Can exercise counteract the effects of aging?

Can exercise counteract the effects of aging?

John Spencer Ellis (Author, TV Show Host, Trainer and CEO, National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association) gives expert video advice on: Can exercise improve my mental health?; Can exercise improve my sleep?; Can exercise lower my blood pressure? and more...

When we exercise, we enhance our body's ability to fight off disease, we bolster our immune system, we're better able to maintain homeostasis (that's our normal state of being), and because of all those things we reduce the signs of aging. What exercise helps us do, although it doesn't sound very glamorous, is something called compressed morbidity. The example would be if you are someone who does not take care of themselves, and you live to be 80 years old; you may be in poor health from 50 to 80. However, if you exercise and do all the right things, you may only be in poor health the last five years of your life. So, your morbidity was compressed into the latter portion of your years, and exercise can help do that.