A new study shows just
how much it matters to stay active.
As we age, we tend to
slow down — and not always by choice.
A gradual decline in
activity may include giving up competitive sports as life gets busy, foregoing
recreational activities because of an injury, or just having fewer excuses to
get moving once you’ve retired.
But activity of some
kind remains vital as you age.
A new study shows that maintaining some sort of activity can
extend your life. More than 300,000 adults aged 50 to 71 were divided into
three different groups based on their activity level.
The first group was
the “maintainers” who kept up their activity level; the second group was the
“decreasers” whose activity levels declined; and the third was the “increasers”
whose activity levels increased with age.
The maintainers were
found to have the lowest risk of early death, followed by the increasers and
finally the decreasers. Interestingly, the decreasers didn’t fare any better in
life expectancy than those who had been inactive their entire lives.
This indicates that
even longtime couch potatoes can extend their lives by ramping up
activity in their later years.
Adding 2.5 hours of
activity per week can decrease your risk of death by 28%.
And while starting an
exercise routine
after years of inactivity can be daunting, don’t be too intimidated.
The World Health Organization recommends 150 minutes of activity a week, which
can be just 20 to 30 minutes of brisk walking per day. Just adding 2.5 hours of
activity per week can decrease your risk of death by 28%!
So remember, it’s
never too late to become (or continue) to be active. It could just save your
life.
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