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Age, Physical Fitness, and Mental Processing Speed

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Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics

Abstract

In the past 25 years, encouraged perhaps by the programs initiated during the Kennedy administration and by Kenneth Cooper’s book Aerobics (1968), interest in the benefits, both physiological and psychological, that accrue to individuals who exercise on a regular basis has grown tremendously. Indeed, the importance of incorporating a program of systematic exercise into one’s lifestyle is now advocated by organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Department of Health and Human Services. Where in the early 1960s under the leadership of President Kennedy, the emphasis was on exercise in the early years of life, today’s recommendations are that all age groups, including the elderly, participate in regular, systematic exercise programs. The current rather ambitious objective of the U.S. Public Health Service is to have 50% of older Americans exercising regularly by 1990. This would represent a substantial increase from the 28% of people over 65 who reported exercising regularly in the National Health Interview Survey of 1985 (National Center for Health Studies, 1986). At that time, although 41% reported having walked for exercise in the previous two weeks, only 12% reported having done calisthenics, 5% biked and 1% jogged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical College of Pennsylvania at EPPI, USA

    Theodore R. Bashore

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  1. Theodore R. Bashore
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    M. Powell Lawton Ph.D.

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Bashore, T.R. (1990). Age, Physical Fitness, and Mental Processing Speed. In: Lawton, M.P. (eds) Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-40455-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-40455-3_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-39398-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-40455-3

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