Ever wondered why children and young adults never seem to suffer from the health maladies and chronic illnesses that plague older individuals? Well I’ve been thinking about that very subject lately and concluded that the reason probably has a lot to do with movement.

For some reason, perhaps related to the evolution of our species, as we get older we are inclined to drastically reduce the amount of movement we include in our daily activities. Now I can’t argue justifiably that much of this lack of movement is not related to physical degeneration, but are we not moving because the body’s physical capacity deteriorates or is it the other way around? It could very well be that our physical abilities decline because of the lack of movement.

This debate can be endless, but it is generally agreed that chronic illnesses like hypertension and type II diabetes appear to be heavily linked to the lack of physical activity. Of course, there are other factors that contribute to the development of these chronic ailments, but physical activity and these factors are typically interrelated.

My contention is that as we age, we seemed destined to reduce movement to the bare minimum. We eliminate many of the physical activities we used to enjoy and love. We don’t play games in the neighborhood any more, we seldom, if ever, engage in organize sports. We quit dancing and going to the disco or whatever they call it these days. We just plain and simple take all of those fun physical activities out off our daily routine altogether and that’s a shame.

It is said with age comes wisdom and one of the things we learn as we grow older is that the human body relies on movement and physical activity to help it maintain its overall functionality. This is borne out in the fact that in the absence of regular physical activity chronic illnesses are prone to develop.

In 2010, the First Lady, Michelle Obama initiated the “Let’s Move America” program which to me appeared to focus more specifically on getting young people to engage in more physical activities. This is quite laudable, but in my opinion, a similar effort should also be directed towards the aging population. Why don’t we get the older generation moving and in so doing break the wicked trend of inactivity that’s normally associated with aging?

Perhaps if we can deliberately incorporate more physical activities into the daily routine of the older sector of the population, incidences of chronic ailments may very well be reduced. High blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and all of the other chronic conditions could be substantially lessened.

Now some of the activities we engaged in as youngsters may not necessarily be appropriate for the older generation, but there are many things that can done formally or informally to increase physical activity. Dancing for example can be enjoyed at any age and it will result in tremendous health benefits. So dance, run, walk, play a game of touch or whatever you may like doing to make you MOVE. Remember like the children and the young adults, if you move you can reduce the risk of developing many chronic illnesses. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s MOVE.