A study reveals the crucial time to exercise to compensate for years of inactivity

An Australian study, including more than 11,000 women, found that midlife is a crucial time to meet physical activity guidelines of at least 150 minutes a week.

The study followed women aged 47 to 52 years, from 1998 to 2019, with intermittent mental and physical health examinations every 3 years.

Participants who reported consistently following physical activity guidelines over the next 15 years of their lives had better physical health outcomes than women who did not. Women who did not exercise regularly before middle age benefited from the new routine.

In the final follow-up study, the physical test scores for this group were almost identical to the results for the group of women who exercised regularly before their 50s.

The study showed that women who started exercising regularly in their sixties did not experience the same benefits as participants who started exercising in their fifties. The reason may be due to "there is not enough accumulation of physical activity for health benefits to appear around the age of 70."

The University of Sydney research team wrote: “The results suggest that to maintain a good physical health-related quality of life around age 70, one may be able to compensate for inactivity early in life by becoming active in the mid-50s.” 

Of course, future studies are needed to see if these physical benefits also apply to middle-aged men.

The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine.