If you want to add years to your life and life to your years, be sure to be physically active in your 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s.
We already have a mountain of irrefutable science that high fitness levels reduce the risk of premature death, but scientists had never examined how fitness in mid-life may impact the onset of chronic diseases in later years.
In this uplifting study, scientists analyzed data from one of the longest ongoing and most extensive fitness and health databases – The Cooper Center Longitudinal Study. Specifically, the scientists determined that subjects who increased their fitness levels by 20% in midlife, lowered their risks of developing debilitating chronic diseases including heart failure, Alzheimer’s disease, and colon cancer, even decades later by 20%. The beneficial effects of midlife fitness were the same in men and women and continued through the end of life.
No other single endeavor available can begin to rival the life-enhancing, life-saving benefits of physical activity. Go get some now! (Archives of Internal Medicine, online August 2012)
