[Effect of sports participation on the physical aging process]

Ageing is determined by the laws of nature. But pace and course of ageing processes depend to a certain degree on environmental factors and particularly on the way of life. The individual maintains with advancing age an adaptability to physically shaping stimuli. The effects of regular physical activity can be assessed in elderly persons as beneficial modifications in bodily structure and function. On the other hand ageing and lack of physical performance capacity demonstrate numerous analogies. The manifestation of a number of (mostly chronic) diseases is promoted by ageing and by hypokinesia. The adaptive consequences of an adequate activity of the largest organ of the body, the musculature, are in a phenomenological contrast to essential processes of ageing. A good state of exercise-induced adaptation is an effective component in prophylaxis and in establishing a relatively low biological age.