Entrenched in any bit of health advice is the vast importance of trying to remain fit. Exercise, of any kind, goes a long way toward a longer life and disease prevention. One item of health news caught our attention recently: a study that persuasively shows why it’s important to get physical activity at any age.
Researchers found that frailty (a state of weakness), which is linked to an earlier death, increases throughout adulthood as people age. If people had relatively good fitness levels at any age, it was linked to a longer survival rate and a reduced need to rely on doctors and hospitals. It was published in the “Canadian Medical Association Journal.”
Medically, frailty generally applies to older adults. It refers to one’s health status and the risk of adverse events related to various health conditions. The new study wanted to see the impact of age on fitness and frailty, the profile of relatively fit people aged 15 to 102 compared with frail adults, and the impact of frailty on death.
Data came from 14,713 people over a 12-year period ending 2006-07. They looked for diseases, disabilities (e,g. needs help preparing meals), symptoms (e.g. hearing impairment), allergies, and other conditions.
Most participants (7,183) reported fairly high relative fitness at the start of the study, compared with 1,019 who were frail. The relatively fit people generally stayed healthy and those who were frail at the start were most likely to die. As participants aged, their frailty level increased.
The researchers found that frailty is very common and increases significantly as an adult grows older. At all ages, relatively fit people had a lower mortality and used fewer health-care services. People with higher frailty levels used more health-care services, and the risk of institutionalization increased for the frailest.
Frailty could be one of the defining factors of the aging process. Your level of frailty in late life will be influenced largely by what you are doing in mid-life. Frailty is a complex situation, but there is one thing that resonates here. Getting some exercise every day to keep your systems running smoothly goes a long way toward the biggest goal: living longer.
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