Exercise is crucial at every age, but it becomes especially important as we get older. Regular physical activity provides a host of health benefits and can help prevent many age-related diseases and mobility issues. Unfortunately, many people become less active as they grow older, which can have serious consequences for their health and quality of life. Here’s an in-depth look at what happens to your body and mind if you don’t stay physically active after age 40 or 50.
Loss of Muscle Mass and Strength
One of the most noticeable effects of not exercising with age is a loss of muscle mass and strength, a process known as sarcopenia. Muscle mass naturally declines with age, at a rate of around 3-8% per decade after 30. Without regular strength training to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, this loss can accelerate to up to 15% per decade after 50.
Reduced muscle mass means reduced strength for daily activities like climbing stairs, getting up from a chair, or carrying groceries. Loss of leg and hip muscle strength also increases the risk of falls and injuries. Strengthening exercises are key to maintaining muscle as you age.
Increased Body Fat
Along with reduced muscle mass, inactivity contributes to increased body fat as you age. We naturally lose lean mass and gain fat as we get older, but staying active can help minimize fat gain. Studies show aerobic exercise is especially important for controlling age-related fat gain, whereas resistance training helps maintain muscle.
Excess body fat raises your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. Visceral fat (around the abdomen) is especially dangerous, as it increases inflammation and insulin resistance. Staying active can prevent dangerous abdominal weight gain.
Reduced Basal Metabolic Rate
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body burns at rest for basic functioning like breathing, heartbeat, neural activity, and maintaining body temperature. BMR decreases with age, partly due to lost muscle mass. Aerobic exercise helps offset this drop in BMR, allowing you to burn calories more efficiently.
Weight Gain
Without regular activity to help maintain muscle and BMR, weight gain is common in older adulthood. Exercise is critical for counteracting the drop in metabolic rate that comes with aging. According to NHLBI, sedentary adults are almost twice as likely to become obese as those who are active.
Being overweight or obese compounds the health risks of inactivity. Carrying excess body fat strains the cardiovascular system and can accelerate loss of muscle and mobility.
Reduced Endurance
It’s common to notice a decline in your aerobic endurance as you get older. Studies show aerobic capacity decreases by about 10% per decade after age 30 if you don’t stay physically active. Older adults who perform vigorous aerobic exercise can maintain their VO2max better than sedentary peers.
Your heart, lungs, and circulation system become less efficient with age. Regular aerobic activity maintains their function and keeps your endurance from declining quite so rapidly. Improved VO2max from cardiovascular exercise also benefits overall health.
Decreased Lung Function
Lung tissue becomes less elastic with age, making breathing more difficult, especially during physical activity. Older adults also have reduced respiratory muscle strength. Aerobic exercise improves breathing efficiency and lung function in older people.
Being sedentary worsens age-related decline in lung function. Physical inactivity is also linked to increased risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Reduced Heart Output
Maximum heart rate declines by about one beat per minute per year after 30. The hearts of older adults also have reduced filling capacity and pumping efficiency. These age-related changes reduce cardiac output, or how much blood your heart can pump per minute during activity.
Aerobic exercise improves cardiac output by conditioning your heart and circulation. It may help offset the decline in maximum heart rate to some degree as well.
Decreased Blood Flow
Inactive adults are more likely to develop atherosclerosis, or hardening/narrowing of arteries from plaque buildup. This restricts blood flow and raises blood pressure. Sedentary behavior also increases circulation-impairing chronic inflammation.
Aerobic activity reduces arterial stiffness and improves endothelial function for better blood flow regulation. It also lowers blood pressure at any age.
Reduced Balance and Mobility
Balance and mobility tend to decline with age, raising your risk of falls and difficulty performing routine physical tasks. Exercise, especially balance training, can significantly improve stability and mobility as you get older.
Weaker Leg Muscles
Age-related loss of leg muscle mass and strength (e.g. quads, hip abductors, calves) impairs balance and mobility. Squats, lunges, and other challenging leg exercises are key to maintaining stability into older age.
Decreased Flexibility
Tendons and connective tissues become less flexible with age. Limited range of motion in joints like hips and ankles makes maintaining balance and preventing falls more difficult. Regular stretching and yoga are helpful for preserving flexibility.
Diminished Proprioception
Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense position, movement, and equilibrium. This spatial awareness declines with age, negatively impacting balance. Tai chi, with its focus on precise body alignments and placement, improves proprioception.
Cognitive Decline
Deteriorating cognition affects the brain’s ability to coordinate signals controlling balance and stability. Exercise helps maintain this brain function by increasing blood flow and neuroplasticity.
Bone Loss and Increased Fracture Risk
Starting around age 40, bone density begins declining as bone tissue breaks down faster than new bone can form. Inactivity accelerates bone loss, while weight-bearing exercise and strength training slow it.
Osteoporosis (severe bone loss) afflicts some 25% of women and 12% of men over 50. Sedentary seniors who develop osteoporosis are at high risk for painful, debilitating fractures of the hip, spine, and wrist.
Regular exercise preserves bone density by stimulating bone-forming cells. Strength training is especially important for maintaining healthy bone mass in older age.
Increased Risk of Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the wearing down of cartilage cushioning the joints, causing pain and stiffness. Inactivity contributes by allowing muscles around the joints to atrophy. Weak muscles provide less shock absorption, increasing pressure on joint cartilage.
Low-impact exercise strengthens muscles around OA joints, reducing pressure. It also lubricates joints and stimulates cartilage-building cells to slow progression of degeneration.
Increased Risk of Chronic Diseases
Physical inactivity is strongly linked to development of chronic diseases that become more common with age, like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Staying active lowers your risk of these potentially fatal diseases.
