Get fit for life tip #5: Age is relative.

There’s no age limit on staying fit and mobile. As long as you are active, you can continue to thrive and grow.

There is wide variation in health, wellbeing, and mobility among older adults of the same age, depending on lifestyle factors and the presence of chronic health conditions.

As we grow older, we naturally lose muscle mass, dexterity, balance and thus overall strength and speed. This is due in part to factors out of our control such as changing hormone levels. But a sedentary lifestyle will rapidly accelerate this natural aging process, creating a vicious cycle of frailty and inactivity.

Thankfully, we have the power to seriously mitigate the effects of natural aging on our body through exercise. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to rebuild muscle mass and increase endurance even in your 70s and 80s. Age is no bar to taking up exercise for the first time!

Sedentariness is one of the leading risk factors of noncommunicable diseases (NCD), which kill one in seven adults over 70 worldwide. The WHO estimates that insufficient physical activity increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes by 20–30% and shortens lifespan by 3–5 years.

Because most NCDs develop slowly, they can be prevented or controlled by changes in lifestyle when identified early. The positive impact of exercise is due to its ability to lower inflammation in the body, a contributing factor to many of the health conditions associated with aging.

By lessening the impact of chronic conditions, older people can maintain quality of life, mobility and the ability to care for themselves.

Additonally, exercise boosts cognitive performance and reduces risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s by 30%. Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory are more well-developed in people who exercise. That’s because exercise stimulates the release of chemicals in the brain that affect the health and growth of brain cells.

Getting regular aerobic exercise from middle age has a profound effect on long-term brain health. Several long-term studies have shown that it lowers the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s by around 30%. There is also strong evidence linking higher levels of physical activity and cognitive performance in people over 60 years of age.

Source: Harvard Heath Blog, Alzheimers UK