ATLANTA — Five days a week, Carolyn Banks rises at 5 a.m., dresses and drives 22 miles to the Beulah Baptist Church Family Life Center to work out the kinks in her joints, to rev up her heart and health.

Exercise, she says, has been a part of her daily routine since 2009, when she was diagnosed with neurosarcoidosis, a chronic inflammatory disorder, and her physical health began to decline.

“I had been completely incapacitated,” the 63-year-old retired DeKalb County, Ga., educator said after class recently. “Doctors predicted my death.”

But within a year of joining the aerobics class, she was feeling better, and the neurosarcoidosis went into full remission.

Banks became a firm believer in the benefits of exercise and good nutrition and the self-appointed spokesman for her church’s exercise program. She and fellow classmates work to attain optimum health.

“They are demonstrating that barriers to a healthy lifestyle can be overcome, and the benefits of regular physical activity and a healthy diet can be achieved at every stage of life,” said Leandris C. Liburd, associate director for minority health and health equity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

“We’re thrilled to know that they are effectively reducing their risk factors for certain diseases, managing chronic diseases and improving the overall quality of their life.” Banks said she hopes her story motivates and inspires other African-Americans, who statistically lead reports on adverse health conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity and high cholesterol.

For instance, healthy officials say that 53.9 percent of black women aged 65 to 74 are considered obese compared to 38.9 percent of white women in the same age group, said Dr. Ashleigh May, a CDC epidemiologist.

Banks’ classmates are a mix of retired male and female baby boomers — former teachers and firefighters, city employees and media specialists who found their way to the church after becoming concerned about their health. Some are members of Beulah, but most aren’t. All of them say the fitness classes, emotional and nutritional support they receive from classmates have helped them overcome one illness or another.