By Ashley Denney & Lauren Hall
October 6, 2022
When we think of technology, we rarely associate it with encouraging an active lifestyle or empowering seniors. However, technological advancements have opened the door for an abundance of easy-to-use resources that support senior adults as they age actively.
At Williamsburg Landing, our team strives to educate the residents on how they can utilize modern technology for their own, personal benefits throughout their day-to-day lives. Our Resident Experience Manager, Ashley Denney, took the time to compile a variety of tools that foster active aging and contribute to mental and physical wellness.
Online Videos
Online exercise videos offer excellent ways to be active and improve your fitness, at any time and any place. There are a variety of free resources such as YouTube that offer endless options for exercise. One great example is a YouTube channel called “Senior Fitness with Meredith.” This channel offers resistance training, low impact cardio, and relaxing bedtime stretches, specifically tailored to older adults.
Apps
Fitness apps for smartphones and Smart TVs provide endless possibilities as well. Many are free services and some require a small paid subscription. The FitBit app is a free service that allows you to count steps, calories, weight, blood pressure and more. The FitBit activity tracker goes along with this app to count your steps and monitor heart rate. Apple Watches and other brands like Garmin, offer wearable devices that connect with smartphones to provide insightful details on your fitness and even supply reminders to keep you active and healthy. We’ve rounded up the best free apps for health and fitness below, which we recommend to those 62 and older:
Map My Walk - This app tracks your distance wherever you walk while monitoring activity and setting goals. We encourage our residents to use this while walking the trails around campus so they can see the exact distance completed!
MyFitnessPal - This app helps you track your meals and manage dietary information. Users have the option to input meals consumed throughout the day, with a breakdown of calories, fat, protein, and more. This data can be used for weight loss goals, water consumption goals, and more.
Tai Chi Beginners Seniors - The app presents exercises that improve balance, strength and increase calmness. This is the perfect compliment to the weekly Tai Chi classes offered by our personal trainers at the Doig Health Club and allows residents to work on their skills from anywhere, at any time.
J & J Official 7 Minute Workout - Looking for a quick, complete cardiovascular workout? This is it! Set it at a low or high intensity level to meet your specific needs.
Podcasts
Podcasts are another great way to stay informed and motivated at no cost and with ease. A podcast is an audio recording that can be played on your smartphone or computer. Just search player.fm/podcasts/\ fitness-over-50 to find a variety of podcasts that educate and motivate. The Spotify app is also a great place to search for podcasts. We recommend listening while you take a walk or engaging in health-related discussions with friends.
The Over 50 Health and Wellness podcast inspires men and women in their 50s and beyond, to live their strongest, healthiest, and most fulfilling lives, regardless of age.
Senior Fitness with Meredith is the counterpart to the YouTube channel we previously mentioned. Her podcast episodes discuss physical and mental fitness along with enriching topics such as nutrition, positive spirits and motivation for a healthy lifestyle.
Mental Well Being Resources
Technology has placed helpful tools and relaxation apps at our fingertips for the benefit of our mental well being, one of the most crucial aspects of health for individuals in any season of life. Calm and Headspace are both apps dedicated to relaxing the mind through meditation, music, stories and more.
Thanks to video chat, the ability to meet virtually with a clinical therapist can also be accessed through various online platforms. Talk Space offers live video chat, phone calls and text messaging with a therapist to help treat your needs.
The variety of fitness tools online today can be overwhelming, but also so useful! Our experienced wellness team strives to assist residents with these resources and help them gain confidence, so they can use technology to age actively!