In this paper we prove a Nekhoroshev type theorem for perturbations of Hamiltonians describing a particle subject to the force due to a central potential. Precisely, we prove that under an explicit condition on the potential, the Hamiltonian of the central motion is quasi-convex. Thus, when it is perturbed, two actions (the modulus of the total angular momentum and the action of the reduced radial system) are approximately conserved for times which are exponentially long with the inverse of the perturbation parameter

We consider the spatial central force problem with a real analytic potential. We prove that for all potentials, but the Keplerian and the Harmonic ones, the Hamiltonian fulfills a nondegeneracy property needed for the applicability of Nekhoroshev's theorem. We deduce stability of the actions over exponentially long times when the system is subject to arbitrary analytic perturbation. The case where the central system is put in interaction with a slow system is also studied and stability over exponentially long time is proved.

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