AMAC urges seniors to enter into a ‘Fitness Protection Program”

You’ll feel better and it can improve your health, says the senior advocacy organization

WASHINGTON, DC, Sep 21 – Americans are living longer than ever before. The average lifespan in the U.S. has doubled over the past 100 years. In 1918, you were lucky if you made it past 40 years of age. Today we’re living into our 80s and the number of people living past 100 is at an all time high.

Fitness expert Jena Walther, Exercise Physiologist at the Scripps Center for Executive Health in La Jolla, CA, says more than half of us who are over 55 don’t even meet the minimum recommended guidelines for exercise. They lack confidence, are afraid they’ll hurt themselves or are just plain uninterested. And, it gets worse as they get older.

“In addition to making older folks feel better, the advantages of keeping fit include the ability to prevent some of the more serious diseases associated with aging, including Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even Alzheimer’s,” according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC].

Weber is encouraging AMAC’s membership to enter into what he calls a “Fitness Protection Program.”   He says, “As we get older we tend to seek ways to avoid activities that involve exertion. To quote one anonymous wag: the only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, sidestepping responsibility, and pushing their luck. We need to overcome inertia and find ways of improving our heart rates and blood sugar levels by developing good exercise habits. Of course, it is important to check with your doctor before beginning any regimen that involves strenuous activities.”

Exercise is particularly good at fending off Type 2 Diabetes and other chronic conditions. The World Health Organization says that a healthy diet, increased physical activity and avoiding tobacco use can prevent 80% of premature heart disease, 80% of type 2 diabetes cases and 40% of cancers. And, according to the Alzheimer’s Association: “”Exercise or regular physical activity might play a role in both protecting your brain from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and also living better with the disease if you have it.”

AMAC suggests that, ideally, your own Fitness Protection Program will include formal exercise routines – even if it is going for a walk around the block. But being active doesn’t have to be limited to your workout times. There are plenty of ways to become more active as you go about your day. For example:

• When you are out and about, always choose stairs over the elevator, park at the far end of the parking lot when arriving at appointments and meetings, walk down every isle of the grocery store while shopping, practice balancing skills while standing in line, do neck rolls while waiting at a stoplight.
• When you are at home, do a set of wall pushups while waiting for water to boil, vigorously vacuum, tend to the garden, sweep the sidewalk, rake leaves, lift weights while watching the news, try toe-raises while talking on the phone, do knee bends after sitting for a long period of time.

Says Weber, “you will feel better if you keep active. Guaranteed!”

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AMAC supports Congressional BOLD initiative to combat ‘the scourge’ of Alzheimer’s disease

Bi-partisan bill in both Houses of Congress may provide them

WASHINGTON, July 20 – The Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC] has endorsed bi-partisan legislation in Congress to focus attention and resources on “the scourge” of dementia and, in particular, Alzheimer’s, which is America’s most expensive disease.

The BOLD [Building Our Largest Dementia] Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act [S.2076] and the House version of the bill [H.R.4256] were both introduced last November with bi-partisan support. Susan Collins [R-ME], Chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, introduced the bill in the Senate. Rep. Brett Guthrie [R-KY] sponsored the House version. The measures would provide “research funding … needed to achieve our goal of preventing and treating Alzheimer’s by the year 2025,” according to an online post by Sen. Collins.

AMAC president Dan Weber sent letters of support to Senator Collins and her cosponsors in the Senate and to Representative Brett Guthrie and his cosponsors in the House. In his messages, Weber stated: “The BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act will empower those living with Alzheimer’s, and their caregivers, by increasing access to education and expanding necessary support services. The steps outlined in this bill will ensure both patients and caregivers are best positioned to deal with the effects of Alzheimer’s and preserve the financial integrity of our healthcare system by averting a potentially disastrous public health crisis.”

Weber has long been calling for a new focus on Alzheimer’s and says “it’s about time that one of the most devastating diseases afflicting older Americans receives the full attention of the U.S. government. It is destructive to the individuals who suffer from this malignant form of dementia and their families. But it also has the potential of overwhelming America’s healthcare infrastructure if it is not checked.”

Weber notes that AIDS, a disease that is in decline and afflicts 1.1 million Americans, receives some $32 billion in Federal funding. Meanwhile, he points out, the National Institutes of Health [NIH] says it will spend just $1.9 billion this year to fund research on Alzheimer’s – a disease that plagues the lives of more than 5.7 individuals in the U.S. and is expected to destroy the lives of as many as 14 million by the year 2050.”

Former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, who also served as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Alzheimer’s is the most under-recognized threat to public health in the 21st century.”

In an appeal for support of the BOLD Act, Satcher said that the legislation would create a “public health infrastructure across the country to implement effective Alzheimer’s interventions.” It would:

• Establish Alzheimer’s Centers of Excellence that would increase early detection and diagnosis, reducing risk, preventing avoidable hospitalizations, reducing health disparities, supporting the needs of caregivers and supporting care planning for people living with the disease.
• Provide funding to help public health departments implement effective Alzheimer’s interventions.
• Make available funding for the Increased data collection, analysis and timely reporting needed to support research aimed at controlling and controlling the disease.

“The BOLD Act provides a new, sorely needed perspective on Alzheimer’s disease and much needed, substantive support in the quest for a cure. Along the way it will help researchers to come up with new, more effective ways of managing this insidious form of dementia. Meanwhile, the more we learn about the pathways of Alzheimer’s with help from the public sector, the more effective medical researchers in the private sector can be in checking the progress of the disease among older Americans,” Weber said.

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