the benefits of exercise

Exercise and be active every day, so you'll enjoy the benefits of exercise now and later in life.

Keep moving: Staying active is your best bet for a long and healthy life.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Contributing to a 401(k) or IRA is smart way to set yourself up for retirement. But if you really want to enjoy your golden years, you'd better also invest in good nutrition and health habits. Two recent studies suggest that the benefits of exercise, healthy eating, and other things that lower your risk of heart disease can keep you alive and kicking decades later.

THE DETAILS: Presented at an American Heart Association conference earlier this year, two Finnish studies drew from the same cohort known as the Finnish Businessmen Study. Researchers led by Timo Strandberg, MD, of the University of Oulu in Oulu, Finland, analyzed health and fitness data that was initially obtained from this group in 1974, when their average age was 47. At a follow-up 26 years later, when the men were age 73 on average, the researchers collected data again.

In the first of the two studies, researchers found that those who weren't overweight and didn't have cardiovascular risk factors in middle age were less likely to become frail (functionally disabled) in their older age than those who were overweight and at risk for heart disease in middle age. In the second study, the men who were physically active during middle age had a significantly lower mortality risk 26 years later than those who were inactive in middle age. What’s more, the active men tended to live longer even if they had cardiovascular risk factors and were overweight in middle age.