Your body hits peak physical performance at this age
Turns out, your body hits its top form somewhere between 26 and 36, according to a massive Swedish study that tracked people for 47 years.
It's a rare look at how our physical abilities rise and fall as we age.
Best aerobic capacity and endurance
Researchers followed folks from age 16 to 63 and found both men and women hit their best aerobic capacity and endurance in their late twenties to mid-thirties.
After that, things start to dip—at first slowly, then faster—with up to half of that peak ability gone by age 63.
Muscle power peaked even earlier
Muscle power peaked even earlier: age 27 for guys, just 19 for women.
But here's some good news—people who got more active later in life actually improved their capacity by about 10%.
As lead researcher Maria Westerstahl puts it, "It is never too late to start moving. Our study shows that physical activity can slow the decline in performance, even if it cannot completely stop it. "—getting moving can really help slow down the decline.
Staying active matters at any age
This long-running study gives us real-life proof that staying active matters at any age.
The research is still ongoing as participants get older, so we'll keep learning more about how movement shapes our bodies over time.