We should remember that the United States...

• is currently home to 31.6 million persons age 65 and older.
• each day 6,000 baby boomers join that group.

One of the biggest global issues we face is how to care for this segment of the population.

What can be done to improve life quality?
One answer comes from a startling series of studies known as FICSIT showing that

• daily exercise is one of the most effective strategies within a person's control to improve quality of life and maintain independence;
• 90- to 100-year- old institutionalized people can benefit from daily exercise, which improves muscle strength, flexibility, endurance, balance and gait.

Other recent studies show architecture and function of human brain tissue can be enhanced through physical activity. This has tremendous implications for

• restoring lost function
• improving quality of life in persons after stroke, traumatic brain injury or chronic neurological illness such as Parkinson's, dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

The key is exercise
Exercise, it seems, may have the potential to slow the progression, reduce the severity or alter the natural history of chronic illness at any stage of life.

These trends have tremendous implications for how we as physical educators should provide services for older adults and what can be done to help people age with as much independence and dignity as possible.

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