So... you didn't take care of your body when you were young, and now at middle age you're feeling out of shape and over the hill. You're motivated to make a lifestyle change if it would help, but will it actually do any good at this point?
The good news is that perhaps it will. According to a report in Circulation, just two years of high-intensity exercise improves heart health. In the study, sedentary middle-aged men (mean age 53 years) participated in either a moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise program for two years (the experimental group), or only non-aerobic exercise such as yoga or balance training (the control group). At the end of two years, those who had exercised showed signs of improved heart health, including improved oxygen uptake and a reduced stiffness of the left ventricle. It's as if the clock was turned back on the heart aging process.
Middle age may be the last time that one can improve heart function, however. According to an NPR article, the same improvement is not possible by the time one reaches seventy years of age. The time to get moving is now, not later.
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