Exercise - The Not-So-Secret Key to a Long Life

Photo: mcohen.chromiste, Flickr

Working out might seem like a young person's sport, but experts want you to know that you're never too old to get fit -- even if you earned your AARP card several decades ago. According to recent studies lead by Dr. Jeremy M. Jacobs of Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, people who exercise tend to live longer than couch potatoes, even if they start working out in their 80s.

Dr. Jacobs and his team examined mortality rates among different age groups and activity levels over 18 years and found that exercise was a surefire way to increase lifespan. Consider these figures: Mortality rates over three years were at 24 percent for sedentary 85-year-olds, compared to just 7 percent for those who exercised around four hours a week. Not bad for just over half an hour of exercise a day, huh?

That's not all -- those who were active at 78 were almost twice as likely to be capable of performing everyday activities independently, such as bathing, dressing and so on. Surely that's reason enough to put in an extra sweat session every week?

"The take home message is that even among the very old, it never is too late to start exercising," says Dr. Jacobs, and we couldn't agree more.

New to fitness? Start off slowly with a gentle exercise like yoga.