Photo: mikebaird, Flickr

If your excuse for not engaging in sweat-dripping, pavement-pounding workouts is your worry about either getting or worsening your arthritis, you're in luck. A study with more than 1,200 participants found no link -- let's reiterate, that's zero, nada -- between osteoarthritis and exercise, even high-impact. And although obesity is an independent risk factor for the joint condition, physically active overweight participants fared just as well as their slim peers. The average age was in our Fit After 40 range, 53.

"What's particularly convincing about the study is they also took an MRI of each subject's knee. They discovered that those who performed the most vigorous weight-bearing exercise had the thickest, healthiest cartilage," says Dr. Harvey Simon, editor of the Harvard Men's Health Watch. What's more, these findings were consistent with another study published last year that found no connection between running and arthritis. In fact, running seemed to actually benefit joints.

In both studies, none of the members had arthritis to begin with. But other research shows that exercise at any level can even help those who already have it. "A lot of people don't exercise because they think their arthritis pain will be exacerbated but the opposite is true," says Dr. Patience White, chief public health officer for the Arthritis Foundation. So for those of you who are using your arthritis pain as an excuse not to move, listen up: "When physical activity is combined with a weight loss program, you can actually prevent arthritis pain and decrease the progression."

That's Fit gals are all talking about her -- Dara Torres -- the Olympic swimmer and middle-aged mom. Jacki recently shared an informative overview of Torres and Kristen provided specifics on her fitness routine. Consider us Dara-spired. Hint to Kellogg's marketing squad, 35-and-over women will pounce on boxes of Special K if Torres is on it.

Dara-spiration exudes through her beautiful smile, her ability to tackle motherhood and develop into an even more powerful Olympic-level swimmer with a fitness regimen that works for her age. Accepting and creatively making accommodations for our aging or injured bodies is key to lifelong fitness. Torres recognized her body needs more recovery time between workouts than when she was younger, so she works out differently. Not only that, Torres raised her hand to become one of a dozen athletes openly submitting to a new, comprehensive drug-testing program by the United States Anti-Doping Agency -- she's clean.

I'm 41-years-old, just like Torres. I have a four-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. I love competition, whether it's a golf tournament or "who can run around the house the fastest." I want to exit my 40s -- typically the decade of getting soft -- Dara-lean and taut. Witnessing Torres anchor the relay team to a silver medal at the 2008 Games delivered a jolt of spine-tingling Dara-spiration and pride. After that performance, I wouldn't be surprised if middle-aged moms everywhere ate right the next morning and headed outdoors for a bike, jog or a few laps in the pool. Anyone else Dara-spired? Check out these new pics of Torres in the gallery!

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Little girls born in Japan in 2007 have the longest life expectancy of any other people on the planet... 86 years. Though life expectancy is a complicated issue, experts say that Japanese women live so long in part because of their healthy diet and unique social structure, as well as advancements made in medical care. Boys born in Japan last year can expect to live 79.2 years, while residents of Iceland and Hong Kong aren't far behind.

The flip side of this is that Japan's birth rate is also very low, which leaves the Japanese government in a unique position -- how to run a country with an aging population without a younger population to back them up?

Still, the Japanese are definitely doing something right. About.com digs a little deeper into the hows and whys of the long life spans of Japan.

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Are you envious of your bed partner, who drifts off to sleep quickly while you toss and turn? Do you find yourself lying awake at night, despite your best efforts to fall asleep? You aren't alone. Insomnia is a common condition that steals precious sleep from those who need it, and a lack of sleep can have a serious impact on your health, including weight gain.

The first step in treating insomnia is identifying the cause. Forbes has an excellent gallery to help you do just that. Their 14 reasons you aren't sleeping covers topics like:

• relationship trouble
• co-sleeping with children
• pregnancy
• being a woman
• medications
• sleep disorders
• stress
• poor sleeping habits or environment
• worry
• age
• heart disease
• depression
  

If this sounds like you, you might already be on your road to recovery. Try and make some lifestyle or environmental adjustments, and if that doesn't work, speak to your doctor to see if your health may be part of the cause. While you're at it, visit AOL Health to see what they're saying about sleep.

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A couple months ago, my best friend turned 36. Since I'll be following suit in a few short months, I didn't mind telling her that 36 sounds a whole heck of a lot more like 40 than 35 did. Somehow, at 35, I could still fool myself that I was in my young 30s. But fooling time is over. I'm rounding 40 in a few short years and it's time to face the facts.

Luckily, age is all a matter of perspective. (I remember dreading 28 for some reason, too. It just sounded OLD at the time!) So when I hit 40, I want to be fit and fabulous like the Sex and the City girls. (Without wearing weird hats at premieres ... and drinking too many cosmos ... and wearing ridiculously high heels .. and having fly-by-night relationships with men. OK, maybe I don't want to be like them after all.)

Revolution Health has a list of healthful ways to look your best when the big four-oh hits. Check out the gallery for some of their ideas.

Keeping up with kids isn't always easy. Keeping up with kids when you're a grandparent can be downright dangerous if you aren't prepared to exert yourself. Grandparents today are more hip and active than ever, but because parents today are often waiting longer to start a family, grandparents are also comparatively older than their peers in earlier generations.

A severe injury in the later decades can mean trouble for grandparents, which is why experts recommend a simple fitness plan, doctor-approved of course. Most of us should be getting 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day, but if you've been sedentary, it's perfectly fine to make your goals much more modest until you build up endurance.

Fitness experts also recommend a regular strength training routine as well as balance exercises to prevent injuries down the road. And as always, fitness doesn't have to happen in a vacuum -- make it a family affair!

