Proactive Aging - Fitness and Health Assessment at ActiveHealth Lab by Sports Singapore
- Jael Chng
- Oct 30, 2024
- 3 min read
I've always been fascinated with the idea of sense of agency (or sense of control) where one has the awareness to initiate your own action, in face of external events. It could also be my top strengths at play -- I have activator and achiever :)
One of the thoughts I often have is this "If I can prevent it, why not?". Also, if I can create more possibilities and options for myself, why not? If our intrinsic capacity and functional abilities will decline, how can we delay that?
In my rabbit trail of ageing better, I attended "Forever Young: Aging with Success" by API Care and Counselling in July this year. In the workshop, I met Alice, who is a senior and was super enthusiastic in sharing about the Active Health initiative by Sports Singapore.
She shared with me about
Fitness and health assessment
Fitness classes available for the elderly
The enthusiasm rubbed off and I've since brought my mom for the test, introduced them to my cousin who brought his mom too. I've done one myself previously at a HPB's roaming roadshow and it was very helpful to have a data baseline.
Here is what you can expect and how you can sign up:
Fitness and Health Assessment - What to Expect
Current promo rate is S$7
In no particular order, the participant would
Get a body composition assessment via a high-end machine from InBody (the cost of the machines are in the $'000s) -- this sends an electrical signal to your body, and it provides you comprehensive data on things like % muscle* mass, % fat mass, % water etc.
Do a walking analysis -- in a minute you'd walk from one cone to another and they will measure the number of steps taken
Do a stand up-sit down test -- you will calculate how many times you can stand up and sit down in a minute
Get your blood pressure measured via an Omron machine
*If you want more detailed scans, a DEXA scan for muscle mass is more accurate. But for general assessment, this is more than helpful.
Together with the group of people who signed up, you'd be able to see how the results are measured up with the healthy range in your age group, areas you're doing well and where needs to be better.
As a facilitator and coach, I was also pretty impressed that they baked in reflection questions for gap analysis and goal setting.
At the end of the session, they will also share the programmes available that is helpful to improve your health. The rates are highly subsidised by the government, I know as I use classpass and have signed up for gyms before.
Just in case you're concerned about cleanliness level to protect your immunity, the ActiveHealth lab at Delta Sports Complex was very clean, new and pleasant. There was air conditioning and the place is kept rather neat. The folks there are also very friendly and helpful.
Fitness and Health Assessment - Here's How to Sign Up
Go to go.gov.sg/fha-signup
Key in your postal code and the options nearer you will pop up
Select the session that matches your schedule
Login via Singpass
Pay
Turn up in comfortable clothes you can move freely in :)
Looking at mom's test, provided me information to know what's healthy and what needs to be worked on. I'm currently working with her to figure out which options are best to build strength and mobility.
Personally, I've done a test 30 July this year which set off some alarms for me. I've made quite some changes and retested 3 months later on 29 October. Thankful to share that I've seen improvements in most markers. There're a few markers that I still need to improve to be in the healthy range, but at least I know my current strategy works.
Data can be power -- at least we know, and at least we can do something now, rather than when it's too late.
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