In the previous extract from Dean Edward L. Schneider's book "AgeLess" we saw how to measure your Fitness Longevity Quotient (LQ), and learned some of the benefits of being physically fit. In this, the 5th extract, Dean Schneider looks at how you can work more physical activity into your lifestyle, so that you can reap these benefits. Robert Griffith, Editor.

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Independence

When asked about their greatest concerns about aging, most people don't give the answer you'd expect. We fear disability far more than we fear death, and our fear is not unfounded. By the time you reach age 85, as most baby boomers will, there's a 50% chance that you'll need help in such daily tasks as bathing, dressing, walking, preparing meals, shopping, or even going to the toilet. We dread the idea of ending up in a nursing home, and few of us have family members who can be full-time caregivers or the resources to afford private custodial care. How do we save ourselves from this "fate worse than death"? The answer (it's a no-brainer) is regular exercise.

The first challenge is to stay strong enough to get in and out of chairs, bed, and the bathtub unassisted. The next is to stay on your feet once you get there. Falls are a leading cause of permanent disability and even death in older people. A third of the 65-plus population takes a spill each year, making falls the most common cause of injury in this age group. Half of 80- to 89-year-olds fall at least once a year. As you age, frail hipbones are more likely to break in a fall - it happens to some 300,000 Americans a year - and twenty percent of those who suffer a hip fracture die within 12 months. For survivors, the chances of winding up in a nursing home increases more than five times over.

How does exercise help keep you on your feet? By toning muscles, improving posture, training the body to transfer weight, and extending your range of motion, a fitness routine can help you continue to move gracefully for the years to come. Many types of exercise support active aging; as an example consider tai chi, a type of balance training that's terrific for improving balance, as well as reducing the fear of falling. Walking is also a winner. A study of 9,516 women found that those who walked regularly reduced their risk of hip fracture by 30%, with protection increasing with the distance covered. Another clinical trial determined that men and women who engaged in 2 to 4 hours a week of moderate activity such as walking, biking, light housekeeping, or gardening trimmed their hip fracture risk by 28%.

New Exercise Rule #1: Just Get Off the Couch

Exercise is an amazing elixir of youth. The problem is: we don't do it. Look around you. Three out of four people aren't getting the basic government recommendation for exercise - 30 minutes, most days of the week. One in four never exercises at all. Are you one of them?

The Birth of the Couch Potato
Once upon a time, unless you were very rich, life was full of physical activity. Transportation consisted of your own two feet, or if you were lucky you rode a horse. Farming was the main occupation and required hard manual labor from dawn to dusk. Without modern "laborsaving" (so called) devices, washing, cooking, cleaning, and shopping were all serious workouts. Wealthy folks who had the luxury of avoiding such exertions turned up their nose at such labors, getting their workouts at the occasional formal dance or fox hunt but considering sweat as déclassé as dirty hands.

The Industrial Revolution radically changed our occupations and lifestyles. Machines started doing the hard jobs, at work and at home, and when radio, television, movies, and computers came along to fill the extra free time, we were only too happy to take a seat and a load off our feet. So our couch potato culture was born - a 20th-century phenomenon that is proving to be one of the greatest public health threats of the modern age.

Being a couch potato can create a vicious cycle, since being sedentary leaves you short on energy and verve. A variety of excuses keep you sitting down. I don't have time. The gym is too far away. Gee, the weather looks nasty. I don't have a workout buddy. Here's the most insidious: I'll never have a perfect body, so why bother?

No More Excuses: Move for Just 30 Minutes a Day
Our couch potato problem may not come from a collective decision to go to pot so much as from the famous all-or-nothing American attitude. Many people think that workouts without blood, sweat, and tears are worthless - so forget about it.

In 1995, the country's leading health experts announced that this thinking was scientifically all wrong. On the contrary, the latest evidence shows that just 30 minutes of moderate movement a day can make the difference. An adequate workout doesn't have to be painful or hard.

Like saving for retirement, it's far more important that you get in a little regular exercise than that you try to break any records. Despite what your past gym teachers or coaches might have shouted from the sidelines, there's no failing grade for exercise other than failing to exercise at all. In fact, in 1995 the American College of Sports Medicine lowered its minimum recommended exercise intensity level from 60% to 50% of your maximum heart rate. What's more, you don't have to do it all at once. Short exercise sessions are just as beneficial as long ones, as long as you get at least 30 minutes' worth each day - and small choices like walking up stairs instead of taking the elevator add up to big health gains when done regularly.

By the way, fitness buffs will be happy to hear that you can get additional benefits by working out a little longer and harder: Raising your heart rate as high as 75% of your maximum and extending your workout sessions to 60 minutes 5 or more days a week can increase your gain.

New Exercise Rule #2: Fitness = Aerobic Exercise + Strength Training + Flexibility and Balance Work

Though you don't have to knock yourself out to exercise for longevity, you do need the right mix of activities: aerobic exercise to condition the cardiovascular system, strength training to maintain strong muscles and bones, and a flexibility and balance program for strength and flexibility.

Aerobic Exercise for a Healthy Heart and Arteries
Aerobic activity, the vigorous movement that raises heart rate, can keep your cardiovascular system young to ward off heart attacks or related cardiovascular conditions. This is no small benefit when you consider these events are the leading cause of mortality in the U.S. Aerobic exercise can also burn calories to support your lithe figure and blithe spirit, lower your blood pressure, improve your metabolism of sugar, enhance sleep, and boost your mood. An aerobic workout can be as easy as walking with friends; just keep up a lively pace and don't shy away from hills. An 18-hole golf game does the job if you leave the cart at the clubhouse; salsa dancers get to count their nights on the dance floor.

