Ever wished you could undo 20 years of bad habits? Well now you can. Scientists have finally discovered a way to turn back time and the good news is it's cheap, it's easy and everyone can do it.

It turns out that the key to eternal youth isn't a beauty serum or botox -- it's exercise. According to recent research by a team of scientists at the University of California, just 12 weeks of exercise is enough to take the fitness of a middle-aged woman and turn it back 20 years.

It sounds like just the news our age-obsessed society has been waiting for, because, let's face it, all of us want to live long but none of us wants to get old. Everywhere you look it's happening: we're dressing 10 years younger, forking out on miracle creams and considering the nips and tucks of cosmetic surgery all in the pursuit of timeless beauty. Who would have thought it could all be as simple as stepping on a treadmill for an hour or two?

The studies, carried out on women with an average age of 55, found that, although women's bodies and hormonal balance changes with age -- time doesn't impact on their capacity to get fit.

The tests saw the women training on exercise bikes for an hour, five days a week for 12 weeks. Dr Zinta Zarins, who headed up the research, says: "Despite decreased oestrogen, decreased lean body mass and decreased aerobic capacity, the exercise produces significant changes to cardiovascular fitness without going on extreme diets".

The study may be new, but the miracle properties of exercise is something health guru and co-author of Turn Back Your Age Clock -- Look And Feel 20 Years Younger In Only 8 Weeks, Tim Bean, has been extolling for a long time.

"Just because we're getting older doesn't mean we have to fall apart," says Tim. "Most of the conditions we associate with age we can prevent or repair -- literally turning back time."

According to Tim, conditions we associate with ageing -- stiffness, wrinkly skin, fatigue, loss of memory and weakness -- have everything to do with losing fitness and very little to do with getting older. He says that regular aerobic exercise such as walking, and weight training, is all it takes to stay forever young.

He says: "Weight lifting in particular can correct posture, preventing that 'old woman's stoop', tone skin, improve muscles and joints and keep circulation healthy."

He adds: "With the hormonal changes brought about through child birth and the menopause it can seem an almost insurmountable task to either stay in shape or get back in shape -- but it doesn't need to be difficult and it's never too late to start."

Maynooth woman Anne McGarry started exercising in her late 50s. She says: "I love walking and have definitely seen improvements since I started exercising regularly."

Anne (66) had been very active in her younger years but saw her fitness levels take a drastic dip when she developed arthritis. She explains: "For several years I couldn't walk without crutches so I ended up doing very little exercise.

"It shocked me how little time it took to lose the fitness I'd built up. Thankfully I had some treatment and as soon as the arthritis improved I started walking again."

Anne walks about two miles most days and also gets exercise from dance and movement classes at the Third Age Foundation, a local organisation run for older citizens in Summerhill, Co Meath.

She says: "I feel like I've definitely turned back the years because people who see me do ask me what I'm doing and joke that I'm a miracle woman.

"I feel like I have more energy and I feel more up beat, exercise is definitely a mood enhancer. "I don't know if I feel like I'm in my 30s but I feel good."

There are plenty of celebrity females -- think Helen Mirren (64) in that red bikini and Sharon Stone (51) topless on the cover of Paris Match -- who support the theory that 50 can look like the new 30, but Dublin-based VHI fitness expert, Philip Phelan, warns that expecting to scratch 20 years off could be too much of a stretch.

"The improvements in a person's fitness through taking up exercise will depend on where they're starting from, in that someone very out of shape will undoubtedly see greater gains than someone who isquite active.

"But the concept of the study is positive as it proves that getting older doesn't need to mean an inevitable slide down hill."

He explains: "The top illnesses affecting the over 50s are heart disease, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, obesity, depression and high cholesterol -- exercise is proven to have a positive effect on the majority of those.

"But you can't take exercise in isolation. Feeling young and staying healthy also depend on nutrition, alcohol consumption, whether you're a smoker and mental wellbeing -- all of which are just as big a deal as exercise."

- Chrissie Russell

Irish Independent