When Glen Coupland was first practicing yoga, over 25 years ago, it was to get active and boost his own fitness. The 53-year-old was a stockbroker back then, and spent most of his time sitting in the office, hunched over a desk. “Then somebody said to me, there’s this new exercise where you stand still and you lose weight,” he says. “I thought: that is the exercise for me.”
Now, over two decades later, Coupland is a yoga teacher at 5 Goodlife Fitness locations around Toronto, teaching 17 classes a week. And, he’s built a loyal community of students who gather weekly to practice, work out and even socialize. “Most people put their mats in the same spot every class, so you very quickly get to meet all the people around you,” he says. “Week after week, you build friendships and they begin to extend past the yoga class. It’s really nice to see people on a regular basis who are happy to see you.”
Nancy, 56, has been practicing yoga with Coupland for about a decade, and she says that a big part of why she keeps coming back is the community. She’s become friends with Coupland and her fellow students: they go cycling in the city, meet up for tea, go hiking together, even go on vacation together. “We’re all so caring towards one another because we’ve known each other for so long,” Nancy says. “We care about each other as a community, we aren’t competitive, but we’re friends and we’ve built relationships with each other outside of yoga.”
For people of all ages group fitness classes are a good way of getting much-needed exercise and an opportunity to socialize. Loneliness, especially for older adults and seniors, can be detrimental to well-being. “Social isolation is the new smoking, in terms of mortality,” says Dr. Alexandra Papaioannou, a professor of medicine at McMaster University and the director of the Geras Centre for Aging Research.
Older adults tend to have less social ties, says Sherry Perez, the manager of program development for group fitness at the YMCA of Greater Toronto. “As seniors leave the workforce, they’re not getting that daily connection.” Plus, families may not live in proximity and friends and spouses may have passed away.
And, as the Canadian population ages – about a quarter of Canadians will be seniors by 2036 – senior isolation is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. A study published by the Journal of Aging Health found that loneliness and social isolation were associated with mortality – it can cause higher rates of depression and cognitive decline, poor sleep, hypertension, increased cardiovascular disease risk, increased risk of dementia and a reduced quality of life.
Papaioannou says that having a strong network helps reduce seniors’ frailty, or vulnerability and functional reserve – the less frailty, the smaller the risk of adverse health outcomes. “Social connectivity is one of the four things that make a difference when it comes to frailty, along with nutrition, exercise and medications,” she says. “We know social connectivity makes a difference after heart attacks and there are lowered mortality rates for people that are socially connected.”
While socialization is important in general for seniors, pairing it with fitness is particularly healthy, says Papaioannou. Exercising releases the “feel good chemicals in our brains,” she says, which can decrease depression and lower the risk of dementia. “It also helps with anxiety and quality of life – people perceive that they have a better quality of life when they exercise.”
A 2021 study found that older adults who exercised with others demonstrated better physical function and memory abilities than those who don’t exercise at all. And compared to those who exercise alone, older adults who participate in group fitness had significantly better lower-limb muscle strength, attention, memory and overall cognitive function.
Perez, who teaches group fitness classes at YMCAs, says that she’s seen how bonds are made in her classes. Being in the same space at least once a week, doing motivating work and chatting in the locker room really helps build connections. “It keeps [people] coming back because now people expect them,” she says. “You start to build a sense of belonging and a sense of connection and have something to look forward to.”
Plus, Perez says that group fitness classes also provide opportunities to get help or support – especially when you’re first starting out on your fitness journey, or need modifications and adaptations to make exercise more accessible. “There’s lots of people around to make sure your technique is safe and check in,” she says.
For Coupland, being a part of his yoga community has fundamentally changed his life, giving him friendships that are now over a decade old. “I have students now at different [Goodlife locations] who have been with me for over 15 years – I’ve met people from all walks of life,” he says. “At the end of the day, we all have bodies, we all have minds, we’re all connected, and people are really wonderful when you get to know them.”
