Running and regular exercise mean a longer life with fewer disabilities

According to scientists in the U.S. people who keep fit by running when they are middle aged and older, are less likely to become disabled later in life and may live longer.

The team from Stanford University School of Medicine in California say regular exercise, including running, may help to improve the health of older adults.

The researchers led by Dr. Eliza F. Chakravarty say the combination of behaviour and societal changes as well as improved medical and surgical therapies, mean age related death rates have reached record lows and life expectancy has reached record highs in recent years.

Dr. Chakravarty says with the rise in life expectancy, there is a need to focus on improving the quality of life and the functional abilities of older people and regular exercise, including running, may contribute to an improvement in their health.

Dr. Chakravarty and her colleagues conducted a survey involving 284 members of a nationwide running club and 156 healthy controls who were recruited from university faculty and staff.

All the participants were age 50 or older when the study began in 1984 and they completed a questionnaire each year through to 2005, which provided information on exercise frequency, body mass index and disability level.

The researchers say at the start of the study, the runners were younger, leaner and less likely to smoke than the those in the control group and within a 19 year period, 81 runners had died compared to 144 of the control group.

It was also found that disability levels were lower in the runners group at all time points and though they increased in both groups over time, this was less so in the runners.

The researchers say by the end of the 21-year follow-up, in terms of disability, there were higher levels among the control group which made important differences in limiting overall daily functioning.

They say as participants approached their ninth decade of life, disability and survival curves continued to diverge between the groups after the 21-year follow-up.

The scientists say regular exercise could reduce disability and death risk by increasing cardiovascular fitness, improving aerobic capacity, increased bone mass, lower levels of inflammatory markers, improved response to vaccinations and improved thinking, learning and memory functions.

They say their findings of decreased disability in addition to prolonged survival among middle-aged and older adults participating in routine physical activities, further supports recommendations to encourage moderate to vigorous physical activity at all ages.

They say increasing healthy lifestyle behaviours may not only improve length and quality of life but also hopefully lead to reduced health care expenditures associated with disability and chronic diseases.

The research which is published in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, was supported by grants from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health.