Psychomotor Benefits of Aquatic Activities for Seniors

Objectives of Recreational Water Activities

The introduction to water activities serves as a pretext to accept old age as a stage where one can live independently and enjoy life. Key objectives include:

• Psychomotricity and learning physical conditioning.
• Utilitarian adaptation and familiarization with swimming freely and spontaneously.
• Shared progress in situations that foster pleasure and group communication.
• Prevention and health improvement in the broadest sense.
• Seeking pleasure through the experience rather than focusing solely on efficiency.

Maintenance and Retrofit Objectives

Transitioning from land-based gymnastics to the water environment helps to:

• Expand physical conditioning and improve motor skills.
• Develop psychomotricity through alternative methods for initiation.
• Utilize physical activity as a social meeting point.

Structural and Functional Nervous System Changes

Aging involves several physiological shifts in the nervous system:

• Reduction in the size and weight of the brain.
• Frontal brain atrophy, which affects attention spans.
• A decrease in the number of neurons; from the age of 30, one may lose approximately 100,000 neurons daily.
• Decreased propagation speed of nerve impulses.
• Cerebral blood flow decreases by 20% to 30%.

Sensory Changes: Vision and Sight

Vision typically stabilizes between 25 and 40 years of age. However, by age 60, 90% of individuals require glasses. Common changes include:

• The lens loses elasticity and the ability to focus (loss of near focus).
• Failures in pupillary adaptation.
• Cataracts: The cornea yellows, reducing the light reaching the retina.
• Loss of precision in perception and distortion of central colors.
• Visual field loss.

Psychomotor Retrogenesis and Evolution

Evolution moves from the most organized and mature states to the least organized. It progresses from simple to complex, reflecting voluntary movement and the transition from sensorimotor functions to psychomotricity.

Elements of a Perceptual Stimulus Program

Visual Stimulation

• Visual Tracking: Maintaining sight of movements.
• Memory: Remembering and executing series of movements or dances.
• Visual Acuity: Capturing and distinguishing various objects, events, or circumstances.
• Sequencing: Identifying positions and amending sequences (e.g., "Who is missing?").

Auditory Stimulation

• Improving hearing acuity and auditory discrimination of instruments and voices.
• Identifying different sounds and missing elements in a series.
• Auditory Tracking: Following sounds with movement.
• Auditory Memory: Playing back series of sounds and rhythms.

Tactile Stimulation and Body Expression

• Recognizing diversity in touch (rough, soft, etc.).
• Memory of shapes, people, and positions captured by touch.
• Body Expression: Imitating object features and expressing positions.

Body Techniques for the Elderly and Disabled

These techniques are designed for disabled elderly individuals, the bedridden, or those with psychological difficulties and advanced age. In these stages, the body is often denied and used only for survival. The objectives are:

• Using movement to feel comfort and pleasure, rather than just pain.
• Becoming aware of body resources and recovering a positive body image.
• Differentiating oneself from the environment.
• Starting work with healthy body parts and reconnecting with diminished areas.
• Facilitating encounters with others.