Age shouldn't be a hindrance to exercise. The most important thing is to stay active and eat healthy. According to Mirror, living an active lifestyle keeps the brain younger and healthier. This can also means that there is a lower risk of having a heart failure. Of course experts would advise to start as early as you can, however, there is nothing wrong with starting a little bit later.
A Canadian woman who didn't start exercising until she was 77 became an athletics champion at 93 and has 30 world records under her name. Interestingly, a group of scientists at the University of Illinois were very eager to investigate what late-life exercise can do to her brain.
She died at 95 and when her brain was examined, they found out that her brain was different from other 90 year olds. The white matter of brain which carries messages from one part to another had no abnormalities. The hippocampus which is responsible for the memory was larger. Overall result was her brain was younger than her age. Curious how that happened? A follow-up study was done to some 60 to 80 year olds that have a more active lifestyle; the study revealed that their brains are showing healthier patterns compared to people their age who live a sedentary lifestyle.
The brain activity in older people shows higher scores in the cognitive tests. None of the participants were as active as the 93 year old athlete. However, they also lived an active and healthy lifestyle like walking or did gardening which kept their brains younger and healthier.
Another study showed the theory of "it's never too late to start exercising". It can be walking or riding a bicycle for a minimum of 20 minutes a day can help a 60 year old man lower the risk of heart failure. These results were taken from a study of from a research with 33,000 Swedish men from 1998-2012. The participants have an average age of 60 years old and then they were asked to recall whether they were active when they were 30 years old and how active their lifestyle is now.
The study showed that older people benefit more from recent activity than prolonged exercise over a lifetime. So really is never too late to start.
