Tip: Working out an exercise routine

If you're like many, two of your New Year's resolutions are to lose weight and exercise more. While both are laudable goals, if you have to choose one, lace up the sneakers.

When it comes to lowering your risk of death, maintaining or improving fitness by exercising regularly seems to be more protective than losing weight (unless you are obese). The long-term study of more than 14,000 middle-age men also found that becoming less physically fit is more hazardous to your health than gaining weight. Over the course of the 11-year study, researchers measured fitness by administering treadmill tests. While the study focused only on men, researchers said they believed the results would be similar among women.

The study was published last month in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.