The Power of Fitness: Empowering Your Body and Mind

Physical activity and life satisfaction in later life so it's a well-known fact that staying physically active has positive outcomes on our physical health we know that but did you know that physical activity performing daily activities engaging in work full-time or part-time later in life and being playful which is one of my favorite things all have positive effects on life satisfaction happiness and psychological well-being later in life so it's true while mental health does play an important role in later life satisfaction I’m not downplaying mental health but i do want to Phys focus on  physical health okays physical benefits of moving around physical activity in later life means anything you do that keeps you moving around as much as possible it can include activities like walking jogging dancing taking the stairs instead of an elevator parking your caraway out there and instead of parking close to a store them all any housework or gardening that you engage in it also means doing things you enjoy while staying in motion taking long walks at a park riding a bike playing golf or tennis are all good examples physical activity also means moving your body and skeletal muscles and expending energy for short or moderate periods of time you don't have to go crazy and do hours and hours this type of activity is associated with so many health benefits that i simply don’t have the time during this short video to list them and talk to you about them but regardless it's good to know that physical activity is associated with prevention of heart disease diabetes obesity and it also improves immune function now life satisfaction that's what we’re talking about is an outcome study after study in their search shows is an outcome of physical activity people who are more physical have greater life satisfaction later in life when we're older so beyond the physical benefits of regular activity there are a number of psychological benefits and perhaps the greatest one of all is a strong sense of life satisfaction in later adulthood life satisfaction what do we mean by this it can be defined as one’s evaluation of his or her own life based on the factors and the features considered to be the most relevant or important to that person your life satisfaction is deeply tied to the things that you hold most dear in your life while everyone's idea of life satisfaction are all different there is still a connection between staying physically active and experiencing greater life satisfaction in later life but what's the connection what is it about moving around working doing chores or playing golf and I’m not a golfer that creates this sense of satisfaction well found in the literature the importance of being playful older adults who exercise they practice yoga they go bowling they dance or they swim all generally tend to breather playful people adult playfulness is positively associated with greater life satisfaction as well as an inclination to become engaged in activities that are both physical as well as playful so this can just be boiled down to having a very active lifestyle playful adults are generally viewed as those who enjoy amusement humor and entertainment they’re also characterized as people who are cheerful lighthearted fun spontaneous and intellectually curious playful people also enjoy leisure activities and all of the things that just mentioned right now are associated with greater life satisfaction so you start to see the connection there now the role of work you know some people love work and some people do everything they can to avidity personally love work but I don't define work as something i have to do or that has to Bedonie have a completely different outtake omit I love what I do so much that i don’t consider any of it work so I think it’s all perception it's up here but it’s been established throughout the research that older adults say 60s 70s80s and beyond who work either full-time or part-time also appear to benefit from happiness increased life satisfaction and improved well-being some studies show that working adults also use their time more wisely when they're not working and find more experiences of momentary happiness which i really believe is mindfulness being happy being fully present in the moment you're at work you're in your 80syou see an old friend come in you’re going to remember that  they also experience more happiness during relaxing activities and on the weekends because they're not working now self-perception i do write about this a little bit as well and i do find it to beat powerful source of life satisfaction self-perception an important finding in the research is the area of physical activity and life satisfaction is that playful adults perceive themselves they perceive themselves as being physically active and perceptions as we know can be very powerful in the case of life satisfaction play fullness is associated with the satisfaction of personal and intrinsic internal goals with physical health being one of the most important goals the positive emotions experienced through self-perception of being physically active can be helpful in facilitating physical resources including coordination strength and even cardiovascular health so here are my final thoughts great life satisfaction is a key component to successful aging that's all there is bottom line it appears that physical work an activity being play full doing chores playing golf walking through a park can have positive influences on our life satisfaction as we age and in later life this is good to know because many people may think that their life satisfaction is tied to their genetics their family their social environment and changing life's uh circumstances like getting older losing independence losing people in their live sperm past is best to grow old younger with our inner child leading the way.