Strong and Steady: The Movement Prescription for Longevity

For people over 50, physical activity may be the closest thing we have to a proven longevity tool, reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, falls, cognitive decline, and early death.

A recent study by biostatisticians at the University of Colorado, Johns Hopkins University, and several other institutions analyzed data from the long-running National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to compare the predictive power of 15 potential longevity markers.

The study focused on 3,600 people aged 50 to 80, and tracked them to determine who died in the years following their baseline measurements. In addition to physical activity, the subjects were assessed for 14 of the best-known traditional mortality risk factors: basic demographic information (age, gender, body mass index, race or ethnicity, educational level), lifestyle habits (alcohol consumption, smoking), preexisting medical conditions (diabetes, heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, cancer, mobility problems), and self-reported overall health.

The amount of physical activity performed in a typical day emerged as the winner – an even better predictor of longer life than having diabetes or heart disease, receiving a cancer diagnosis, or even your age.

We all know that exercise is good for you, but with all the information out there about high-tech biohacks to keep you young, it can be easy to forget that you already have what you need to stay healthy for free. All you need to do is move.

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