Getting Older Adults to Exercise

A study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) published in BMC Geriatrics gauged the effects of exercise on aging, reports Medical Xpress . More than 1,500 participants between 70 and 77 were randomly assigned to one of two exercise cohorts or a control group. Those in the exercise groups undertook moderate or high-intensity training sessions twice a week. "We read through a total of 70,000 exercise logs from the first year of the study," says NTNU's Line Skarsem Reitlo. "It turned out that the participants to a great degree managed to train at the prescribed intensity." The study found walking was the most popular form of activity in both the moderate and high-intensity training groups, representing more than half the training that people in the latter group undertook. Reitlo notes the high-intensity group had more training via cycling and jogging than the moderate group, and "achieving high intensity might have been easier with these types of activity for some participants." The team also examined the differences between participants who discontinued the program. Reitlo says "individuals who were physically active for fewer than 30 minutes a day were almost twice as likely to drop out ... within three years as those who were more physically active."