In terms of human health and wellness, what is one major benefit of maintaining lifelong physical activity throughout adulthood?

Introduction / Context:
Regular physical activity throughout life is one of the most important lifestyle habits for maintaining good health. When people stay active from childhood into older age, they support the proper functioning of many body systems, including the heart, lungs, muscles, and metabolism. This question checks whether you can identify a key evidence based benefit of lifelong physical activity from a list of options that includes several negative outcomes and one clearly positive outcome related to body weight management.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- The focus is on the long term effect of physical activity over a lifetime, not a short exercise program.
- We assume moderate, regular exercise that is appropriate for age and health status.
- The options mix harmful outcomes, neutral habits, and a well known health benefit of staying active.
- We are looking for the direct health benefit that is most strongly supported by scientific research.

Concept / Approach:
Lifelong physical activity helps the body balance energy intake from food with energy expenditure through movement. Over time, this balance reduces the tendency to store excess fat. Regular exercise also improves metabolism, preserves muscle mass, and helps regulate hormones related to appetite and fat storage. Together, these effects support the prevention of unhealthy weight gain and obesity, which are major risk factors for many chronic diseases. To answer the question, you select the option that matches this well known benefit.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Read the question carefully and note that it asks for one benefit of lifelong physical activity. Step 2: Examine each option and mark which ones describe harmful effects such as high blood pressure or high physiological age. Step 3: Identify the option that refers to a clear, direct, and positive health benefit that is consistently linked to regular exercise. Step 4: Recognize that prevention of weight gain is a core, well established effect of sustained physical activity. Step 5: Conclude that prevention of weight gain is the best answer among the given choices.

Verification / Alternative check:
A quick way to verify the answer is to recall basic health education messages that link exercise with weight control. Public health campaigns and medical guidelines repeatedly state that physical activity helps maintain a healthy body weight and reduces obesity risk. You can also remember that regular exercise is prescribed as part of weight management programs, which confirms that prevention of weight gain is a central benefit of moving more over the entire lifespan.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
High blood pressure is typically reduced, not increased, by regular exercise, so option A describes a negative effect that contradicts basic medical knowledge.
Increase in healthy eating habits may occur indirectly when people adopt an overall healthy lifestyle, but physical activity itself is not defined as a cause of better eating, so option B is not the most precise core benefit.
High physiological age means the body functions as if it were older than the actual age, which is a harmful state; active people usually have a lower physiological age, so option C is incorrect.
Increased risk of heart disease is the opposite of what happens, because long term exercise lowers cardiovascular risk, so option E is clearly wrong.

Common Pitfalls:
One common mistake is to pick an option that sounds related to general health, such as healthy eating habits, without asking if it is a direct and primary effect of physical activity. Another error is to misinterpret terms like physiological age and assume that higher always means better, when in this context a higher physiological age indicates worse health. Students may also rush and pick a negative sounding outcome, not realizing that the question is explicitly asking for a benefit, which must be a positive effect on health.

Final Answer:
Prevention of weight gain is one major benefit of lifelong physical activity because it helps balance energy intake and expenditure, supports a healthy metabolism, and reduces the long term risk of obesity and related diseases.