Strength Training for Muscle and Bone Mass
Contrary to popular misconception, it's never too late to start weight training. Building and preserving muscle mass is important to a great appearance now and independence in your later years. For most people, muscle size and strength peaks during the twenties or thirties and then starts the downward slide that eventually makes it tough to get out of the bathtub, rise from an easy chair, pick up a grandchild, or carry a bag of groceries. But this decline is not inevitable! Scientists have been looking long and hard for the enzyme, gene, or other biological factor that causes loss of muscle mass with age. Fortunately for us, the results all point to a different cause: behavior. As the years go by, people use their muscles less, and the use-it-or-lose-it principle kicks in to shrink your biceps and soften your buns of steel. The solution is strength training.

Strength training is not just for people who aspire to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger! Just as there are several roads to aerobic fitness, strong muscles come in many shapes and sizes. You don't have to add bulk while you gain strength; in fact, lifting weights can burn fat to trim and tone you in all the right places. Pumping iron, pulling resistance bands, and doing isometrics (exercises against the weight of your body such as pushups and situps) all offer effective prevention of many diseases and disorders along with a nice cosmetic payoff.

Use dumbbells to ease depression. When you're feeling down, you might want to try picking up a couple of dumbbells. A study out of Harvard Medical School has shown that a progressive resistance training program can be an effective antidepressant. Working out with weights releases endorphins, brain hormones that improve your sense of well-being. Comments about your new firmer muscles can also make you feel better!

Flexibility and Balance Work
For 10 years, I was involved in developing a new research center in Marin County, California, called the Buck Institute on Aging. Marin County is considered an epicenter of health consciousness, and we thought it was the ideal setting for a laboratory to study future health trends in the general population. An interesting discovery we made at the Buck Institute was that the most common cause of disability in Marin seniors aged 85 and older was problems with balance. This study suggests that falls may become the number-one cause of disability in health-conscious baby boomers when they reach their eighties, ahead of arthritis, heart disease, and dementia.

Stretching offers several benefits for your AgeLess body. Besides releasing muscle tension and improving posture, stretching can also protect against injury - the falls I just mentioned and the aches, pains, and accidents that can arise in an active lifestyle. Supple muscles and elastic tendons are less likely to get torn or suffer spasms as you chase a tennis ball or attempt a high kick in aerobics class. Stretching also strengthens lower-back muscles, minimizing back problems. Finally, stretching after exercise prevents soreness so you can get back at it again tomorrow.

Stretching improves your balance overall, but there are also specific exercises you can do that improve proprioception, what physiologists call our inner perception of our body's orientation. A complex balancing act governed by the inner ear keeps us upright, and you can fine-tune this ability by practicing balance postures.

The ancient martial art of tai chi is one such system. Tai chi is meant to maintain balance of your chi, or life energy - and along the way this workout can also improve your balance, tone muscles, lower blood pressure, ease the pain of arthritis, and reduce stress. Deep breathing helps you relax and focus your attention on slow, dance-like movements that reflect the rhythms of nature. Each arm or leg motion is countered with one in the opposite direction, providing a complete workout while bringing chi into harmony and balance. If your goal is mastery, tai chi can be a demanding discipline even for accomplished athletes, and yet almost anyone can benefit. Whether you're a thirty-something looking for a new challenge or 80-plus in search of a workout that's nice to your joints and helps prevent falls, tai chi is an exercise you can continue for a lifetime.

Several other systems offer stretching and balance training. Pilates uses slow exercises that target stomach and back muscles to strengthen your "core." Known for shaping long, lean muscles, Pilates can be done on a mat or on a specially designed machine with ropes and pulleys to guide your movements. Yoga, the Indian system of held postures, is offered as a class at many health clubs and studios and is easy to do at home. Karate is a martial art with a focus on combat. Faster and more vigorous than tai chi, karate combines the benefits of balance, stretch, and cardiovascular exercise.

And 3 Exercise Tidbits . . .

• A 22-year study of 2,014 men in midlife found that physical fitness was a strong predictor of mortality. Even small improvements in exercise habits significantly lowered the risk of death for these people in their peak productivity years.
• One of the most exciting findings of the MacArthur Foundation Study of Successful Aging was that the senior participants who were physically active had the best preserved mental function 10 years later. This is important evidence that a sound body and mind go hand in hand for life.
• Another aspect of the MacArthur Study looked at how twins fared in relation to their aerobic exercise habits. Aerobics blew genetics away. Individuals who walked briskly or jogged for 30 minutes just six times a month had a 40 percent lower risk of dying than their twins who did not exercise. So take heart if you come from a family with a history of cardiovascular disease or other killer illnesses. Regular aerobic exercise (and other AgeLess habits) can outweigh your genetic endowment.

In his Fitness chapter, Dean Schneider also includes descriptions of three sets of top-ten exercises you can easily do at home - they are taken from Kathy Smith's books 'Walkfit for a Better Body' and 'Lift Weights to Lose Weight' (Warner Books).

The next extract from "Ageless" will consider excess body weight, and what to do about it.