Retirement Stats, Studies, and Stuff
In his book Brain Rules, John Medina, a molecular biologist and affiliate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, asks the question: Is there one factor that predicts how well you age? He points to a group of researchers who found that one of the strongest predictors of successful aging is having a non-sedentary lifestyle. They concluded that if you have an active lifestyle, with cardiovascular fitness, you are less likely to have heart attacks and strokes, more likely to live longer, and more likely to have improved cognitive performance (reasoning, problem-solving, attention, long-term memory, etc.) According to the research, exercise also reduces your chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease by more than 60 per cent. As well, exercise reduces depression and anxiety, likely because it releases the feel-good neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
Exercise works
The British Journal of Sports Medicine studied 12,201 older men and concluded that those who exercised at least five times a week for approximately 30 minutes were much healthier and less likely to be dead 11 years later. A study of 3,454 men and women between 55 and 73 years of age reported after eight years that those participants who had been and remained physically active aged most successfully, with the lowest incidence of major chronic diseases, memory loss, and physical disability.
How much exercise?
Apparently, not a lot is required for people to benefit. Every little bit helps, especially aerobic activity. In this research, the laboratory “gold standard appears to be aerobic exercise, 30 minutes at a clip, two or three times a week. Add a strengthening regimen and you get even more cognitive benefit.”
Hope for older couch potatoes
Even people who have always been couch potatoes can improve their brain power, reduce their chances of physical disability, and lengthen their lives by becoming active. Research showed that those people who became active in middle age after having been sedentary had about a seven-fold reduction in their risk of becoming ill or infirm after eight years, compared to those who became or remained sedentary. Another study (2,205 men, aged 50) showed that those who started exercising after the age of 50 were far less likely to die during the next 35 years than those who were and remained sedentary.
Self-coaching questions
What is your ideal physical activity level?
If you aren’t at that level now, what stands in your way?
What supports would you need to get you moving towards that ideal?