Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
March 15, 2009

Increasing Exercise after Age 50 Prolongs Lives

    Men who start or increase their exercise programs after
age fifty live longer than those who remain at their present
activity levels, according to a study in the British Medical Journal
(March 2009).  More than 2200 men were checked at ages 60, 60, 70,
77 and 82 years.  The greater the increase in exercise duration over
that span, the longer their lives were extended.  The reduction in
early death from increasing exercise was the same as for men
who stopped smoking.
    Lack of exercise is associated with obesity, diabetes,
heart attacks, strokes, osteoporosis, and cancer. Exercising
regularly more than halves your chance of dying prematurely
(Archives of Internal Medicine, December 2007).  Yet more than
50 percent of North Americans do not exercise.
    Exercise prevents disease and increases life span by
many mechanisms. The major benefit probably comes from the
contracting muscles themselves.  A high rise in blood sugars and
fats after meals damages cells.  When blood sugar levels rise too
high, sugar sticks to the surface of cell membranes. Once there, it
can never get off, eventually killing the cells and leading to
blindness, heart attacks, strokes and the other consequences of
uncontrolled diabetes.  Contracting muscles draw sugar and fat
so rapidly from the bloodstream that they usually prevent blood
sugar levels from rising too high.  This effect is maximized during
exercise.  The effect is maintained for about half hour after you
stop exercising and gradually tapers off until it disappears after
about 18 hours.  That explains why you get maximum benefit by
exercising every day (rather than three times a week), and why
greater benefit is gained by exercising more intensely for longer
durations.
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