Is it ever too late for adults to benefit from physical activity?

Bottom Line: It may never be too late for adults to become physically active and enjoy some health benefits. This observational study looked at how patterns of leisure-time physical activity from adolescence (15 to 18) to later adulthood (40-61) were associated with risk of dying using data for 315,000 U.S. adults. The results suggest maintaining physical activity from adolescence into later adulthood was associated with lower risk of dying and so was increasing leisure-time physical activity in adulthood, including from age 41 to 60, for adults who had been less active. The study relied on self-reported hours per week of leisure-time physical activity, including historical questions about activity as a young person.

Authors: Pedro F. Saint-Maurice, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and coauthors

(doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.0355)

Editor’s Note: The article contains funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

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