Originally published August 6 2005
Exercise helps the elderly
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to a new study, exercise can help elderly people stay independent longer.
Exercise can't hold off the effects of aging, but it can improve an elderly person's chances of hanging onto an independent lifestyle, researchers said, citing a new study that brought both good and bad news.
A treadmill test given to different age groups showed that as people aged, their aerobic capacity - the amount of oxygen consumed while exercising - declined at higher rates with each passing decade whether they exercised or not.
"I guess we were a little disappointed that regular exercise didn't make a difference in the rate of decline," he said.
"If I start higher, I'm going to end higher," Fleg said.
For the study published in Monday's online edition of the American Heart Association journal Circulation, researchers analyzed treadmill tests from 435 men and 375 women ages 21 to 87 taking part in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.
Fleg said that participants filled out a detailed questionnaire on physical activities and they were divided into groups depending on the strenuousness of their exercise.
"People who have low aerobic capacity may not even be able to make their bed," said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist and chief of Women's Cardiac Care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
"There is a decline with aging, but older people should be in programs to improve their regular function capacity because it will increase their independence," Goldberg said.
Researchers said that one limitation of the study was that participants were healthy and able to walk on a treadmill, making it hard to make comparisons with less fit people in poorer health.
Dr. Chuck McCauley, of the cardiology department at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis., said that clinically speaking, he's noticed that people who exercise throughout their lives seem to do a lot better physically at handling the daily activities of life as they head into older age.
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