Move It or Lose It

By Rick Banas, Vice President of Strategic Marketing for BMA Management, Ltd.

One of the keys ways to maintain your independence and avoid a move to a nursing home is to keep moving.

“People in motion stay in motion,” Dr. David Fisher, a Board Certified Gerontologist, notes in his newly released book entitled “How to Keep Mom (and Yourself) Out of a Nursing Home.” One of the seven keys to keeping your independence that he cites in the book is to keep moving.

“When we lose the ability to move, we inch that much closer to nursing home placement as we become more likely to fall, become socially isolated, develop functional incontinence, lose access to medical care and become unable to maintain our homes,” Dr. Fisher writes.

He talks about regular exercise perhaps being the most important factor in preserving one’s mobility and the importance of proper nutrition for maintaining muscle and bone strength. He says that “thirty minutes of https://www.gardant.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-19-1.jpgrobic exercise four days a week is an excellent goal to set.”

Be sure to exercise your quadriceps, the muscles that sit on the front of your thighs and connect your hips with your kneecap, because these are the muscles that you primarily use to stand up and sit down. They also help with walking and balance.

Dan Buettner, a National Geographic writer who has done groundbreaking work on longevity, echoes Dr. Fisher comments, in his book “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Living the Longest.”

Buettner shares nine tips for living longer and healthier lives. The first up on the list involves being active and moving naturally.

He talks about walking being one activity that successful centenarians do almost daily; about making your lifestyle more active rather than exercising for the sake of exercising; and about having fun and getting out and about with other people.

He recommends getting into the habit of doing at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week and discussing with your doctor a combination of https://www.gardant.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-19-1.jpgrobic, balancing and muscle strengthening activities.

The real enemy, as Dr. Fisher notes, is not aging but is the loss of independence.

Our mission is to help you maintain your independence and avoid a nursing home, if at all possible. Hope this helps.


All affordable assisted living communities managed by BMA Management, Ltd. are certified and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. All assisted living communities are licensed and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“BMA Management, Ltd. is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.

Like BMA Management on Facebook - Logo

Gardant Management Solutions has 20+ years of industry-acclaimed operational history in developing, managing and consulting for senior living, assisted living and memory care communities.