and inferiority, improve people's enjoyment of life, get rid of people's nervous mental state in daily life and achieve psychological satisfaction. Different exercise methods also have different effects on the psychological mood of the elderly, and slow and stretching physical exercise can more effectively alleviate the psychological anxiety and depression of the elderly.
2. Physical exercise can enhance the interpersonal relationship of the elderly and increase communication. The common psychological characteristics of the elderly are that they are afraid of monotonous life and lonely life, and need normal interpersonal communication. Participating in physical exercise for the elderly can increase interpersonal communication, expand social circle and meet psychological needs to a great extent. In addition, the elderly can talk about many topics about the elderly together, which also plays a role in relieving psychological pressure to some extent. The elderly feel comfortable and live a full life in such collective activities.
3. Physical exercise can prevent and treat mental diseases such as depression and anxiety. Research shows that [4], healthy people who participate in physical exercise can prevent mental illness, and exercise can also be used as a treatment for patients with mild to moderate emotional mental illness. Physical exercise can not only relieve the depression of normal people, but also relieve the depression of mental patients. Old people who often take part in physical exercise can seek the best mentality in sports, feel comfortable in various sports, fully enjoy the gifts of sports, cultivate sentiment, broaden their minds and form an open-minded, optimistic and cheerful good mentality.
Three, suitable for the elderly physical exercise exercise prescription
Exercise prescription can not only improve the mental health of the elderly, but also avoid accidents in exercise.
L, exercise prescription for the elderly. The types of exercise can be pleasing to the eye, enjoyable and interesting. Aerobic exercise or rhythmic abdominal exercise. You can choose walking, Tai Ji Chuan, Taijijian, Qigong, Yangko, aerobics, ballroom dancing, going up and down stairs, fishing and other sports. This kind of exercise requires low exercise load and high satisfaction, which can better integrate the consciousness and attention of the elderly and improve their mood. 2. Exercise intensity directly affects exercise effect and exercise safety, and heart rate is a reliable standard for formulating exercise prescription intensity. Because the elderly are physically weak, their physical strength and energy are worse than those of young and middle-aged people, so it is particularly important to strictly control the intensity of exercise. The exercise intensity of the elderly should be 60%-90% of their maximum heart rate, because this exercise intensity can make them achieve greater psychological effects. 3. Exercise time generally depends on intensity, and exercise time exceeding 5 minutes is an effective range of exercise. Exercise for at least 20-30 minutes at a time, and 60-90 minutes of exercise will also produce an ideal psychological state, but long-term exercise will not produce good psychological effects. Only by forming the habit of long-term physical exercise can the elderly get the expected psychological effect. 4. The frequency of exercise is the number of times of daily or weekly exercise, usually once a day or once every other day, depending on the amount of exercise and subjective feeling. The elderly can choose aerobic exercise and adopt a repetitive method, 3-5 times a week, preferably once a day [5].
Four. conclusion and suggestion
To take care of the elderly, on the one hand, it is necessary to cultivate their extensive hobbies, make friends, actively participate in cultural and sports activities and social activities, and overcome their loneliness; On the other hand, giving emotional support and spiritual comfort to the elderly also plays a very important role in maintaining their mental health.
(1) Sports activities for the elderly should be carried out according to local conditions. The community can carry out compulsory health lectures and print health manuals, so that the elderly can choose sports and ways that suit them and achieve the purpose of scientific exercise.
(2) The government should improve the service awareness for the elderly, pay attention to their mental health problems, increase social support, and increase the content to meet the physical exercise needs of the elderly in social development planning and urban and rural construction planning. We should vigorously support sports organizations for the elderly to carry out various activities to promote the physical and mental health of the elderly.
(3) The whole society should also increase publicity, further enhance people's awareness of respecting and loving the elderly, and popularize the knowledge of physical and mental health of the elderly. Organizers of sports activities for the elderly should organize more collective sports activities, organize sports activities for the elderly on the basis of free combination of the elderly, solve interpersonal disputes in time, and create a relaxed environment with good interpersonal atmosphere.
refer to
Xue Xin Gao Liang. Research on the Psychological Effects of the Elderly Participating in Qigong Exercise [J]. Journal of Xi Institute of Physical Education, 20 13 (4): 466-47 1.
[2] Song Xiangchuan, Zhou Yafei. On physical exercise promoting mental health of the elderly [J]. Guizhou Sports Science and Technology, 2005 (1): 53-54.
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