This is our fourth extract from "AgeLess". It handles Dean Edward L. Schneider's discussion of fitness as your way to a long, healthy life. In his book, he gives his Longevity Quotient (LQ) quiz for Fitness, and the interpretation of the results. We've reproduced it here, so that you can find out where you stand, before you start on the steps that will lead you to a long, healthy life. Robert Griffith, Editor.

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Exercise: Your Most Important Longevity Move

We know we should exercise. Yet most of us - a full 60% of Americans - admit that we fail to do so regularly, making a sedentary lifestyle as American as apple pie. The single most important thing you can do to ensure your physical and mental longevity is to get moving. Let me repeat that for extra emphasis: The best way to age less is to exercise.
If you believe the old rule, "no pain, no gain," that the only worthwhile exercise leaves you panting and exhausted, think again. You'll "gain" by just getting off the couch, and 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day can substantially boost your LQ.

Reckon Your Fitness LQ

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		Your LQ Points	Maximum LQ Points
Weekly aerobic exercise time	20 points for 2 hours or more 15 points for 1 to 2 hours 10 points for 30 minutes to 1 hour 0 points for less than 30 minutes a week		20
Weekly aerobic exercise level	20 points for moderate or intense (e.g. brisk walking 3-4 miles per hour, 15-20 mile) 15 points for mix of moderate & light activity 10 points for mostly light work - slow walking, gardening, housework 0 points for none		20
Weight training (lift weights, use weight machines, do resistance training)	40 points weight training for the 8 major muscle groups*, twice a week or more 30 points for doing this once a week, or for a few muscle groups only twice a week 20 points if your daily job requires significant muscle exertion, but you don't do weight training 10 points if you do some weight training weekly 0 points if you don't weight train regularly		40
Stretching & balance work (includes stretch exercises, yoga, tai chi, karate etc)	10 points if you do some form stretching and/or balance work daily 8 points if you to this most days 5 points if you do this some days 3 points if you do this occasionally 0 points if you don't do any stretching/balancing		10
Warm up and cool down	5 points if you always warm up for at least 5 minutes and cool down for at least 5 minutes before & after exercise 4 points if you warm up and cool down 'often' 3 points if you warm up and cool down 'sometimes' 0 points if you rarely warm up or cool down		5
Form	5 points if you've received expert instruction in weight training & stretching 3 points if you've received training in either of these 2 points if you've read instructions about these 0 points if you just plunged in without instruction		5
TOTAL			100

* The 8 major muscle groups are: chest, back, abdominals, biceps, triceps, shoulders, buttocks/hips, and legs.

To translate your LQ score into how you're faring with the respect to physical fitness, find your score in the following list and read the Dean's diagnosis:

LQ Score	Dean's Diagnosis
91-100	You're fit as a fiddle! Maintain your active stance and you're likely to find yourself dancing the funky chicken for many birthdays hence.
81-90	Congratulations! You're getting close - but you can still fine-tune your fitness habits for a longer and better life. Choose one of the AgeLess workouts as your guide to getting the right exercise mix.
71-80	You are moving around more than many Americans, but not enough to optimize aging. Read this chapter to update yourself on the benefits of exercise and get started on the AgeLess workout of your choice.
61-70	You're doing something, and that beats nothing - but you're nowhere near optimal in your exercise habits, and this deficit could seriously hurt your healthspan. Get going on the AgeLess workout of your choice now.
60 or below	Full fitness alert! You're missing out on the best way to boost your health and longevity. Check with your doctor for clearance today and start the I-Don't-Have-Time-to-Exercise plan as soon as you can.

Cardiovascular Health

Exercise does wonderful things for your cardiovascular system. It conditions the heart muscle itself, lowers bad LDL cholesterol while boosting good HDL cholesterol, reduces high blood pressure, and keeps triglyceride levels in check. Regular workouts are one of the best ways to prevent heart attack and stroke, statistically the most likely causes of death for every reader of this book.

A 1999 study found that women who regularly engaged in brisk walking reduced their risk of this killer disease in the following amounts:

Hours walked per week	Coronary disease risk reduction
Less than 1 hour	0%
1 to 2.9 hours	30% (Note: The first steps provide the greatest effect!)
3 to 4.9 hours	35%
5 or more hours	40%

As you can see, the extra time put in by the 5-hour group paid off significantly, but even the walkers at the low end of the scale upped their odds against our top killer by nearly a third. So I'm not talking about a trivial improvement in your longevity quotient here. Just getting off the couch will deliver a double-digit reduction in your risk of cardiovascular disease, as much as 30 percent.

Cancer Protection

Though some cancers are now treatable, prevention is clearly the preferable option. Regular exercise is known to reduce the risk of three of the deadliest cancers - breast, lung, and colon cancer - as well as pancreatic cancer, a particularly aggressive form that is almost 100 percent fatal.

Strong Bones

You may exercise to gain strength and sculpt your muscles, but did you know that the benefits of exercise penetrate deep into your bones, as well? Like muscles, bones gain or maintain density with the workout they get from weight-bearing activity. The best time to start is adolescence, when skeletal mass peaks, but exercise at any age can help bolster and preserve bone mass, and so it becomes even more important as the years go by, especially for women at risk for osteoporosis.

Brain Power

Exercise looks to be even more important to the brain in later life, when physical fitness provides powerful protection against dementia and Alzheimer's disease. One of the highlights of my work on the MacArthur Foundation Study of Successful Aging was discovering that the participants who exercised the most had the best mental function 10 years down the road. This was a great leap forward in our understanding of the role that physical fitness plays in successful aging. And a recent study of more than 6,000 Canadian seniors concluded that exercise of any sort keeps brain function youthful, while the highest levels of exercise can cut the incidence of cognitive impairment and dementia by up to half and of Alzheimer's by as much as 60 percent. Flex your mental muscle!

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The next extract in this series from Dean Edward L. Schneider's "Ageless" will continue his discussion of fitness - describing more benefits of active aging, and tips on how to get going.