Low-impact workouts like aqua fitness can be effective ways to lower cholesterol.Finding exercise you enjoy is the key to consistency.Finding a supportive and positive community can reduce stress and enrich emotional health.
What’s the secret to great blood pressure? For some people, it might be a low-sodium diet. For others, it’s medication. For many, it’s a combination of both. But for me, there was one missing component, and I never expected it to include Buddy Holly and the Backstreet Boys.
My blood pressure readings were less than ideal. With my doctor’s support, I monitored my sodium intake. I tried different medications. I did my best to get my steps in every day. My readings improved, but I hadn’t nailed the right combination for optimized results. Sticking to a regular exercise routine was especially challenging; however, I knew it was critical. Physical activity plays an important role in lowering blood pressure, as well as providing other health benefits like strengthening the heart and reducing stress.
Then my doctor recommended something unexpected: aqua fitness. Specifically, the kind of gentle aqua fitness designed for seniors, which offers a low-impact workout filled with shimmies and a soundtrack that just won’t quit.
I’ve been a water-lover my whole life. I enjoyed swimming laps, but I had to give it up while I was struggling to find the right blood pressure medication. The back-and-forth motion of bilateral breathing made me dizzy, a side effect of the vertigo-inducing drugs. I gamely tried other things. I signed up for a five-kilometer run. I started hiking more with friends. They were good activities, but they weren’t my activities, and while I stuck to my schedule, I wasn’t happy. I didn’t think aqua fitness would be any different. All that jumping and kicking didn’t sound too comfortable.
But seniors’ aqua fitness made all the difference.
I’m still a few decades away from being able to claim a senior’s discount, but it was clear from my first class that this was the place for me. You can exercise as enthusiastically or gently as you wish, and I know when the instructor says: “I wanna see that water rolling!” it’s for encouragement, with no real expectation of hearty splashes. Rest assured, I’m not crashing a class that’s strictly seniors-only. Everyone is welcome, but the curriculum and soundtrack are designed for older people. Women dominate the class, though occasionally a handful of men attend. I must be an old soul, because I fit right in.
Sticking to the program is easy because it’s fun. The time flies by, thanks in no small part to a soundtrack that stretches from the birth of rock and roll to modern-day bops. The only thing more entertaining than the music are the conversations I overhear. Scintillating stories and ribald jokes abound. It’s incredibly refreshing to hear these women speak so unreservedly.
I soon realized that the community that awaited me pre- and post-pool time was every bit as valuable to my well-being as the cardio work in the water. These women cared about their health, they cared about each other and they cared about their community. But did they care about what other people thought about them? Not one bit. Forget the see-and-be-seen vibe at a designer gym. At the community center, the swimsuits are boring, but the people wearing them are anything but. There are bodies of all sizes and shapes, bodies with scars and injuries, bodies with mastectomies and limb differences. It felt like these women use their bodies as vehicles to keep tuned up so they can go about their busy lives, working, volunteering, helping with their grandchildren, and growing phenomenal gardens. I suddenly saw my own body, which I had previously regarded as problematic for not producing great blood pressure readings, through a different lens.
Little by little, class by class, my blood pressure began to improve. I’m not sure if it was the increased exercise, the new consistency in my schedule, the decreased stress from hanging around so many dynamic women, or subtle adjustments in how I take care of myself, inspired by their example. But things were improving and then improving some more. Instead of adding more medication, I was able to reduce and even eliminate medication, with my doctor’s supervision.
While it wouldn’t be accurate to say I danced my health worries away, I think it’s fair to say my seniors’ aqua fitness classes made a big splash for my physical and mental health. And as thrilled as I am that they’ve played a big role in improving my health right now, I’m even happier knowing they’ll enhance my well-being long into my older years, because there’s no way I’m letting this connection go.
