The #1 Reason Older Adults Fall (And How to Prevent It) | Catherine Gough

And you mentioned exercise quite a few times.

And I'm a huge proponent of exercise, especially as we're getting older.

It's so important for our cognitive health, for falls, for, you know, keeping our muscle mass.

And I mean, I think it's the absolute most powerful anti-aging tool that we have.

So how does exercise play into preventing falls? And why is it important in this regard? So exercise

is, I would say, up there with the most single important thing that you can do to, like you say, for kind of healthy aging, so we call it, but also for preventing falls.

And there is the science out there that says that if you are not somebody who has had lots of falls, you're not necessarily like a high risk faller, but you're kind of like, just an older person trying to get on with life and just trying to make the most of it probably hasn't fallen yet but is maybe considering the risk of it happening that actually exercise can be the single only intervention that you can do and it will reduce your risk of falls so it is the most important thing that you can actually do the only thing that i kind of link that is also really important is getting your eyes tested because that is a huge uh A, it's huge for preventing falls anyway, but it's also really important for balance.

So that's the only other thing.

But exercise, the most important thing that you can do.

The reason why is because as we get older, if we kind of allow the natural aging process to take place, then we naturally start to get weaker.

Our muscles don't work as effectively.

We lose a little bit of power.

we lose potentially like proprioception, how well you recognize your body and you know where your body are and balance as well.

So you start to become more unsteady and then exercise targets all of these.

And so, It's, it is, it's the one thing that I will like this, you know, is why I love force prevention, because it is, I get to talk about exercise and the benefits of exercise.

And it is so, so important.

Also, I think exercise is good for your mental health, you know, your psychological well being.

And super important for confidence.

Like I'm sure you know, as I do, that when you come to an exercise and I see it with my clients where they think, well, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that.

And then they can.

There's nothing better to boost your confidence.

Yes.

And, you know, when you're walking around

and you feel strong and powerful, that's that's a nice feeling.

You know, instead of being a fragile little old woman, then, you know, you can you can still be strong and have good posture.