The Best Exercise for Your Age
Any kind of exercise is a step in the right direction, but some workouts can be more beneficial than others at different points in your life.
By Alice Oglethorpe
Decade: 40s
What to do: More exercise—any kind will do
Why: It'll help protect your telomeres, the stretches of DNA on the ends of our chromosomes that get shorter with age and leave cells vulnerable to damage. In a study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the more physically active people were during middle age, the lower their risk for shortened telomere length and the healthier their cells stayed as they aged.
The Plan: Focus on the 4 activities tracked in the study: weight training, moderate cardio like jogging, vigorous cardio like Spinning or a trendy rowing class and walking or biking.
Published 02/16/2016