Too old? Not!

            My fitness center is a busy place. That’s good. I’m delighted to see scores of people working out regularly, most of whom appear to be in their twenties or thirties. The bad news: most of them appear to be in their twenties or thirties. It shouldn’t be that way. Considering that a) the chronic non-infectious diseases that lead to roughly 90 percent of deaths in the U.S. mostly affect persons of retirement age, b) regular exercise can postpone, modify or even eliminate the ten leading causes of death and c) that retired folks by definition have lots of time on their hands, they should vastly outnumber the kids.

            Since moving to an old folks’ home, euphemistically called a senior facility, I am dismayed that the fitness center here, literally across the hall from my apartment, stands empty almost all the time. I do not exaggerate when I note that in the past eight months since my arrival, I have not seen it in use more than ten times. (Disclosure: I never use it either because I prefer the fitness center about a mile away, where the equipment and the scenery are much better.)

            The average American gains about one pound a year between graduation from college and enrolling in Medicare. A pound isn’t much but that comes to about 30 pounds by age 65, and that’s where most Americans are; more than 80 percent of us are either overweight or obese.

            Exercise, of course, is only half the story. Most of us just eat more than we need to. But regular exercise offers more benefits than simply keeping our weight in the normal range. The immune system gets a boost not only from exercise itself, but as body weight increases, immune function decreases. Nowhere was this more clearly shown than in the recent pandemic, where the vast majority of deaths occurred in persons who were obese, diabetic, hypertensive and afflicted with coronary artery disease. Age is clearly not the problem. More than a score of centenarians survived COVID-19.

            Age is no excuse to avoid exercise and being physically active, and the Senior Olympics offer us wonderful examples. For instance, in recent years, an 85-year-old took first place in the pole vault. An 86-year-old won the triple jump and the long jump and took third in the 100- and 200-meter dash. A 97-year-old with osteoporosis won the 1500-meter run. My hero is Ruth Frith, whose shot put went 13 feet, 4 inches when she was 100 years old!

            One of my personal heroes is a friend who celebrated his 81^st  birthday by doing 81 push-ups!

            The bottom line: no one is too old to exercise.