More seniors are aging actively
Reflecting a national trend, South Florida's seniors are keeping active well beyond age 65. They credit exercise for their lifestyle.
http://www.miamiherald.com/299/story/341349.html
This is a great article from the Miami Herald that features a couson, Emery Lang who is 86 and
a champion rower. He has won gold after gold in amateur rowing competitions. Most importantly: He has done it all since age 65.
He's not alone in enjoying an active lifestyle well into his senior years. Disabilities that once meant that aging and pain went hand in hand are declining at about 1.5 percent a year and have been since the 1980s. It means millions of people 65 and older are not facing as serious health declines as early as their parents did.
''A healthy body helps maintain a healthy mind. And a healthy mind is everything.''
That's a belief that Lang, who narrowly escaped the Holocaust as a child, has followed throughout life.
After moving to the United States from Europe in 1948 with a six-day-a-week fitness regimen of swimming, weight lifting and walking, Lang decided when he retired to Sarasota in the mid-1980s that he would take up rowing.
''It looked enjoyable, and it certainly looked as though it could keep you in good shape,'' he says.
EXERCISING CAUTION
The amateur fitness guru urges other seniors to exercise with caution and common sense.
''Most people my age cannot keep up with my pace,'' Lang says. ``You must consult your doctors before you exercise and select simple exercises, especially if you have not tried to exercise for many years. And you must exercise your strengths and protect your weaknesses.''
Hip replacements put Lang on ice temporarily in 2003 and 2006, but because of his active lifestyle, his recovery was fast, he says.
''My doctors called it a near miracle,'' Lang says. ``Not months, not years, but in about four weeks after each hip replacement I was back in my boat and rowing again.''