Featured Health Topic: Exercise

Exercise and physical activity are good for just about everyone, including older adults. No matter your health and physical abilities, you can gain a lot by staying active. Research shows that exercise and physical activity can help:

• Maintain and even improve your physical strength and fitness
• Improve your ability to do the everyday things you want to do
• Improve your balance
• Manage and improve diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis
• Reduce feelings of depression and improve overall well-being

The key to all of these benefits is you—how fit and active you are now and how much effort you put into being physically active. You'll get the most out of being physically active if you enjoy all 4 types of exercise, stay safe while exercising, and be sure to eat a healthy diet, too!

To help you be more physically active, the National Institute on Aging at NIH created Go4Life®, an evidence-based exercise and physical activity campaign that offers sample exercises, success stories, and free materials so you can get ready, start exercising, and keep going to improve your health and achieve a better quality of life. The interactive Go4Life website provides free information for individuals, families and friends, organizations, and health care professionals.