Exercise in general, and running in particular, helps to ward off disability in old age and may even extend life, according to a study that has taken more than 20 years to complete. The notion that exercise is good for you has been around for a long time, but the new study, carried out at Stanford University and published in this month's Archives of Internal Medicine, is one of the first to test its veracity over an extended period.

In 1984 Eliza Chakravarty and her colleagues surveyed 284 members of a nationwide running club as well as 156 healthy individuals recruited as controls from university faculty and staff. All the participants were older than 50 when the study began and all were required to complete an annual questionnaire giving details of exercise frequency, body mass index and disability.

After 19 years, 15 per cent of the runners had died compared with 34 per cent of the control group. The runners consistently showed lower levels of disability as they approached their 90s. The researchers say their findings support the idea that moderate to vigorous activity at all ages improves length and quality of life.

一項耗時20多年才完成的研究顯示，總體而言運動，尤其是跑步，有助于防止老年能力喪失，甚至可能延長壽命。運動有益于身體的理念已經存在了很長時間，但斯坦福大學(Stanford University)進行的此項新研究，是最先在一段較長的時期內驗證其真實性的研究之一。該研究發表在8月的《內科學文獻》(Archives of Internal Medicine)上。

1984年，伊萊扎•切克拉瓦蒂(Eliza Chakravarty)和她的同事對一個全國性跑步俱樂部的284名成員以及作為對照從大學教職員工中招募來的156名健康個人進行了調查。所有參與者在研究開始時年齡都超過50歲，所有人每年都必須完成問卷調查，提供運動頻率、身體質量指數(body mass index)和能力喪失的詳細資料。

19年后，跑步者中有15%的人去世，對照組中則有34%的人去世。在接近90歲時，跑步者一直表現出較低的能力喪失程度。研究者表示，他們的發現支持了這樣一種觀點，即在任何年齡段，中等至激烈程度的運動都有助于延長壽命、提高生命質量。