Moving and doing it constantly is “vital for body and spirit”. And especially in the over 65s, “it is necessary to guarantee a good quality of life”. It doesn’t take too much effort: “A few minutes a day are enough, even at home”. HappyAgeing – Italian Alliance for Active Aging and Simfer, the Italian Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, remind you on the occasion of World Physical Activity Day, which is celebrated today.
“Adequate physical activity has innumerable benefits for all age groups, not least the elderly – says Michele Conversano, president of the technical-scientific committee of HappyAgeing – Sport, even practiced in a mild way with simple walks or light exercises, prevents many pathologies, improves the conditions of the joints, fights osteoporosis and being overweight, keeps the metabolism active.Furthermore, if practiced outside the home, sporting activity allows you to cultivate social relationships, counteracting a risky phenomenon for the over 65s as much as the diseases of the body: loneliness.It is no coincidence – he recalls – that the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, recently announced that the Government is working on the definition of a national Program for the promotion of physical activity, which also includes the definition of methods of prescription of physical exercise and delivery on the national territory.An initiative that we welcome with great satisfaction, which demonstrates how much sport must increasingly form part of a broad-based strategy for the promotion of correct lifestyles, the prevention of chronic diseases non-communicable and the contrast of a sedentary lifestyle”.
“Movement is life – says Maurizio Massucci, member of the board of the ‘Italian journal of rehabilitation medicine’, a Simfer magazine – Inactivity, the many hours spent sitting in front of the television, favor first of all the onset of metabolic diseases and of the musculoskeletal system. Not only that: it is now known that those who move regularly also remove the risk of depression and loss of confidence in the future. It doesn’t take much to get back in shape – the expert points out – especially for the elderly”. This is why HappyAgeing and Simfer have promoted ‘Let’s move together’, a program of 8 video lessons which explains how to perform a series of physical exercises designed specifically for ‘seniors’.
Zullo (Parliamentary intergroup for active ageing), ‘we will promote it in implementing decrees of the Elderly delegation bill’
“We are committed to guaranteeing healthy aging for our citizens, through active policies that affect many aspects of life: immunisation, nutrition, screening, the correct use of medicines and last but not least, physical activity”, declares the Senator Ignazio Zullo, promoter of the parliamentary intergroup for active aging recently presented at Palazzo Madama, assuring the institutions’ commitment.
“The Ddl delegates policies in favor of the elderly – he remarks – in article 3 commits the Government to adopt one or more legislative decrees to promote the dignity and autonomy of elderly people, active aging and prevention of fragility in this segment of the population. The parliamentary Intergroup will not fail to make a commitment to put physical activity at the center of the implementing decrees of the legislative decree, as a founding element of the quality of life of the over 65s”.