Beginning to exercise later in life can improve your health

By Meghan G. Loftus

If you keep running through your 40s and 50s, you'll be less likely to suffer from chronic diseases like congestive heart failure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, and colon or lung cancer later in life, according to a new study published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers studied data from 14,726 men and 3944 women, who were a median age of 49 when the data collection began. They graded the subjects on a 1 to 5 scale of fitness, with the 1s being the least fit and the 5s being the most fit, based on times from treadmill tests.

They followed up with these subjects later – a median of 26 years later – and found that the 5s had a lower incidence of chronic diseases than the 1s, and that even improving fitness from a 1 to a 2 at age 50 led to a 20 per cent decrease in chronic disease risk at or after age 65.

The takeaway? Beginning to exercise later in life, even if you make modest improvements, can improve your health.

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