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Life Stages for Girls and Women

Preadolescence
Before the age of 10, learning a new sport is pretty easy. Young girls can compete with boys and juggle many activities—the more activities, the better. This will prevent burnout in a sport and also allow for muscle, bone, and posture development that is well balanced. In particular, girls are encouraged to participate in sports or recreation that requires upper arm strength such as climbing and swimming. Activities that challenge balance, such as dance, skating, or court sports are also recommended. Mixing these activities will allow muscles to develop equally and make participation in all types of sports later in life easier and more enjoyable.

Adolescence
During adolescence, there are some challenges. There is a lot of peer pressure to be thin; this is when most girls try dieting. Adolescence is actually the worst time to diet, as young women are still growing and need nutrition to supply their developing body. Girls must be especially careful to eat a diet rich in calcium, at least 1,200 mg a day. This is the time bones are gaining their greatest strength for the rest of your life.

Balancing school, sports, and social life can be difficult. There can be peer pressure to try drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. Stress levels can be high. If you are feeling overwhelmed with your schedule, consider dropping an activity. If your friends are not supportive of your busy schedule, find new ones. It should be easy with all you are involved in. Try to maintain your baseline health as much as possible by eating three well-balanced meals a day with snacks, taking a multivitamin, and drinking at least eight cups of fluid (soda does not count!). Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep and incorporate seeing your friends into your life of school and athletic activity.

As an athlete, ease into a new sport or sport season. Stay conditioned during the off season, and rest if you feel sore or tired. Maintain overall body conditioning throughout the year. Take at least one day of rest from athletics a week. These strategies will prevent overuse injuries.

Young Adult
At this time of life, you are figuring out where sports fit. If you are a college or competitive athlete, you are spending much of your day training and doing sports. You should especially make sure you are eating well and continuing with calcium and a daily multivitamin. Dieting can be tempting, but keep perspective of your healthy weight and muscular athletic physique. You should be getting your period every month. If you are not, you might be overtraining or not eating enough. Discuss this with your doctor.

Adult
Regular exercise is your greatest benefit. It keeps you physically and mentally healthy, controls your weight, makes your skin glow, and energizes you. It also strengthens you and allows you to participate in all activities without problems. Nutrition, as in all stages of life, is important. Weight is often a concern. Remember, the best way to be at your optimum weight is to avoid junk foods and sugary foods and eat well-balanced meals. Take a multivitamin and calcium supplement daily.

If you are a competitive or elite athlete, make sure you allow your body to rest at least one day a week. See a doctor if you have any pain or weakness that limits you for more than a few days. You should be getting your period every month. See your gynecologist every year and do your monthly breast self-exams.

Mature Adult
Maintaining bone strength, preserving cardiovascular health with aerobic activity, and maintaining flexibility and posture are important exercise-related goals for health at this stage of life. You want to avoid the hunched posture so common to older women, as this decreases your lung and breathing capacity, decreases height, reduces overhead shoulder motion, and causes shoulder, neck, back, and rib pain. To prevent these complications, you should be doing upper body strength training with an emphasis on upper back and shoulder muscles and stretches.

As you go through menopause, your symptoms of night sweats, hot flashes, irritability, and moodiness will be reduced by regular exercise. If you are taking hormone replacement, make sure you are on the lowest dose, and do not take them for more than five years. Alternative treatments for your menopause symptoms include black cohosh and soy products. (Do not take either of these if you have estrogen-dependent cancers.) Medications to treat mood are also very effective to help with menopausal symptoms.

Incontinence can be troublesome. There are strategies to decrease this problem, including Kegel exercises, medications, insertable devices, and surgery. Other body changes that can be a problem for active older women include a decrease in sweat gland function, which can be noticed by having less tolerance to exercise in hot temperature. Also, as you age, your maximum heart rate goes down, although this should not affect your activity level.

Age-Related Changes That Improve with Exercise

• Arthritis and stiff joints
• Decreased flexibility
• Incontinence
• Decreased strength
• Slower reflexes
• Slower metabolism
• Decreased balance
• Decreased vision

Arthritis is one of the most frequent complaints of aging without known causes other than genetic predisposition, trauma, and wear and tear. Arthritis can decrease your balance, leading to muscle weakness and increased risk of falls. This becomes worse with joint and soft tissue stiffness that occurs as collagen becomes firmer and less stretchy. Conditioning exercises and stretches can prevent most of these changes from interfering with your lifestyle and activity level. Other tips to prevent arthritis from worsening include wearing well-cushioned shoes, having injuries evaluated and treated early to prevent weakness and loss of motion, and avoiding pushing through severe pain in the joints. If arthritis affects your hands, larger, more comfortable grips and vibration absorbing sports equipment can be very helpful.

Balance is an essential component of fitness, as good balance decreases falls and injuries such as sprained ankles. Balance becomes impaired over time due to muscle and joint stiffness and weakness, slower reflexes and nerve firing, and core weakness. Fortunately, balance can be improved with practice. Correcting vision trouble, making it easier to see little bumps in the road, can prevent accidents and injuries. Having good balance can help you right yourself in unstable situations and prevent falls. Therefore, you should work on your balance daily. Walking heel to toe and standing on one leg with your eyes closed are simple exercises that improve balance.

Ways to Improve Age-Related Problems That Affect Balance

Problem	Improvement
Stiffness of joints and muscles	Stretch daily
Weakness of muscles and bones	Strength train
Slower reflexes	Train reflexes with ball sports
Weakness of your core	Exercise and stretch on a stability ball
Vision problems	Have your vision evaluated and corrected
Nerve slowness	Nurture them with a B complex vitamin

Exercise is the best way to maintain your health and fitness throughout all stages of life. Learning a new sport or athletic activity challenges your body in new ways to increase its strength, nerve functioning, balance, and endurance. Regular daily activity keeps the heart and muscles strong. Sleep is improved, and metabolism is maintained to accommodate to a healthy appetite and prevent weight gain. Posture is maintained to prevent height loss, and bones are protected from osteoporosis. Be aware of your osteoporosis risk, know your bone density, and take your calcium.

Maintaining a healthy, athletic attitude allows for graceful transitions through more challenging activities. Regular exercise manages the stress that can occur later in life and keeps you in top form to prevent injuries and maintain strong immunity. Being socially involved in teams or sports stimulates your mind and elevates mood. These activities are the most effective ways to stay young.

With regards to exercise and aging, there are no restrictions. You should do what feels good. There are many older women who run marathons, climb mountain peaks, and downhill ski aggressively. Women in their 70s have completed Ironman triathlons, and women in their 80s have completed marathons.