Men and women become less fit as they age, according to a new report in the October 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

This should come with a big "duh". But it also comes with some good news.

First the not-so-good news. "The U.S. population is aging and is becoming more obese and sedentary", the authors tell us. No surprise there. But it's a vicious circle. Cardiorespiratory fitness of both sexes declines with age: two of the best indicators of cardiorespiratory fitness are body composition (fat vs. muscle) and physical activity.

The more fat you've got and the less active you are, the higher the chances of disease, not to mention the ability to function independently.

And by the way, the decline gets worse after age 45, and it's worse for men than for women.

What to do, what to do?

Researchers from the University of Houston studied about 20,000 women and men between 20 to 96(!) in a study called the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study between 1974 and 2006. The 30 years of data collected on such a large group of people offer some strong take home messages for anyone who wants to age well. (Here comes the good news.) Three simple behaviors were associated with significantly higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness over the entire lifespan. Are you ready for them?

1) Not smoking

2) Maintaining a normal BMI

3) Staying active

Being inactive and having a high BMI were associated with substantially lower cardiorespiratory fitness which in turn was associated with substantially higher health risks. And these "danger" (or risky) levels of poor cardio fitness showed up at lower ages in the people who didn't stay active, smoked or were overweight.

The results suggest that if things keep on the way they're going, more and more people are going to reach a level of fitness that the Social Security Administration defines as "disability", and they're going to reach it at younger ages.

For all those baby boomers worried about losing their independence, this should be a wake-up call. And it comes with an optimistic message: Simply staying active, keeping your weight down and avoiding cigarettes like the plague can probably do more to keep you from being a medical statistic than any drug on the planet.

For more info on health, longevity, nutrition and weight loss, please visit Jonny Bowden Solutions!

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