Yes it is good for your health as far as it go's assuming the lessons are Traditional and the teacher knows their stuff.
The founder Kanbun Uechi lived to 71 which in that day and age was a good age sugesting he wasent damaging himself through training.
Its basses on Fujian kung fu so undoubtedly has a good internal and structural basses. Sanchin kata is very deep and a form of Qi Gong if done right. It also can generate a lot of power with the breath training in Sanchin. It will energise your body as it is a hard soft style in a similar way to white crane (probably derived from white crane but I think its a bit more hard?). The elements of hard Qi Gong will give you a strong durable body, kinda like an old medicine ball they used to use in school gyms.
You cant compare it to taiji it wont provide the same benefits and it wont prolong your life in the same way but you could also do Taiji as well. Okinawan karate is really cool when practised well and has presser point fighting and other high level skills to keep you occupied for ever.
Give the class a go but if it looks like sport its not what we were talking about above and has a different worth. Traditional martial arts are something else.
Traditional Uechi-ryū training. (Sanchin I love Sanchin both the kung fu versian and karate.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hn_v3-cMoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYaqnmBc ... re=related
Sport karate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x4TYVTm ... re=related
(I love the music in that clip, j pop for ever lol)
I prefer traditional and have no interest in sport. See what they teach then make your choice but get a good teacher bad teachers wast YEARS of your training.