CHAPTER 12

Fit After 50

Midlife is no time to slow down on your exercise routine. For some, revving up the frequency and duration of their activities is in order. Others may need to change to different activities to maintain bone and muscle mass while avoiding injuries. Learn about special considerations for exercise after 50.

PART 1 Women’s Fitness, Men’s Fitness

Take three steps

Walk or jog, lift, stretch...

The effects of exercise have many gender-specific results throughout life. After age 50, because of hormonal changes in both women and men, these differences may be more pronounced.

Women: Throughout life, women are at greater risk than men of depression symptoms. After age 50, the effects of menopause increase this risk further. The rush of feel-good chemicals produced by exercise—endorphins, endocannabinoids, oxytocin—may help chase away the blues. In a study of menopausal women's vasomotor symptoms (or hot flashes), researchers found that regular exercise was the only non-drug intervention that decreased the duration of a hot flash. Women over 50 also have rising cardiovascular health risks and their metabolism begins to slow down, which are two more reasons to make sure that their exercise habits are challenging and balanced enough to keep them in good health. READ MORE

Men: Men see their risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and depression escalate in midlife, too. Those who have not been exercising regularly have an even greater risk of these ailments and their effects. Besides the serious chronic disease risk, it is more common for men over 50 to experience occasional erectile dysfunction that can be minimized by exercise. The recommended 30 minutes or more of aerobic exercise daily increases blood flow and jacks up testosterone production. Men who have been exercising regularly may want to increase the frequency or intensity of their aerobic workouts, to combat the natural decline of muscle mass and bone density. LESS

PART 2 Safeguard Your Bones

It Adds Up

Being sedentary can be expensive!

Estrogen is one of many factors that contribute to balance in the bone-building process, along with various immune factors and exercise. The steep drop in estrogen at menopause causes the phase in which old bone cells are broken down to outpace the rate at which new bone cells are created. This is why post-menopausal women must take steps to protect their bone density. Men have a different balance of sex hormones, of course, but their hormone levels are in flux at middle age, too. Andropause, the reduction in testosterone production, is also a factor in bone remodeling. READ MORE

Because weight-bearing exercise is known to stimulate osteoblasts, which grow into new bone cells, everyone over 50 can benefit from starting, or maintaining, strength training exercises and weight-bearing aerobic exercises that stimulate your bones' remodeling process. Good choices include jogging, jumping rope, lifting weights and calisthenics in which you are working against the resistance of your body weight. LESS

PART 3 A Workout for Your Memory

A study published in January 2012 clarified the value of exercise in avoiding the heartbreaking dementia disorder Alzheimer's. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis were focused on a genetic factor strongly associated with the cognitive decline and amyloid deposits in the brain that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's. (The factor is called APOE e4.)

Their subjects were 201 patients over age 45. Some had the Alzheimer's genetic marker and some didn't. Overall, any patient with an active lifestyle was less likely than a sedentary patient to have evidence of amyloid deposits. Even in the group that carried the genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's, exercise was associated with a significantly reduced risk of Alzheimer's symptoms. That's worth remembering! READ MORE

For decades, researchers have been piling up other evidence that the brain responds positively to exercise. We know that neuron protecting and enhancing BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) is stimulated by exercise and is involved in a cascade of positive brain effects. Those with greater cardiovascular health from aerobic exercise also perform better on memory tests and other assessments. Mental acuity is another quality that can be under assault as you age. But exercise, once again, seems to be the best way to fight back! LESS