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Surprised about that headline? So was I.

A research team from Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University followed 1,000 seniors for up to 15 years. Their surprising results showed that women with higher anxiety levels at the beginning of the study tended to live longer. Researchers surmise it's because the anxiety might cause the women to seek medical attention more frequently. More research is needed to understand exactly why the anxiety seems to have a protective effect on older women. On the other hand, men with high anxiety levels were more likely to die earlier.

It's an interesting study, but as for me, I'd rather reduce stress and anxiety. Want to find out your stress score? Check out AOL Body's Life Change Stress Test.

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They say that the Grinch had a heart that was two-sizes too small. He must have been over 50.

Several studies have noted that the chambers of the heart shrink as we age, but a recent study found that it actually happens rather dramatically around age 50. Researchers looked at 218 health participants who had no underlying health problems and were surprised to find that they could actually pinpoint when the change occurs.

Hypertension is considered an age-related condition by the American Heart Association. When the heart shrinks, researchers believe that blood pressure increases, which may explain why people over 50 may have a harder time controlling their blood pressure.

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Want to look younger? Who doesn't? But what if you could actually be younger, at least in comparison to your peers. A new study suggests that people who are regularly physically active may not only ward off age-related diseases but might actually be biologically younger than those who don't exercise at all.

Researchers measured leukocyte telomeres, which (long story short) may shorten as people age. Those who exercised regularly had longer telomeres than those who didn't. In some cases, telomere length in active people was the same as that in those who were 10 years younger.

It's not cut-and-dried research, but it's a pretty firm indicator that exercise is an important part of a long and healthy life.

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As I've said many times before here on That's Fit, it's never too late to start exercising. Barring any doctor-issued mandate against doing so, performing even low-intensity workouts can greatly enhance your health at any age.

A recent study, published in the popular journal Hypertension, examined the effects of exercise on men in their 20s and men in their 60s. As expected, the older men started with more constricted blood vessels, increasing their risk for hypertension and heart attack. But, after only three months of averaging 5 hours per week worth of walking, the older guys' blood-vessel function resembled that of the guys in their 20s.

Walking as little as 30 minutes per day can have a very positive impact on your cardiovascular health, in addition to offering a myriad of other health benefits.

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A recent survey, by lifestyle website Wanobe.com, revealed that people over 50 are more likely to have sex on a first date than those who are under 40. In addition, 50 percent of the over 50 group rated lust and passion as more important than marriage.

Nearly 40 percent of the over-50s would sleep with a partner on a first meeting – compared with just 18 percent of under-40s.

Wanobe managing director David Noble, 60, said: "Being over 50 doesn't mean you give up on love. The under-30s may feel they invented sexual liberation, but it was the baby-boomer generation that staged the first summer of love – more than 40 years ago."

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Dove, already well known for their Real Beauty ads, has another interesting project in the works. They asked women over the age of 45 to write letters to their body. The letters, those that made the cut anyway, will be included in a play called Body and Soul. The idea behind the ad is that beauty has no age limit.

So if you could write a letter to your body, what would you say? The first word that pops into my mind is grateful. I'm grateful my body carries me through each day, that it's strong and able. I also might be a bit apologetic, because my body keeps on trucking despite all the things I do wrong, like stay up too late, drink too much wine, and eat too much chocolate-covered caramel corn (something I've only recently discovered and wished that I hadn't).

What would you say if you could talk to your body? Read other people's thoughts here.

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Unless you plan on passing away at an early age, making sure you get plenty of exercise is one of the best ways to keep your body flexible and able to deal with all the situations in life that get many of us down.

Things like feeling tired all the time and sleep difficulties are generally associated with a lack of exercise. Ever had that feeling of not having enough sleep even though you slept for nine hours? Not enough exercise.

Just like a stock portfolio, you need to make changes to your lifestyle habits at certain points in your life to be able to perform as you did at an earlier age. You know, like playing with the kids (and grandkids) without feeling tired within a few minutes.

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The next time you're wandering by the beauty counter of your favorite department store, you might be asked if you want to have your skin analyzed. Basically, you put your face in the box, have your picture taken, and the machine reveals all of your skin care sins -- wrinkles, large pores, you name it. After this unseen damage has been revealed, the sales person at the beauty counter will be happy to assist you in "fixing" it.

So what's the deal here -- are these boxes for real, or just a big scam? It depends on who you ask, and the NYT has a good article that covers both sides of the story. Many dermatologists think they're invaluable in telling patients about unseen damage, while others take a "if it's not broke, don't fix it" approach. If my large pores and hidden sunspots don't bother me, then do I need to spend hundreds of dollars fixing them? (The machines are not designed to detect skin cancer.)

Read the article and decide for yourself. Have you tried one of these skin analyzers? What did you think?

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When the senior citizens at Putnam County senior centers got whiff of a plan to ban free donuts each morning, they protested, and some literally picketed their buildings. Angry at not being consulted, the seniors say they aren't upset about missing their sugar fix, they just don't like having their choices taken away from them. County leaders say the program -- which included delivery of unused cakes, donuts, and pastries from local bakeries -- was stopped because there was just too much of the product coming in, and it was often stale or moldy and that they never try to stop seniors from buying any products (healthy or unhealthy) that they want to buy, they just won't be serving them anymore.

Because those in their upper years are more prone to conditions like heart disease or diabetes, some health experts say that government programs should only be serving healthy and nutritious foods. Some of the seniors in question say that, as adults, they should be allowed to choose. What do you think?

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