Exercise Wins: Fit Seniors Can Have Hearts That Look 30 Years Younger 🖇

Every now and then I need a reminder that regular exercise is important. And now is one of those times.

Thankfully, this morning I heard Patti Neighmond’s report about a study on aging and exercise. It makes one of the best cases for lifelong exercise I’ve ever heard. And it put me back on track.

The study compared the health of three groups: old people who were lifelong exercisers, old people who were not lifelong exercisers, and young people who were exercising as much as the old exercisers.

The results were remarkable. The health and quality of life for the lifelong exercisers was significantly better than those of their non-exercising peers. One 82-year-old, David Costill, has been exercising since he was in high school. Now,

when Costill looks at his friends, he says he finds he can do a lot more physically than they can. “If I’m out with a group of my peers, guys who are near 80, and we’re going someplace, it seems to me they’re all walking at half speed.”

So in addition to the immediate benefits of exercise, we can also look forward to the future.

It might even help to think of exercise like money. With each push up, you invest in a fund with an extraordinarily good rate of return. To greatly improve your quality of life in the future, make regular investments today.