Exercise Snacking

Physical activity is essential for improving health, especially for older people. Caroline Abrahams of Age UK commented on the importance of exercise, saying: “Even small amounts of physical activity can make a difference to a person’s health, lowering the risk of developing serious conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers”.

Readmissions

According to the NHS, around 1 in 3 adults aged over 65 who live at home will have at least one fall a year, and about half of these will have more frequent falls. From 2011 to 2017, there was a 19% increase in emergency readmissions within 30 days of an elderly patient leaving hospital. This evidently shows the need for preventative activities amongst older people.

Maintaining Mobility

In partnership with Sport Works, our EveryDay Care service provides ‘exercise snacking’ twice daily across our three Wellbeing Centres. These sessions include short periods of exercise and aim to improve and maintain the mobility and balance of our customers. This allows participants to maintain and improve their mobility to prevent accidents at home as well as improve general health.

Wellbeing Centres

Some examples of exercise at our Wellbeing Centres include;

• Chair based exercises
• Walking
• Dancing
• Bowls
• Swimming
• Gardening

Sport Works

John Newton, Project Coordinator at Sport Works, said: “It is important to remain mobile in order to live independently. Having regular mobility and exercise sessions will reduce the risk of falling and increase agility, balance and coordination. It will give you more confidence in trying new activities and make you feel better about yourself!”.

“Great success”

John continued: “The partnership between Sport Works and EveryDay Care services has been a great success. It has given many of their customers the opportunity to become more active and involved in chair based exercise classes on a weekly basis. We will continue to develop our relationship and work with more clients in 2020”.

National Lottery Funding

A joint funding application placed to the National Lottery in December was granted which will see a weekly seated exercise programme begin in April 2020. The partnership will enable us to work with customers across all Wellbeing Centres and Extra Care Housing Schemes to build stronger relationships within communities and to support customers to reach their potential. The programme will support customers at the earliest possible stage to maintain independence, mobility and increase their overall wellbeing through weekly gentle exercise.

Extra Care Housing Schemes

EveryDay have recently started exercise snacking in our Extra Care housing schemes on Tuesdays. The times and locations are as follows:

• 9.45- 10.30  Fontburn Court
• 11.00 -11.45 Crossgates
• 1.00-1.45 Weetslade Court
• 2.15-3pm Sandringham court
• 3.30pm- 4.15pm Thomas Ferguson Court
• 4.30-5.15pm Edith Moffat House

Contact

Our Active Age service at Age UK offers advice and support to people over the age of 55 who:

• May have been physically active in the past
• Would like to get active again or find a new activity
• May need support, advice or motivation to get going
• May have experience changes in their life which means the type of activity they can do has changed
• Are looking to improve their fitness levels
• Want to meet new people through playing a sport

For more information on our Active Age programme, call Laurie Zebik, Active Age Co-ordinator:

Telephone: 0191 287 7027

If you or a loved one would like to experience one of our wellbeing centres, you can book a free taster session with EveryDay:

Telephone: 0191 287 7028   Option 2