Women in their 40s and 50s are urged to stay active to improve their quality of life

• Women in midlife who consistently exercise have better health-related quality of life than their peers who don’t consistently exercise, according to a new study.
• Researchers reported that the benefits of exercise were the same for women who began consistently exercising at age 55 as those who had always exercised.
• Experts say it is important for women to prioritize exercise in midlife, but they recommend easing into an exercise regimen if they are starting a fitness routine for the first time.

Women who exercise consistently in midlife have better health-related quality of life.

That’s according to research published today in the journal PLOS Medicine in which researchers reported that women in their 40s and 50s who consistently adhered to physical activity guidelines had better physical functioning than their peers who didn’t consistently exercise.

“Combined with existing evidence, this study contributes to growing evidence of the benefits of maintaining or adopting an active lifestyle in mid-age,” the study authors said in a press statement.

“An important public health message is that being active for as many years as possible, even if women start to meet physical activity guidelines in their mid-50s, could have important health benefits in terms of physical health, especially in physical functioning,” they added.

The researchers from Australia examined data from more than 11,000 women beginning in 1996. The women were born between 1946 and 1951, meaning they were 47 to 52 years of age when the study began.

The participants were categorized into those who met the physical activity guidelinesTrusted Source from the World Health Organization consistently over a 15-year period, those who initially did not meet the guidelines but began to meet them at the age of 55, 60 or 65, and those who never met the guidelines.

The quality of life related to the health of the women was assessed using a physical health composite score. This was derived from a survey that asked 36 questions about functional health and wellbeing.

The researchers reported that women who met the physical activity guidelines as well as those who first began meeting these guidelines when they were 55 had a 3 point higher physical health composite score than women who didn’t meet the guidelines.

The study authors said that “women should be active throughout mid-age, ideally increasing activity levels to meet the guidelines by age 55, to gain the most benefits for physical health in later life.”