Physicians who treat older adults should consider prescribing exercise along with necessary medications and advice.

This is the goal of Ann Yelmokas McDermott, PhD, a researcher in the Lipid Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University, and Heather Mernitz, PhD, now of the Nutrition and Cancer Biology Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA. Together they had developed FITT-PRO, a guide for prescribing exercise for older patients.

Their FITT-PRO prescription suggestion should include the following:

*Frequency – how often to do the exercise
*Intensity – how hard to exercise
*Type – the kind of exercise the patient should perform
*Time – how long to exercise
*Progression – how to progress to more strenuous exercise as the patient becomes more physically fit.

“Starting an exercise program later in life can significantly modify risk factors, even if a person has been sedentary in prior years,” McDermott said.

Prescribe exercise for older adults

Strength Training for Older Adults – from the CDC and Tufts University