I’ve worked with people across every age group — teens, busy parents, retirees, and adults who never thought they’d be “someone who exercises.” And if there’s one truth I wish I could bottle and hand to every person who walks into our clinic, it’s this:
Your health is not determined by your age — it’s determined by your habits. And the best time to start building those habits is right now.
Whether you’re 25 or 85, your body responds to movement, adapts to training, and improves with consistent, meaningful effort. But to understand why starting now matters so much, we need to talk about something most people have never heard of: DALYs.
DALYs: The Number That Predicts Your Future Quality of Life
A DALY — or Disability‑Adjusted Life Year — is a measure used by the World Health Organization to estimate how many years of healthy life are lost due to disease, injury, or disability (WHO, 2020). It combines:
- Years of life lost (from early death)
- Years lived with disability (from chronic conditions)
In Australia, the biggest contributors to DALYs are not rare diseases — they’re the everyday, preventable ones: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal pain, and inactivity‑related conditions (AIHW, 2022).
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most DALYs are preventable through lifestyle — especially exercise.
Every year you delay building healthy habits increases the likelihood that you’ll lose years of mobility, independence, and quality of life later.
We Need to Stop Normalising Chronic Pain
One of the most common phrases I hear in the clinic is: “Yeah, my back/knee/hip hurts — but that’s just getting older.”
No. It’s not.
Chronic pain is common, but it is not normal.
Research consistently shows that strength training, aerobic exercise, and targeted movement reduce chronic pain across conditions like osteoarthritis, low back pain, and persistent musculoskeletal issues (Geneen et al., 2017). Yet many people accept pain as an inevitable part of aging, when in reality:
- Pain often comes from deconditioning, not “damage.”
- Movement is one of the most effective treatments.
- Avoiding activity usually makes pain worse over time.
Your body is not fragile — it’s adaptable. But it adapts to what you repeatedly do. If you repeatedly avoid movement, your body adapts to less capacity.
Why You Need to Start Exercising Now — No Matter Your Age
People often think they need to “get fit first” or “wait until life settles down” before starting an exercise routine. But the science is clear:
- Exercise benefits every age group
Older adults can build muscle at similar relative rates to younger adults (Fragala et al., 2019). Even people in their 70s and 80s can significantly improve strength, balance, and cardiovascular health.
- Small habits compound over decades
Just 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week reduces the risk of all‑cause mortality by up to 31% (Arem et al., 2015).
- Exercise protects your brain
Regular physical activity reduces the risk of cognitive decline and dementia (Livingston et al., 2020).
- Movement is medicine for chronic disease
Exercise improves blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, joint health, sleep, mood, and energy — often more effectively than medication alone.
- Your future mobility depends on what you do today
Strength is a “use it or lose it” system. But the good news? You can also use it and improve it at any age.
How to Start Exercising When You’re Busy, Unsure, or Limited
Most people don’t start exercising because they think it needs to be complicated, expensive, or time‑consuming. It doesn’t.
Here’s the simplest framework I use with clients who feel overwhelmed:
- Start with 10 minutes
Ten minutes a day of purposeful movement is enough to create momentum. Walking, sit‑to‑stands, wall push‑ups, or gentle mobility all count.
- Use what you already have
No gym? No problem. Your body weight is equipment. Your home is a gym.
- Choose movements that matter to you
If you want to play with your grandkids, we train getting up and down from the floor. If you want to hike, we train step‑ups and leg strength. If you want less pain, we train controlled strength around the affected area.
- Follow the “No Flare” Rule
A simple guideline I give clients:
- Pain during exercise ≤ 3/10
- Pain after exercise ≤ 4/10
- No next‑day flare lasting > 24 hours
If you stay within those boundaries, you’re training safely.
- Progress slowly
You don’t need to overhaul your life. Just add 1% more each week — one extra rep, one extra minute, one extra walk.
Your Health Is a Long Game — But the First Move Happens Today
I’ve never had a client say, “I wish I started later.” But I’ve heard hundreds say, “I wish I started sooner.”
Your habits today shape your independence tomorrow. Your movement today shapes your mobility in 10, 20, 30 years. Your choices today shape your DALYs — the years of life you get to live fully.
You don’t need perfection. You don’t need an hour a day. You don’t need fancy equipment.
You just need to start.
And if you’re not sure where to begin, that’s exactly what an Exercise Physiologist is here for — to help you build a plan that fits your body, your goals, your limitations, and your life.
Your future self will thank you for the work you start today.
Nick Egan
References
Arem, H., Moore, S. C., Patel, A., Hartge, P., Berrington de Gonzalez, A., Visvanathan, K., Campbell, P. T., Freedman, M., Weiderpass, E., Adami, H. O., Linet, M. S., & Matthews, C. E. (2015). Leisure time physical activity and mortality: A detailed pooled analysis of the dose-response relationship. JAMA Internal Medicine, 175(6), 959–967. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.0533.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2022). Australian Burden of Disease Study 2022. AIHW.
Fragala, M. S., Cadore, E. L., Dorgo, S., Izquierdo, M., Kraemer, W. J., Peterson, M. D., & Ryan, E. D. (2019). Resistance training for older adults: Position statement from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 33(8), 2019–2052. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003230.
Geneen, L. J., Moore, R. A., Clarke, C., Martin, D., Colvin, L. A., & Smith, B. H. (2017). Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain in adults: An overview of Cochrane Reviews. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4, CD011279. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011279.pub2.
Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Sommerlad, A., Ames, D., Ballard, C., Banerjee, S., Brayne, C., Burns, A., Cohen-Mansfield, J., Cooper, C., Costafreda, S. G., Dias, A., Fox, N., Gitlin, L. N., Howard, R., Kales, H. C., Kivimäki, M., Larson, E. B., Ogunniyi, A., … Mukadam, N. (2020). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission. The Lancet, 396(10248), 413–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30367-6.
World Health Organization. (2020). Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). WHO.
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