CALGARY - New research suggests it's never too late for seniors saddled with Type 2 diabetes and other problems to start turning their health around through vigorous exercise often recommended only for younger people.
While exercise is touted as a key component of health in people under the age of 65, the message often trails for people who are later in life, says Dr. Kenneth Madden, a geriatrician at the University of British Columbia.
Madden decided to see whether aerobic exercise could have the same effect in what he terms "the worst-case scenario" of patients -- those with Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
"There's a lot of talk about prevention, but everyone just kind of gives up when people are over 65 and have all these risk factors. So we decided -- can you actually do something at this point?"
He assigned adults between the ages of 65 and 83 to one of two groups. One group continued to do no exercise at all while those in the other one engaged in vigorous exercise on treadmills and stationary bicycles for one hour, three times a week.
The stiffness in their arteries -- shown to be a risk factor for heart attacks and strokes -- was measured by monitors on pulse points that checked how fast a pulse wave moved through their bodies.
After three months, the exercise group had improved the stiffness of their arteries by about 20 per cent, a large impact in such a short period of time, says Madden.
The shift was especially surprising because many believed it was too late for sedentary seniors to be able to change at all.
"It was just assumed it was kind of irreversible at that point, the damage has been done."
Seniors are often wary about starting aerobic exercise, a fear that is shared by many others working in health care, he says.
"It's a constant struggle to convince people over 65 that it's safe to do an exercise program and a struggle with other health-care providers to convince them that it's not too late and that it's never too late."
It was initially difficult to recruit patients into the study, but once they started they were quickly hooked, Madden says.
While the study did not measure the effect of the exercise beyond the arteries, he's heard anecdotally that some of the seniors involved have cut back on their medication and have felt better overall.
"We had the hardest time getting people out of the study at the end," he laughs. "They didn't want to stop the intervention, but after a while I said, 'I'm not running a gym."'
Lindsay Walker, strength and conditioning director at the Eau Claire YMCA in Calgary, says the gym has several seniors-specific classes.
The important thing is to build up slowly, she says. For example, while she might build up balance for younger clients by getting them to stand on balance balls, she would likely start a senior just balancing on one leg on the floor.
"It's totally never too late to start. Everyone can at least walk, you know? And from there you can build up."
Madden says seniors wanting to start an exercise program should check with their family doctor. He also recommends a session or two with a personal trainer experienced in working with seniors, who can suggest a proper program.
"The amount of money we spend on drugs and cholesterol-lowering agents and all these sorts of things, in the context of that, one single session with a trainer isn't a big-ticket item," he says. "It's $50, compared to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year on medication."
Madden will present his research Sunday at the 2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, which is being held in Edmonton. It was published recently in the journal Diabetes Care.
