Want Longevity? ‘Keep Moving’

Do you want to live to be 100?

More people are reaching that mark nowadays than ever before, and the trend will skyrocket in the coming decades. 

The topic of longevity is having a moment, darn near approaching a cultural obsession. What can we do to live NOT JUST LONGER but also BETTER. What role does exercise play in all of this?

Here’s just one example.

Toni Stahl, at left in the photo above, lived an amazing life. As a young Navy wife, she was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. She survived cancer. She farmed, enjoyed waterskiing, and worked into her 90s part-time at a hospital.

She also worked out three times a week at a gym past her 100th birthday. She liked balance and strength conditioning, and the friendships she made.

“I do as I feel, and I like to stay active and be around people,” she said. “I still want to keep moving. If I sat down, I think I’d just give up.”

Mrs. Stahl died in March just a few days after she turned 105, a short death to close a long, healthy life.

More Centenarians Coming

Reaching 100 is more common but remains rare. Just a 0.03% of the population in the United States and the United Kingdom is 100 or older today, according to statistics.

That’s double the number of 100-year-old Americans 20 years ago – and a lot less than the 589,000 expected by the year 2060.

We’re living longer because of a range of reasons – like better medicine and less smoking. An individual’s life expectancy depends on factors like genetics, location, gender and lifestyle, including exercise

A study published in the journal of the American Medical Association found that the spectacular benefits of exercise have no age limit.

"Whether you're in your 40s or your 80s, you will benefit in the same way," said the study’s senior author, Dr. Wael Jaber, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. 

Sedentary people are almost four times as likely to die early as those who exercise regularly, says the study. It looked at 122,000 people who were tested on treadmills over 13 years.

"There actually is no ceiling for the benefit of exercise," he said. "There's no age limit that doesn't benefit from being physically fit."

‘You Gotta Keep Moving’

Mrs. Stahl wasn’t alone among 100-year-olds who believed in exercise. One of them, known as “Mr. Bruno,” was working out three times a week when he hit 100.

He had simple advice for anyone hoping to follow in his footsteps, which he shared on a video posted on Facebook.

“Get off you’re a** and go to the gym,” he said. “You gotta keep moving. If you’re not exercising, you’re gonna go down, down, down.” 

Let’s keep you moving for as long as possible. Email me today at colleen@crfunctionalfitness.com to set up an appointment!