Most of us know that regular exercise is good for us.
The benefits include weight control, combating heart disease, improving your mood and boosting energy levels.
Starting an exercise regime could also be the key to avoiding ill-health and dementia, even if you take up regular exercise later in life.
A new study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that even ‘late starters’ who take up exercise in their 60s will experience the health benefits.
The study followed 3,500 healthy people at or around retirement age. Those that took up exercise were three times more likely to remain healthy over the next eight years than their sedentary peers.
The study found that these late comers to exercise experienced reduced incidents of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
The exercisers were also more likely to maintain their ability to perform day-to-day activities such as washing and dressing in later life.
What this study shows is that coming late to an exercise regime is better than no exercise at all, although exercising regularly throughout your entire life is better still from a health perspective.
Commenting on the findings of the study, the lead investigator Dr Mark Hamer, from University College London said:
“The take-home message really is to keep moving when you are elderly.
“It’s a cliche, but it’s a case of use it or lose it. You do lose the benefits if you don’t remain active.”
Exercise levels required to experience health benefits does not need to involve running marathons or lifting heavy weights at the gym.
The researchers said that gardening or walking to the shops also helps. What people should target is 150 minutes of physical activity a week, according to the Department of Health.
