You’re about to discover a shocking statistic that will change the way you think about your health and future.

Imagine you are climbing the Spanish Steps in Rome…all 135 of them…with your family. You are almost to the top when your grandchildren say “race you to the top” and take off in a burst of giggles. You chase off after them and, in a burst of energy and to their astonishment, not only catch them but pass them. But, of course, as you near the top you slow down and let them win. Everyone laughs and high-fives and together take in the marvelous view of the Piazza di Spagna at the top. You get to mark that one off of the bucket list but more importantly you also get a special moment with your family that you can cherish forever.

Sounds great doesn’t it? What could be better? But what if you weren’t able to race up the stairs with your grandchildren because your body wasn’t fit and healthy enough. Because your joints ached. Because you just didn’t have the energy. Because you were too worried that you would fall and either hurt yourself or embarrass yourself. What if you had to walk so slowly and take so many breaks that the grandkids are no longer having any fun because they are too bored waiting on you? What if you couldn’t even climb the steps at all and had to wait at the bottom while the rest of your family created that special memory…without you?

The shocking finding, which appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, looked at data from more than 3,000 people covered by Medicare in 2002-2008 to gauge the impact of health care cost on seniors.

Researchers measured how much Medicare-eligible seniors had spent out of pocket on healthcare in their last five years alive, and looked at how those costs weighed on their total household income.

After crunching the numbers, the report found that during that time period, more than 75 percent of Medicare-eligible households spent at least $10,000 out of pocket on health care.

A quarter of participants also spent “more than their total household assets on healthcare,” according to the report.

In 2011, approximately 58% of people didn’t even seek treatment that they needed because it was too expensive, according to a survey done by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research organization. But why will you end up spending so much money on healthcare costs?…

Functional ability is your ability to handle every day functions like going up and down stairs and picking up the TV remote off the floor. Things you may find easy now, but have no plans to keep it that way.

Without a strategic exercise plan, each year that you get older your functional ability decreases, making everyday activities like gardening, playing with grandchildren and even picking up a piece…