Nick Cinea/ Lauren Hurst
Everyone knows that exercise is good for your health and can help you live longer.
But CDC data suggests that most people don't do the 150 to 300 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity each week that the US Department of Health and Human Services recommends.
Lauren Hurst, a personal trainer who specializes in older people (her eldest client is 96), told Business Insider that many of them didn't previously incorporate exercise into their lives after being put off by gym classes at school.
But those who do exercise, and have therefore found it easier to stay fit and active in later life, share four traits, Hurst — the author of "North of Forty," which highlights inspirational older athletes — said.
Lauren Hurst
Most of Hurst's clients grew up in families that prioritized fitness, she said, but even those who didn't still consistently make time for fitness in their schedules.
That doesn't necessarily mean they enjoy it. Hurst, who has been a personal trainer for 37 years, said that many of her clients say they probably wouldn't work out at all if they didn't with her, but paying for a personal trainer incentivizes them. People who don't have personal trainers can get the same effect by working out with friends, she said.
"I don't know which came first, the exercise or the positivity, or vice versa," Hurst said, but most of the people her clients are very positive.
"Exercise certainly helps with mood, and it helps with depression and anxiety," she said. A 2020 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, for instance, found that people who were more physically active tended to be happier and more satisfied with their lives than those who did less physical activity. A 2024 study published in The BMJ meanwhile found that exercise appeared to be an effective treatment for all types of depression.
Many of Hurst's clients are or were high-achieving, "competitive business people."
"They take that attitude to their training, and they want to be fit and healthy for as long as possible," she said.
A 2023 study by researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid on traits that may have helped 19 Spanish centenarians be resilient found that many were academically and professionally successful. They also tended to take on challenges, and could adapt and direct their lives toward paths they found satisfying.
Hurst also said that her fittest older clients are organized and task-oriented.
Similarly, the researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid recommended, based on the attitudes of the centenarians they spoke to, that people wanting to live longer should have realistic short and medium-term goals, and persevere in trying to achieve them.
They also found that the centenarians tended to be autonomous and practical, and took control of their own lives.
