Anne Skuba walks with her husband Walter in Winnipeg. The couple is among a new breed of seniors embracing the idea of staying active to remain healthy.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba
(Guelph Mercury, Ontario/Canadian Press),
October 6, 2007: Anne Skuba refuses to spend her golden years resting in a rocking chair. At 77, the Winnipegger still wants to roll, rarely stopping for too long. "I don't sit down a lot," says the retired nurse, who spends at least 90 minutes every day moving her body.

Her to-do list of activities includes: Walking around the block, cycling to the home of one of her daughters, gardening, housecleaning, dancing and lifting weights in the fitness room of her downtown apartment complex.

"Sometimes I talk to older people in my building who say sitting and knitting is the only thing they want to do,'' says Skuba, who -- along with her husband Walter, 84 -tries to convince them otherwise.

"It's very, very important to be physically active. It keeps you mentally active and spiritually active.

"And it keeps you stronger and independent longer."

That's the core message of Be Active, Be Healthy, a campaign launched recently by the Active Living Coalition for Older Adults in Manitoba (ALCOA). ALCOA is an umbrella group linked to more than 40 organizations dedicated to promoting physical fitness to seniors.

The group plans to get seniors out of their rocking chairs and excited about just-for-seniors active-living programs such as mall walks, low-impact aerobics classes and fitness leader workshops.

Moira Horgan-Jones, ALCOA healthy aging co-ordinator, wants to make it clear that getting active isn't necessarily about competing in a sport or running a marathon. Her goal is more gentle.

"What we want is to get older adults to do a little more a little often," she says. "As long as they do a little more."

According to Horgan-Jones, 60 per cent of older adults are not active enough to maintain good health. That's alarming, considering that Manitoba has one of the highest senior populations in the country, second only to Saskatchewan.

One obstacle to getting seniors active, says Horgan-Jones, is the myth that they have "earned" their rest. She says it's a fallacy spread not only by seniors, but also by younger family members who are protective of their older parents and grandparents.

"They don't want them to be hurt during activity," says Horgan-Jones, noting that if done properly, exercise has just the opposite effect in seniors -- lowering blood pressure, decreasing cholesterol and reducing weight.

Exercise also improves strength, flexibility and balance, thereby preventing falls. And because weight-bearing activity increases bone mass, exercisers who happen to fall are less likely to break a wrist, ankle or hip.

The key, says Horgan-Jones, is doing activity that is effective but not hard on the body.

Fitness mavericks Sonja Lundstrom, a community nurse, and Eleanor Stelmack, an occupational therapist, are already doing their part by inducing seniors in their neighbourhood to pound the pavement, plant vegetables in the community garden and water walk in the area's public pools.

The two-woman team -- who happen to be seniors themselves -- run the River East Seniors' Health Resource Team, a project funded by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

They provide outreach services to seniors in the community, many of whom live alone and get by on a meagre income. That means going into seniors' complexes to make sure that residents are connected to each other -- exercising together, going to community health workshops together and socializing.

Stelmack and Lundstrom often orchestrate physical activities that involve River East seniors and area elementary school kids having fun together.

The dynamic duo's passion for good health has turned the once sleepy neighbourhood upside down, converting it into a bustling hub of activity and spirit.

"We teach them how they can walk with an aging body and have fun without getting injured," says Lundstrom. "Being in touch with your body means you have control over it."

Lundstrom says even people who are confined to a bed or a chair can get a daily dose of exercise.

"I had a lady who I taught to do sit-ups in her chair and range-of-motion stretching in her bed," she says.

"Exercise helps everything -- it improves appetite, your mood changes. I've even had people tell me it makes their sex life better," says Lundstrom.

Walter Skuba understands why some older people may be hesitant to start an exercise program. When the 84-year-old retired hairdresser was injured in a car accident over a decade ago, his injuries left him feeling a bit defeated.

While daily cycling is more his wife's speed, Walter enjoys walking and working out at the gym.

"If you can't run five miles, that's OK," says Skuba. "But I'm not going to give up to aging."

© Copyright 2007 Metroland Media Group Ltd.