Running off an age-old problem

Exercise in general, and running in particular, helps to ward off disability in old age and may even extend life, according to a study that has taken more than 20 years to complete. The notion that exercise is good for you has been around for a long time, but the new study, carried out at Stanford University and published in this month’s Archives of Internal Medicine, is one of the first to test its veracity over an extended period.