Taking up exercise in your 60s will still help stave off major ill health and dementia, research suggests.
The study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine followed 3,500 healthy people at or around retirement age.
Those who took up exercise were three times more likely to remain healthy over the next eight years than their sedentary peers.
Exercise cut the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and depression.
After eight years of follow-up, a fifth of the participants were defined as healthy - not suffering from any major chronic mental or physical illness.
In the study, those who had regularly indulged in moderate or vigorous physical activity at least once a week were three to four times more likely to be healthy agers than those who had remained inactive, even after taking into account factors such as smoking.
Dr Hamer says physical activity does not necessarily mean going to the gym or going for a run - gardening or walking to the shops also counts.
Click on the title below to access the full text of the article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine 25th November 2013
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