Almost every seniors oriented magazine we pick up now has an article on or some references to the benefits of regular exercise. If you need to ask:"why would I want to exercise,anyway?" the benefits are considerable: Regular exercise reduces the chance of heart attack and stroke, slows down or can reverse osteoporosis, improves balance, helps control weight, increases muscle strength, reduces the tendency for diabetes, can keep blood pressure from rising with age, can reduce the pain of arthritis, and can even reduce the risk of some kinds of cancer. By implication, if you don't exercise, you increase your risk of problems in all these areas. The benefits are described fully in a recent book, (Successful Aging, by Rowe and Kahn, 1998), which presents the results and observations of a ten plus year study of later life people, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation. The benefits found in the study of walking for exercise are so conclusive that Dr. Rowe himself has taken up walking to and from work, a mile each way. Aging well, in those authors' view, involves maintaining our mobility through exercise, keeping a positive attitude, enjoying life and loved ones, keeping our minds active, and taking good care of ourselves through proper diet and lifestyle. This is where hiking comes in. Hiking is not only good moderate exercise, but it gets you out in the air, lets you enjoy the scenery, make contact with others, and keeps your mind active reading maps, and studying guide books. There is lots more to hiking than just putting one foot in front of the other. If we believe that: "Aging well is the best revenge", then maintaining our physical fitness is an important first step toward that objective.
We all know people over 60 years old who still look 40 years of age and are in great shape. We know others who are faltering at even a younger age. Some people age faster then others, perhaps due in part to the genes they inherited from their parents, and due in large part to what they have done to themselves over the years. For most people, signs of aging show up after age 60, but depending on their own characteristics, may show up earlier, or may be delayed for a decade or more. "Lady Luck" has a lot to do with just when signs of aging occur in each of us. However, the results of the MacArthur Study indicate very strongly that lifestyle and exercise have a lot to do with whether a person will still be hiking in their eighties, or shuffling around with a walker.
There is almost no "downside" to walking or hiking for exercise. Only one in twenty ever report problems, and these, usually sore muscles, heal themselves without any special treatment. The book: "Successful Aging", (by Rowe and Kahn, 1996), points out that there have been a few cases where a person had a heart attack during hard exercise. The person really had heart disease which had not been diagnosed earlier; they exercised too hard, and this caused the heart disease to show up. If you are concerned about possible problems, seek your doctor's advice.
Topics covered next in the book:
Measuring Fitness
The Fitness Principles
The Exercise Regimen