When we sit all day, year after year, our bones, muscles and organ systems atrophy. Exercise can reverse this process. Far from being dangerous for older adults to exercise, it may be life saving. In a remarkable study published in 1986, a 20 year study of Harvard and University of Pennsylvania alumni showed that death rates fell in direct proportion to the number of calories burned each week. Subsequent studies have shown that different exercises bring different results.
Aerobic exercise preserves the heart and brain better than just burning calories.
Other studies have demonstrated that weight lifting can do as much for the frail elderly as it does for high school athletes. When 10 chronically ill nursing-home residents were put on a weight lifting program three times a week for two months their average walking speed nearly tripled and their balance markedly improved. And in a study of women of menopausal age, weight lifting was shown to have another remarkable benefit - bone density actually increases, whereas a comparable group of women without weight lifting lost bone density. Physically fit people can carry out daily tasks without excessive fatigue, handle emergency situations requiring physical strength and endurance, and have enough energy left at the end of the day to enjoy leisure-time activities. Consider yourself unfit if you become out of breath or exhausted climbing the stairs to your office or walking up a small hill.