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Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging pp 1–4Cite as

Aerobic Exercise Training and Healthy Aging

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Synonyms

Endurance training

Definition

Aerobic exercise is physical exercise that depends mainly on oxygen utilization to meet the metabolic demands of the body. Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, jogging or running, cycling, and swimming.

Overview

Maximal aerobic exercise capacity declines across the adult lifespan, accelerating at older ages. This age-associated decline in aerobic capacity is exacerbated by sedentary lifestyle, loss of muscle mass, and superimposed comorbidities common to older adults such as cardiac, pulmonary, and peripheral artery disease. Aerobic exercise training elicits significant improvement in peak oxygen consumption (VO2) in both healthy and diseased older adults and produces salutary effects on blood pressure, lipids, glucose tolerance, bone density, depression, cognition, and quality of life. However, increasing the low participation rates of older adults in both home-based and supervised aerobic exercise programs constitutes a major challenge...

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Disclosure

The author has no relevant conflicts to disclose. The views in this manuscript are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute the National Institutes of Health or the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jerome L. Fleg

Authors
  1. Jerome L. Fleg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jerome L. Fleg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Population Division, UN Dept of Economic Social Affairs Population Division, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu

  2. School of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, USA

    Matthew E. Dupre

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Wei Zhang

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© 2019 This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply

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Fleg, J.L. (2019). Aerobic Exercise Training and Healthy Aging. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_605-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_605-1

  • Received:

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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