Exercise Puts the Strut Back in Aging Bodies
When Neva Holland of San Francisco recently ran into an old friend she hadn't seen for a few years, her friend was surprised at how much healthier Holland looked.

"I can't even believe it's you," the friend told Holland, who has lost about 15 pounds and dramatically improved her strength and stamina since she began dancing and working out regularly about three years ago. "My friends and my daughter are amazed at what this [exercise] has done for me. I've had numerous people come up to me and ask how they can" achieve similar results.

Holland, a retired teacher's aide in her late 60s, says her rejuvenation began with twice-weekly line dancing classes she learned about through friends. Before joining the classes, which are held Tuesday and Friday mornings at community centers in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, Holland says she "wasn't very active at all. I was staying at home watching TV and sleeping and eating too much." She had developed heart problems, and "I was even having a hard time walking up and down stairs."

The first few times she came to class, Holland had to take a break from the dancing every half hour or so because she felt tired and out of breath. "But now I can go the full hour and a half non-stop," she says. "Those classes really helped to get me in better shape."

Neva Holland (front) grooves to a zydeco tune with friends at a Tuesday morning line dancing class.

In addition to line dancing - in which participants perform a series of intricate steps to the sounds of soul, country western and zydeco music - Holland now regularly attends weekly gym and water aerobic classes. These classes, like the line dancing programs, are sponsored by Network for Elders, a community group that offers health and wellness programs for older adults living in Bayview-Hunters Point.

The classes were established after a study by UCSF's Institute on Health and Aging found that older adults living in minority communities were often sedentary, in part because their neighborhoods lacked exercise classes designed for elderly people.

"We felt people in these communities would be more likely to exercise if they could go to places in their own neighborhood and mingle with their friends," says Melanie Grossman, a UCSF social worker involved with the study. Grossman heads Seniors in Motion, a project funded by Network for Elder that focuses on physical activity, nutrition and stress management in Bayview-Hunters Point.  

Dancing also keeps 77-year-old Charles Dacus in good shape. The retired barber and longshoreman, who also walks about four miles a day, rarely misses a chance to perform line dances like the Zydeco Slide, Booty Scootin' Boogie and Carmel Cha Cha. "It's a good group of people and I enjoy the dancing," says Dacus, who started attending Tuesday morning sessions about two years ago. "It's become like a religious thing for me. The days I don't come, I feel like I've cheated myself out of something."

Dacus is also a member of the Senior Strutters, a troupe that performs line dances at community events dressed in red and black. "A lot of people seem to enjoy watching us," says Dacus.

Holland, who also performs with the Senior Strutters, says exercise - and the social outlet the classes provide - has been good for her mind as well as her body. It's done a lot for me mentally," she says. "When I wasn't exercising, I wasn't feeling well. And when you're not feeling well, you get depressed. I was withdrawn. I didn't see the upside to life."

Holland says she eats more healthily since becoming active, and the aches and pains she used to feel "have just gone away. I get up now and do whatever I want."

Exercise has "gotten to be an addiction with me," she adds. "I just don't feel good if I don't exercise. I wouldn't give it up for anything."

Holland's physical transformation has impressed her doctor. "I don't see her very often anymore. She's been so healthy," says Dr. Jonathan Zaroff, a UCSF cardiologist. "She went through a difficult and complex medical period where she had multiple medical problems. Her exercise program has probably played a significant role in her improved health."  

For information about Network for Elders, see www.networkforelders.org and http://medicine.ucsf.edu/cadc/community/network.

(This article originally appeared in the Summer 2005 issue of Bay Area Summit)

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