There is a lot to be said for regular, moderate exercise. The activity can reduce the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. It can help control obesity and diabetes, prevent colon cancer, and forestall osteoporosis.
Sensible exercise can also limit many of the daily living problems resulting from muscle weakness.
And, yes, exercise may help us live longer. This fact first made the national news in 1986 following the publication of an extensive study in New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Ralph Paffenbarger Jr. of The Stanford University Medical School. In 1993, Paffenbarger again reported on his Harvard men in the same prestigious publication. These are not isolated reports. For instance, researchers at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas, who followed the fitness habits of more than 10,000 men for 20 years, came to the same basic conclusions as Paffenbarger.