Regardless of our present age, exercise & physical activity is the best thing that we can do for ourselves to counteract the effects of aging.*ĭr. Study participants became as fit and energetic as people 20 to 30 years younger. In one study of more than 200 men & women aged 56 to 87, "dramatic changes" were observed after just 6 weeks of exercising 3 to 5 times a week. deVries, past director of the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California and a respected pioneer in the field. Older people can achieve the same percentage gains in performance as the young, according to Dr. Test results show that no matter when a person starts to exercise, significant improvement can be achieved.
Studies have shown that regular exercise by middle aged & elderly people can set back the clock 20-40 years when compared to those who do little or no exercise. The good news is that regular exercise incorporated into our lifestyle can improve our heart & respiratory function, lower our blood pressure, increase our strength, improve bone density, improve flexibility, quicken our reaction time, reduce body fat, increase muscle mass, and reduce our susceptibility to depression & disease.* Recent studies indicate that between the ages of 30 & 70 many of the symptoms & conditions that were traditionally associated with normal aging are in fact the result of sedentary lifestyles.Įvaluating one's strength, endurance, mobility & cardio-vascular-pulmonary performance before and after a one month period of complete bed rest can be equated to 30 years of aging. In fact many of us can be in better health in our 70's than we were in our 50's. There is a large body of scientific evidence that suggests that we can slow down and even reverse the symptoms of aging. We now have a better understanding of why some people tend to age much faster than others. It is true that we can not stop the calender from marching ahead at what seems to be a faster and faster pace, however, recent studies have shown that we can alter the rate at which our bodies progress through our life cycle. "You are never too old to obtain positive results from exercise!"* By the time most of us reach the age of 50 or 60 we tend to accept the negative effects of aging as a fact of life that we have little or no control over.