For many elderly, the chances of living a sedentary lifestyle are high. This can be attributed to a number of reasons, such as poor health, lack of physical mobility, and the lack of opportunities to lead a more active lifestyle. Regardless of the reason, you should take a proactive approach to head outdoors and participate in some sports in order to boost your overall health, both physical and mental. Living a sedentary lifestyle can bring about many negative impacts, and most of them can be easily avoided as long as you try to incorporate some physical activity into your daily schedule. To find out what are some dangers that a sedentary lifestyle can result in, continue reading.
Higher Risk of Depression
Whether it’s depression, anxiety, or other poor mental health conditions, living a sedentary lifestyle can negatively affect you and your loved ones’ mental health. As you know what they say, mental health has a direct correlation to our physical health. This means that if you are not doing well mentally, your physical conditions will deteriorate in the long run, resulting in health issues like chronic pain and headaches. Other problems caused by depression include a loss of appetite, drastic changes in weight, fatigue, and feelings of self-worthlessness.
Higher Risk of Diabetes
Even though diabetes is one of the most common health issues faced by older adults, individuals who lead a sedentary lifestyle have a higher risk of developing this chronic health condition. If you do not participate in physical activities, your muscles do not work out enough to allow the body to break down sugars properly. As a result, the body’s sugar level increases, leading to diabetes. Diabetes can impede your lives in a number of ways, such as the increased risk of getting dehydrated, fatigued, suffering from blurry vision, and many more.
Bone Loss
Osteoporosis is a disease that describes the rapid loss of mineral density and mass for bones. This decrease in bone strength can lead to an increased risk of fractures, especially when you encounter stresses like falls, bending down, and even just a simple cough. Therefore, osteoporosis is a huge problem as it prevents you from becoming independent and makes you highly vulnerable to sudden movements. It should come as no surprise that living a sedentary lifestyle can lead to thinning bones due to a lack of loading stimulus to build up bone strength.
Impedes Daily Living
Last but not least, leading a sedentary lifestyle will generally make you feel weaker and frailer. This can cause you to have difficulties in performing everyday tasks and responsibilities, such as showering, dressing, and even eating. Of course, this can negatively impact everybody as you may have to rely on your family members or caregivers to get through the day. To simply avoid this situation from happening, all you have to do is partake in physical activities and try to follow a busy schedule each day.
