It is a blessing to be strong and healthy. It is empowering to have many avenues to exercise. It is a powerful circle to lasting health. Those who can bike, play court sports and run, experience a diverse and fulfilling health platform. I am one such person. Today, I advocate for those who have few options. I speak for those who have lost the dexterity, the strength, the balance, the sensory processing and even the cognition to engage in faster-paced exercise and sport.
The aging of our population is a present and growing situation. The good health of this population is critical, not only to their quality of life but to the fiscal demands on all our budgets. It is a present and future imperative to keep this population as healthy as possible. Walking is the single most important and accessible exercise program for our aging population. Not to guard our walking trail system for our seniors is shortsighted and fiscally irresponsible.
Walking is the single most important and accessible exercise program for our aging population.
The cognitive and mental benefits of leisure in nature are well known in the medical and social sciences. Our seniors, in particular, have improved health outcomes when engaged in outdoor activities. It increases serotonin and dopamine in the brain and counteracts adverse conditions. It is critical to maintain this in our seniors. It reduces the need for mental health medication, it delays entry into high priced facilities and reduces loneliness and confusion. Connections to our neighbours, our community gardens, our urban parks and forest bolsters the health of seniors and keeps them engaged and contributing to our community.
It is ironic that our most active and healthy citizens are calling for the reduction of available and safe exercise for our seniors as their own needs and abilities will change, all too soon, in the future. Their own shortsightedness may well lead them to be “pushed off the trail.”
Let us show vision and wisdom and let us retain our city walking trails as walking trails.
Michelle Clemens,
St. John’s