How To Be 16 Years Healthier

The "secret" is vigorous exercise. Here's the story: in 2006, a group of 10 postmenopausal women, all in good health and with an average age of 55, signed up for a 12-week endurance training study at the University of California, Berkeley. The women spent an hour on an exercise bike five days a week working at 65 percent of their maximum lung capacity. The aim of the study was to determine whether postmenopausal women derive the same health benefits from exercise as younger women do. In a report on their findings published in the September, 2009, issue of Metabolism, the investigators noted that the study participants increased their capacity to consume and use oxygen by an average of 16 percent and lowered their resting heart rate by an average of four beats per minute. In effect, this meant that after 12 weeks of exercise the women in the study had the cardiovascular and metabolic capabilities of women 16 years younger. What's more, by the end of the study, the women's blood pressure during exercise had dropped by 8 millimeters of mercury, while their heart rates were 19 beats per minute slower when performing at the same intensity as early in the study.




My take? It's never too late to improve your health, boost your energy and look and feel your best by adding exercise to your life.