It is well documented that being physically active has a number positive impact on our Physical and Mental health in both the short and the long term. But why and how do the benefits of Physical activity carry over in the long term, and how does this impact our musculoskeletal health?
Well, in part, this is down to what we call our capability threshold. In short, the reserve of musculoskeletal strength and capacity that we build up now, carries over significantly over the latter years in life.
It’s obviously never too late to start making changes and embedding Physical activity into our daily routines. But the image above shows just how important it is that we embed changes in physical activity habits as early as possible.
Capability Threshold
Our Capability Threshold becomes hugely important in later life. This it’s the threshold at which we start to rely on other people to be able to complete our day to day activities. Our ability to get out of the house to go for coffee, to do the gardening, to live in a house with stairs, to play with our grandchildren or to go on holiday with family – all of these things are dependant on our musculoskeletal capacity.
But are we encouraged enough, or do we perhaps understand enough about why it is important to build these reserves over the course of our early and middle aged years?
In the world of work, we are always told that we need a good pension – and this is essentially based on the same concept I would imagine. The more that we can put away or ‘Bank’ into our reserves in the working age years of life, the more financially comfortable we are in our later years in life.
The same can be said for our physical capacity reserves. So if we are too busy working and prioritising building our financial reserves, are we going to have the capability reserves to actually enjoy this at the end of our working lives?
What Physical activity is best?
Of course, not all physical activity is made equal. Certain activities will have certain benefits. So there is no real right and wrong in the way of Physical activity. Often a variety of activities will offer a variety of benefits, and this often translates to a broader increase in reserves, which carries through into our latter years. As can be seen in the image below.
What does all this mean?
So what does this mean for me, my colleagues, my employees?
We are often told that we need top be more physically active. Often we are told that this ‘should’ involve being in the gym, or personal training programme, or that we ‘should’ be running for our hearth health.
But the important thing is that we do SOMETHING, and ideally something that we enjoy. Finding an activity that we enjoy, and that engages us, is more likely to keep us engaged, and to give us the longer term benefits
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