Aging and exercise: Perceptions of the active lived-body

Abstract

Exploring older people's evocation of their positive experiences of aging has been proposed as a counterweight to the Western stereotype of aging as a process of decline. The aim of this article is to explore how aging women, who participate regularly in group exercise classes, perceive their own bodies and the bodies of others. This article reports on the findings from interviews with 16 women between the age of 70 and 85. We analyzed the data using qualitative content analysis. Two overarching and interrelated themes concerning body perception emerged from the interviews: "The aging body and appearance" and "The body as subject and object." The binary discourse of old age, as either a decline or a success appears in our findings. The training contributes to a sense of well-being experienced through perceived increased physical abilities, self- image and self-esteem. Physical ability was perceived as being more important than appearance by the participants in this study, considering their preconception of an association between declining health, abilities, and older age. Involvement in physical activity appears to play a significant role in the perception of the women's own aging. Although physical attractiveness is a desirable outcome, the most important positive impact of the group exercise was related to increased social belonging and well-being, physical abilities, and capabilities. Thus implications for practice suggests that an intensive group training contributes to the opinion that an aging body is not necessarily a barrier to positive and successful aging.

“Getting Used to It, but Still Unwelcome”: A Grounded Theory Study of Physical Identity Development in Later Life

“…While engaging in physical activities, they were attentive to bodily sensations and appropriated multiple pragmatic forms of knowledge from their life experiences to relieve the discrepant feelings originating in their aging bodies. This finding is supported by the prior studies regarding the relationships between involvement in physical activity, bodily awareness, and perception of aging [42,43]. Fougner et al [43] found that older-women exercisers showed body awareness and eagerness to understand their bodily sensations and signs of aging during exercise participation.…”

“…This finding is supported by the prior studies regarding the relationships between involvement in physical activity, bodily awareness, and perception of aging [42,43]. Fougner et al [43] found that older-women exercisers showed body awareness and eagerness to understand their bodily sensations and signs of aging during exercise participation. Similar to Erden and Güner's [42] study regarding the effects of body awareness on the emotional condition, pain, and quality of life among older adults, in this study, the participants who demonstrated high sensitivity to detecting the internal bodily signal expressed confidence to respond to age-related physical changes.…”

Analysis of the health profiles and prevalence of falls for patients over 65 years of age in a thermal environment

“…This perception is more marked in women and particularly in feeling weakness and fragility (p < 0.0001). Beyond the issue of falls that significantly characterize women, we can see a specific psychological profile whose links with the fear of falling [39,40] or with the perception of health are identified in various deficient populations [41][42][43]. This information is particularly interesting and can help to personalize the thermal treatment programme for the 50% of women perceiving impaired health.…”

Benefits of Adding an Aquatic Resistance Interval Training to a Nutritional Education on Body Composition, Body Image Perception and Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in Older Women

“…In contrast, body weight dissatisfaction was associated with a greater intent to change lifestyle or weight, a higher BMI and, specifically in women, dietary restraint. In addition, it has been reported that the body image of women can be improved only by increasing exercise, regardless of any weight change [ 45 ].…”