It's Never Too Late To Get Moving

Source: Tufts University
December 6, 2001 (Reviewed: December 4, 2003)

You're finally lacing up your sneakers again after years spent away from the gym. Can a renewed commitment to exercise help "turn back the clock," and lessen the toll that aging takes on your health? Possibly, say researchers from Texas, who were able to help a group of middle-age men recapture some of the cardiovascular fitness they had in their twenties.

Renewed focus on fitness

Doctors from Texas Southwestern Medical Center recruited 5 men who had participated in a study of exercise and cardiovascular fitness 30 years earlier. The men, now in their 50's and in general good health, gradually increased their level of activity until each was jogging, walking briskly, or bike riding 3 to 5 hours per week. All wore a device that measures how hard the heart works during exercise so that each could stay within his "target range" - getting a good workout without putting too much stress on his heart.

At the end of the 6-month study, the doctors compared the men's "aerobic power'' - the ability of the cardiovascular system to pump oxygen to the cells - with the fitness goals they had reached 30 years earlier. While none of the men ended the study with the stamina of a 20-year old, all ended up with improved aerobic power. In fact, 6 months of regular exercise restored the loss of aerobic power that is normally attributed to aging.

Benefits of aerobic exercise

How well a body is able to get oxygen to the cells is a function of fitness - everyone increases their oxygen consumption when they start to breathe hard during exercise, but well-trained athletes are more efficient at doing this. This ability to "oxygenate" cells declines with age, but, as this study suggests, regular exercise may partially counteract the effects of aging. And the participants did not have to end the study in superb shape in order to see genuine fitness gains.

In fact, the men didn't lose much weight during the study in spite of their renewed focus on exercise; the researchers suspect that they compensated for the calories lost during exercise by eating more between exercise sessions. Although weight control was not the focus of the study, the researchers say that the somewhat overweight men could have further improved their health by changing their diets as well as their exercise habits.

A step in the right direction

The authors point out that the study was limited because it included only 5 middle-aged men. It's difficult to say for certain if the results would apply to older men or to women. But they want to make sure that the message of the study comes through clearly: It's never too late to become active, and a renewed attention to regular exercise - at any age - may help older individuals "regroup" and get back into shape.

Source

• A 30-year follow-up of the Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study DK. McGuire, BD. Levine, JW. Williamson,  et al., Circulation, 2001, vol. 104, pp. 1358--1366

Related Links
How to Start Exercising
Physical Activity: Antidote To Aging
HealthandAge Exercise Center
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