Exercise in middle age may prolong lifespan

Los Angeles, March 6: Doing more physical activities such as gardening and sports in middle age can prolong life, a new research by Swedish researchers suggests.

According to research published in the British Medical Journal, men who increase their exercise regime in their 50s enjoy longer life. The regular physical activities can extend middle aged men’s life span by more than two years.

In their study, the Swedish researchers found men who step up their exercise rates in their 50s, halved their mortality compared with those who remained inactive.

Liisa Byberg, a researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, said, “Increased physical activity in middle age is eventually followed by a reduction in mortality to the same level as seen among men with constantly high physical activity.”

"Thus, efforts for promotion of physical activity, even among middle aged and older men, are important."

The research team from Uppsala University reached their findings after examining 2,205 Swedish men aged 50, checking their progress over the next 32 years. The Swedish researchers categorized the participants into low, medium or high activity groups.

The team surveyed the volunteers again when they were 60, 70, 77 and 82. Each time, the participants filled questionnaires about their level of physical activity as well as their body mass indexdefine, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking habits and alcohol use.

At age 50, about half of the participating men reported a high level of exercise, corresponding to at least three hours of sport or heavy gardening each week, while just 36 percent said they exercised moderately, such as taking walks and cycling. Rest of the participants, 15 percent, said they did little or no exercise.

After adjusting the data for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that those who were doing high levels of activity at the age of 50 were expected to live 2.3 years longer than sedentary men and 1.1 years longer than those who exercised moderately.

"It has been shown that young people benefit from exercise but this is the first time we have been able to show that old people can also benefit from increasing their physical activity," said Byberg. "It's not too late to start."

Further, death rates among the men who led sedentary lives were highest during the follow-up period, while the mortality rate was lowest among those who had the highest level of physical activity.

However, the death rates in the men who had stepped up their physical activity had fallen to the same level as the ones who had maintained high levels of physical fitness the whole time

"Men who reported an increase in physical activity to a high level at age 60 years had, after an induction period of approximately 10 years, the same mortality risk as those who continued to have a high physical activity from age 50 to age 60 years," said Dr. Karl Michaëlsson, a senior lecturer in the Department of Surgical Sciences at Uppsala University and the study's lead author.

Michaëlsson said the impact was similar to giving up smoking. He added, "The magnitude of the reduction in mortality risk with increased physical activity corresponded to that of smoking cessation."