Walk well. Age well.
Despite the fact that everyone knows that exercise is beneficial, hard scientific evidence of its benefits for the more mature have been surprisingly limited. Until now that is. Findings recently released from the study, Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (or LIFE), suggest that regular exercise, including walking, significantly reduces the chance that a frail older person will become physically disabled. Ever needed more of push to ensure you undertake frequent physical activity?
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr Marco Pahor – the director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Florida and the lead author of the study – said, “For the first time, we have directly shown that exercise can effectively lessen or prevent the development of physical disability in a population of extremely vulnerable older people.”
So, you’re probably thinking you’ve heard something along these lines before: “There’s a strong connection between physical activity in advanced age and a longer, healthier life.” While there has been much research to this effect, such studies haven’t gone as far to prove that exercise improves a mature person’s health, only that healthy people of such an age exercise.
The LIFE study, which took place over two-and-a-half years, is particularly interesting because rather than selecting relatively robust volunteers to take part who could easily exercise; it opted for volunteers who were sedentary and infirm, and on the cusp of frailty. All in all, 1635 people were selected aged 70 to 89.
For the study there were two groups, and education or exercise category. Those in the education group visited a research centre once a month to learn about nutrition, health care and other topics related to ageing. On the contrary, the exercise group started a program of walking as well as light, lower-body weight training with ankle weights; going to the research centre to receive some information about ageing but also for twice-weekly supervised group walks on a track. The walks grew progressively longer over time. In addition to this, they were also asked to complete three or four more exercise sessions in their own time, aiming for 150 minutes of walking and three 10-minute weight-training sessions each week.
While the results were good all round, with the exercising volunteers 18 per cent less likely to have experienced any physical disability during the experiment, there was little difference between the number of people who became disabled in the two groups. For instance, 35 per cent of those in the education group had a period of physical disability during the study versus 30 per cent in the exercise group. While at first glance those stats might seem disappointing, it is interesting to learn that the study data shows that in many cases the participants in the education group began to exercise, despite not being directed to, which may have affected the outcome.
The important thing to take from this study is how important it is to keep active in order to prevent physical disability as you age. The study highlights the necessity for regular exercise, including walking, in significantly reducing the chance that a frail older person will become physically disabled. And as with most things, it’s best to consult medical advice before starting any sort of physical activity.
While the scientists who worked on the study continue to examine their results for further analysis, we leave you with this quote from Mildred Johnston, an 82-year-old retired office worker who volunteered for the LIFE study. She has kept up her weekly walks with two of the other volunteers she met during the study.
“Exercising has changed my whole aspect of what ageing means,” she revealed. “It’s not about how much help you need from other people now. It’s more about what I can do for myself.” The walking coupled with the conversation during her walking sessions, “really keeps you engaged with life,” she says.
Image: Getty