EXERCISE HURDLES

“I never have enough time.” Successful exercisers made exercise a priority. Walking or bicycling to work, even if only partway is a good start, or parking a few blocks from the office, and then taking the stairs instead of the elevator. A few brief bouts of moderate exercise can be as beneficial as longer, continuous workout. One doesn’t need fancy equipment; a few dumbbells or resistance bands, a stability ball, and some exercise videos or DVDs can work nicely.

“I’m too old.” It is never too late to start exercising for aerobic fitness and muscular strength. One study followed inactive men who started exercising at age 50. By age 60, they had achieved survival rates comparable to men who had been active for far longer. Both men and women in their 80s who had started resistance training in clinical trials gained strength as rapidly as younger adults did. After age 45 men, and women over 55, should get a physician’s clearance first before jumping into a vigorous routine if you have diabetes or another ongoing health problem.

“But is my health good enough?” Exercise is a prudent treatment for diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, peripheral vascular disease and other problems common to older age. In clinical tests involving people with osteoarthritis of the knee who did strength training, for example, and pain scores fell by nearly 50 percent.

“If I’m not overweight, should I still exercise?” Sedentary living can make you more vulnerable to cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, type 2diabetes, and premature death, even if you are lean. Inactivity ranks about as high as smoking. A study that tracked 2,603 men and women age 60 or older for about 12 years, normal-weight people who were unfit were more likely to die than obese volunteers who exercised enough to maintain aerobic fitness. Exercise works in many ways to boost health and life span. It helps the body to manage blood sugar, which helps control diabetes. It can even lower blood sugar, in part by keeping artery walls supple, and weight bearing exercise builds bones to help them resist osteoporosis, and halt the breakdown of muscles and tendons, once considered an inevitable part of aging, and restore muscle power to level you had earlier. This could spur a change at the cellular level that slow or even reverse some of the root causes of aging. Tune in tomorrow to find out how to reduce any skeletal or any other possible discomfort.