The Benefits of Exercise as a Young Adult
According to a recent study, if you were active as a teenager, you are more likely to have those habits stick with you for life.
Those who had consistent exercise habits as teens performed much better on strength and endurance tests—and were generally healthier—compared to those who didn’t exercise much in adolescence.
While previous research has noted the benefits of establishing good exercise habits at an early age, a new study reinforces that if you were active as a teenager—hello, high school track and cross country!—that behavior could stick with you for life.
Presented recently at the Association of Academic Physiatrists annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, the study collected exercise habits from 413 people aged 25 to 65 in Taiwan. Participants shared details on their exercise habits as teens and throughout their adult life, including information on exercise intensity, frequency, type of exercise, and total exercise amount.
Researchers also tested participants’ cardiopulmonary function, muscle strength, and muscle endurance with a six-minute walking test and two short sessions of sit-ups.
They found that those who had consistent exercise habits as teens performed much better on the strength, endurance, and function tests compared to those who didn’t exercise much in adolescence.
Given previous research showing associations between exercising as an adolescent and seeing benefits later in life, these results are not surprising, according to Cordelia Carter, M.D., who specializes in sports orthopedic surgery at NYU Langone Health in New York. Although she wasn’t part of the recent study, she told Runner’s World this research is important for highlighting the importance of physical activity—at any age.
“For kids, exercise helps their bone health tremendously, because you build bone by loading it, and that happens with resistance, like running,” she said. “Activity also helps with cardiovascular health, and for kids that are less active, we unfortunately see that they’re more prone to metabolic diseases [like diabetes]. Exercise even helps with emotional and cognitive health, and studies have indicated that kids who are physically active score higher on standardized tests.”
Diversity of movement is especially crucial, she added. When kids specialize too much—playing one sport and training for it year-round, for example—there’s a higher risk of overuse injury, not to mention a bigger chance of getting bored. That’s true for adults as well as children and teens, she added.
“Doing an activity that’s fun is part of creating a healthy habit, and that establishes behavior patterns that carry into the long term,” Carter said. “The best part is that you can start those habits at any age, and tap into all those physical and mental health benefits.”