The study, being published in the May/June issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, provides evidence that healthy lifestyle changes, even when started later in life have long range benefits that include improved quality of life as one ages.

The study investigators followed 1,000 adults for nine years. The researchers hoped to gain an understanding of the long-term benefits of healthy lifestyle changes such as exercise. This research is ground breaking because as the majority of previous research has focused on the impacts of formal health-promotion programs in younger populations.

All study participants lived in retirement communities in Clearwater, Fla., and were between the ages of 72 and 98 when the study began in 1989-90. All lived independently and were free of major mental or physical illness.

The interviewers visited each participant, completing an interview that obtained information on personal health behaviors such as smoking and exercise patterns. They also obtained information on present state of physical and psychological health, including numbers of health conditions and disabilities including information on how frequently the participant experienced positive and negative emotions.

The participants were interviewed every year for the next eight years using the same procedure.

By the last interview, almost two-thirds of the participants were no longer part of the study due to death or disability. A comparison of those who had died and those who had not revealed that the participants who exercised the most at the study's beginning were far more likely to survive, even when existing health problems were taken into account.

Those who had smoked had a death rate more than twice as high as those who had did never smoked.

The final interview revealed that as expected, all participants had declined in both their physical and psychological well-being they saw evidence that exercise seemed to slow the overall amount of decline. The participants who exercised the most at the start of the study generally reported fewer physical limitations and a greater enjoyment of life in general.

This study gives more credence to those health experts who tell us that it is never too late to start an exercise program. Walk, join a gym, ride a bike! It doesn't matter what you do as long as it is something you enjoy and will do at least 3 times a week for thirty minutes. You need to raise your heart rate and break a sweat. Life is precious don't let it sit on a shelf.