Increasing Exercise after Age 50 Prolongs Lives

Fran Civile — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:34:35 +0000

Men who start or increase their exercise programs after age fifty live longer than those who remain at their present activity levels, according to a study in the British Medical Journal (March 2009).

I’m publishing this article in the category

’life-after-sixty’ where I like to

promote helpful suggestions for a healthy life.

Dr. Mirkin’s ezine is provided as a service. Dr.Mirkin’s reports and

opinions are for information only, and are not intended to diagnose

or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult

your doctor or health care provider.

For more information visit http://www.drmirkin.com

More than 2200 men were checked at ages 50, 60, 70, 77 and 82 years.

The greater the increase in exercise duration over that span, the longer their lives were extended. The reduction in early death from increasing exercise was the same as for men who stopped smoking.

Lack of exercise is associated with obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, osteoporosis, and cancer. Exercising regularly more than halves your chance of dying prematurely
(Archives of Internal Medicine, December 2007).

Yet more than 50 percent of North Americans do not exercise.

Exercise prevents disease and increases life span by many mechanisms.

The major benefit probably comes from the contracting muscles themselves.

A high rise in blood sugars and fats after meals damages cells. When blood sugar levels rise too high, sugar sticks to the surface of cell membranes.

Once there, it can never get off, eventually killing the cells and leading to blindness, heart attacks, strokes and the other consequences of uncontrolled diabetes.

Contracting muscles draw sugar and fat so rapidly from the bloodstream that they usually prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. This effect is maximized during exercise.

The effect is maintained for about half hour after you stop exercising and gradually tapers off until it disappears after about 18 hours. That explains why you get maximum benefit by exercising every day (rather than three times a week), and why greater benefit is gained by exercising more intensely for longer durations

I would assume that all of the above applies to women over 50 also!

Dr. Mirkin is citing a study in the British Medical Journal… I read his

ezine regularly and he often talks about the active life he shares

with his wife Diana Mirkin.

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Increasing Exercise after Age 50 Prolongs Lives