3 reasons why supporting physical exercise is important for care home residents.

Being physically active at different times during the day can be very beneficial for us all. When we don't make time to exercise, or feel too unwell to exercise, for any length of time, we may find it harder to move our bodies as we would wish when we have the opportunity to do something we usually enjoy.

Here's three reasons why we should ensure that our residents are supported with keeping their bodies moving.

1. Exercise helps us to retain our physical abilities for longer and can even help us to improve on them. This is why rehabilitation and physiotherapy can be so helpful after a serious illness.

So if we want to keep our residents as independent as they are now, we need to ensure that there are lots of occasions and activities to be enjoyed which encourage all kinds of movement.

We can also encourage them to improve on their current fitness, enabling them to enjoy even more activities.

2. Regular exercise helps strengthen muscles and improve balance. This in turn helps to reduce falls and other injuries. If we want our residents to keep safe, we must encourage and support them to remain independent and autonomous with a wide range of physical activities to help them to keep fit.

3. Having a higher percentage of residents who can move around the home independently, transfer themselves from bed to seat and vice versa, reduces the physical, emotional and mental strain on those who care for them.

There are fewer concerns about personal safety at work as well as fewer concerns about the safety of those in our care. Carers are less prone to personal injury through the loss of balance of residents and the effort required to help someone transfer from one place to another (either by lifting and physically supporting them, or by pushing them in a wheelchair).

Carers are also less likely to find themselves suffering with aches and pains caused by helping residents feeding themselves or engaging in activities alongside them rather than in a more comfortable position.

Walking, chair exercises, dance, yoga, playing the drums, gardening and even singing are all physical exercises which can be enjoyed by many of our residents.