Heart Disease and Stroke
Heart disease is the #1 cause of death for adults over 65. Sedentary seniors have double the risk of developing heart disease compared to active peers. Exercise strengthens your cardiovascular system and controls heart disease risk factors like cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammation.
Lack of physical activity also raises your risk of stroke as you age. Active older adults have a lower risk of stroke than inactive ones.
Type 2 Diabetes
Almost 27% of U.S. seniors have type 2 diabetes, with the risk increasing dramatically with age. Inactivity promotes type 2 diabetes by accelerating loss of muscle mass and gain of abdominal fat, both of which make your cells resistant to insulin.
Regular exercise helps control blood sugar and prevents or delays onset of type 2 diabetes. Strength training is especially beneficial for reducing diabetes risk.
Cancer
Sedentary seniors have significantly higher risk of developing certain cancers, like breast, colon, endometrial, and lung cancer. Exercise may help prevent cancer by regulating sex hormones, insulin resistance, immune function, and bodily inflammation.
Physical activity also reduces recurrence of some cancers like breast cancer. Exercise should be incorporated into cancer recovery programs.
Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that raise your risk for chronic disease. These include excess abdominal fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and abnormal cholesterol levels. Inactivity promotes metabolic syndrome, exercise prevents it.
Mental Decline and Dementia
Physical and cognitive activity are both important for maintaining a healthy mind as you age. Sedentary behavior is linked to accelerated mental decline and higher dementia risk.
Faster Cognitive Decline
Some decline in memory and cognition occurs naturally with age. However, staying physically and mentally active may help delay the onset of significant impairment. Multiple studies link inactivity to faster cognitive decline and risk of dementia in older adults.
Reduced Neuroplasticity
Exercise benefits your mind by improving neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to alter and reorganize connections between neurons and adapt to new information. Loss of neuroplasticity impairs learning and memory.
Increasing blood flow and brain chemicals called neurotrophic factors are two ways physical activity enhances neuroplasticity.
Increased Dementia Risk
Dementia currently afflicts over 6 million older U.S. adults and is strongly linked to physical inactivity. Sedentary seniors have up to a 300% higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.
Aerobic exercise may be particularly beneficial for lowering dementia risk by improving blood flow and energy metabolism in the brain.
Development of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain conditions like back pain, osteoarthritis pain, and hip/knee pain become more common with aging. Inactivity worsens pain by allowing supportive muscles to weaken and placing more strain on painful joints.
Regular exercise benefits chronic pain by strengthening muscles, preserving joint mobility, and stimulating your brain’s natural pain-relieving chemicals (endorphins).
Loss of Muscle Mass
As mentioned earlier, failing to exercise causes accelerated loss of muscle with age. Weakened muscles provide less support for your frame, straining joints and causing pain. Strength training is key for maintaining muscle mass.
Stiffness and Limited Mobility
Inactive seniors are more likely to develop joint stiffness and lose range of motion. Gentle stretching can help improve mobility, while walking and other low-impact activities keep joints limber.
Less Endorphin Release
Your brain releases endorphins during physical activity, producing a natural analgesic effect. Sedentary living means less endorphin release and reduced pain threshold.
Regular exercise causes mild endorphin release to temporarily lessen discomfort. It also builds pain tolerance over time.
Increased Risk of Depression
The risk of depression rises with age and inactivity. Around 7% of U.S. seniors have depression that often negatively impacts health in other ways. Exercise is highly effective at reducing depressive symptoms in older populations.
Effects on Brain Chemistry
Physical activity stimulates release of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine that regulate mood. It also increases natural opioids to enhance sense of well-being.
Psychological Benefits
Exercise provides general psychological benefits: a sense of accomplishment, social interaction, distraction from worries, and improved sleep and self-image. All help reduce depression.
Prevents Diseases Linked to Depression
Chronic illnesses associated with both inactivity and depression include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. By preventing these conditions, exercise also lowers depression risk.
Sleep Problems
Many older adults struggle to get enough high-quality sleep. Sedentary habits like excessive evening screen use make it harder to fall asleep. Regular exercise can significantly improve sleep in older populations.
Disrupts Circadian Rhythm
Getting outside daily helps maintain healthy circadian rhythms. Inactivity promotes circadian disruptions making it harder to fall asleep and causing fragmented sleep.
Elevated Anxiety and Stress
Exercise reduces stress and anxiety that often interfere with falling or staying asleep. Sedentary behavior provides no such stress relief.
Less Deep Sleep
Physical activity increases deep, slow wave sleep critical for physical recovery and cognitive function. Non-exercisers spend less time in deep restorative sleep stages.
Premature Aging and Mortality
Research confirms inactive adults show accelerated aging compared to those who exercise regularly. A sedentary lifestyle essentially speeds up the biological aging process and shortens your lifespan.
Shorter Telomeres
Telomeres are protective caps on chromosomes that shorten each time cells divide. Their length correlates closely with lifespan. Shorter telomeres are associated with sedentary behavior.
Increased Cellular Aging
Sedentary seniors have higher levels of DNA damage and impaired DNA repair. Exercise enhances DNA repair to reduce accumulation of age-related genetic errors.
Higher All-Cause Mortality
Numerous studies show physical inactivity significantly increases risk of early death from any cause. Active older adults have lower mortality rates than inactive peers.
Exercise powerfully protects against chronic diseases driving increased death rates. It helps maintain physical, cognitive, and mental functioning central to longevity.
Conclusion
Staying physically active provides powerful anti-aging and disease-fighting benefits that become more critical after age 50. Regular exercise preserves muscle mass, bone density, heart health, and brain function. It also prevents obesity and chronic diseases that compromise quality and length of life.
Simply put, exercising consistently is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy, energetic, and independent in older adulthood. Avoiding a sedentary lifestyle will help you look and feel younger while living longer.