Balancing life and exercise
The Centenary Institute recently hosted a free interactive online event to hear from Associate Professor Andy Philp and Professor Sue Kurrle AO as they shared their expert knowledge on the impact of not being able to include exercise in your life.
Life events such as being hospitalised, away from your normal routine and environment, injury and the onset of chronic illnesses can impact your exercise regime.
Did you know?
While not a disease, ageing is the most powerful risk factor for nearly all diseases such as arthritis and cancer to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to heart disease and dementia.
People over the age of 65, more than any other age group, require adequate fitness levels to help them maintain independence, recover from illness and reduce their high risk of disease.
Watch the video recording from the session
Expert Presenters
-
Associate Professor Andy Philp
Andy is Head of the Centenary Institute’s Centre for Healthy Ageing and an internationally recognised expert in studying mitochondrial metabolism, with particular focus on skeletal muscle wasting disorders such as ageing, muscular dystrophy and mitochondrial myopathy. His research and expert knowledge led to the design of the Centenary Institute’s ‘Exercise Snack Program’. The Centre for Healthy Ageing aims to utilse research findings to treat and aid the prevention of diseases of ageing including sarcopenia, frailty, dementia and liver failure to promote healthy ageing.
-
Professor Sue Kurrle AO
Sue is a geriatrician who is practising at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital in northern Sydney and in an outreach capacity at Batemans Bay and Moruya Hospitals in southern New South Wales. She holds the Curran Chair in Health Care of Older People in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Her research and practice interests centre on dementia, frailty, elder abuse, geriatric outreach services, successful ageing, and intergenerational programs, and her work focuses on translation of research into clinical practice.
Q & A from the session
Sue and Andy share their answers to some of the questions raised in the Q&A during the event. We hope these provide additional insight around the subject of balancing life and exercise.
Older people (over 75) need approximately 1.5gms protein/kg body weight/day. This is almost twice as much as younger people. Ideally it should be across the day. Eggs are an excellent source of protein (egg whites are basically pure protein). Skim milk powder added to porridge or yoghurt is also good. Chick peas, lentils, fish, chicken are all good sources. It is also important to think about protein needs in relation to physical activity. We know that exercise that causes muscle to grow (i.e. resistance-type exercise) is improved further if protein is consumed after exercise. So think about how you can get good quality protein in your daily diet, but also how you might time that around your exercise snacking.
As growing muscle takes up a lot of energy, scenarios where energy supply is limited (i.e.fasting) are normally associated with blunted muscle growth. However, the counter to this is that intermittent fasting is thought to reduce inflammation, which is also negative to growth. So there isn’t a clear understanding at the moment as to how intermittent fasting and muscle mass are linked. Practically, you might want to try and focus days/times when you are doing resistance exercise on days/times where you aren’t fasting to overcome any negative overlap.
The Good Gut Anti-inflammatory Diet publication was produced in 2023 by the Centenary Institute and authored by Professor Phil Hansbro, Head of the Institute’s Centre for Inflammation. Foreword by Dr Michael Mosely, diet tips from Dr Clare Bailey and recipes from Fast Ed Halmagyi. the book explains inflammation and inflammageing beautifully.
Great question. This will depend a lot on the type, duration and intensity of the physical activity performed as some are complimentary whereas other might counteract each other. Certainly just adding more and more to each other isn’t necessarily going to lead to additive benefit. With regard to a multiplier effect, this is hard to quantify without knowing what health benefit we are talking about.
The cholesterol effect of two eggs is negligible. Egg yolks contain all sorts of important vitamins and minerals and there are very few people who should not consume them. If you are worried, have a two egg omelette and discard one of the yolks.
The bowls stance required to deliver the bowl is good for lower limb muscle strength, coordination and balance but probably is not of sufficient intensity and duration to provide a lot of benefit.
Good question as shoulders can be temperamental. Get advice from a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist to ensure what you are doing is not likely to damage the shoulder.
This is an 18 hour fast. It may be good for weight loss but make sure you are getting adequate protein.