Research

Reduced Disability and Mortality Among Aging Runners The results of this 21-year Longitudinal Study have just been published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. This study began in 1984 with runners 50 years and older from the 50+ Plus Runners Association (now Lifelong Fitness Alliance). Control subjects were recruited from the Stanford University staff and faculty.

From the papers Comments: "This study demonstrates that participation in long-term running and other vigorous exercise among older adults is associated with less disability and lower mortality over 2 decades of follow-up. We prospectively followed a cohort of healthy adults from a mean age of 59 years in 1984 to 78 years in 2005. Not only were mean disability levels lower among runners at all time points, but the rate of disability progression strongly favored runners through out the study."

"In addition to confirming an overall survival advantage and reduction in cardiovascular-related deaths among persons who participate in regular exercise, we also found a reduced rate of deaths from other causes. This is consistent with other reports associating regular exercise with reduced incidents of dementia and several cancer types.

Please follow the links to an NBC news report and CNN Health Report for their view on the results. If you are interesting in obtaining the full report you can go to the Archives of Internal Medicine. Note: there is a fee for the full report.

Current research study Dr. Eun-Ok Im, University of Texas at Austin, is conducting two Internet studies: one is on the physical activity attitudes among diverse ethnic groups of middle-aged women (40-60 Y/O) and the other is on menopausal symptom experience among diverse ethnic groups of middle-aged women (40-60 Y/O). These studies are not connected in any way and any one interested can do one without doing the other.

These studies are open to all midlife women but the is a very high desire to have Hispanic and African American women's opinions and experiences. You can get more details in the Study Overview along with contact and incentive information.

Project Website for physical activity study:
https://mapa.nur.utexas.edu

Project Website for menopausal symptom study:
https://moms.nur.utexas.edu/MOMS/ . 

research participation as noted above Lifelong Fitness Alliance members are often invited to participate in fitness studies where both action and control group populations are sought. Lifelong Fitness membership represents a unique focus readily available for groups interested in researching active older adults. As our Lifelong Fitness Alliance becomes even more widely known, we anticipate research information will be a major factor in membership.

Data Collection Data is being collected from all programs that are being started now for both us within Lifelong Fitness to evaluate effectiveness and to be made available to interested researchers in aspects of adult wellness. For example, the Step It Up! program collects monthly data on participation, fitness condition at program beginning and upon completion, effectiveness of setting and reaching goals on nutrition and fitness, plus evaluations. The data and feedback from the initial pilot this year is summarized for review.

Stepping It Up June 2007 Pilot Results