Exercise....what does it say about your age?


You Look MARVELOUS!!!
Exercise is known to have many health benefits but did you know that it is the number one way to hold off age related illness at a cellular level?
Not unlike the seam on your jacket, intensive exercise can keep you chromosomes from unraveling. Telomeres are the DNA at the ends of your chains of chromosomes that protect them from damage. When Telomeres are shortened it limits the number of divisions your cells can produce and brings on the again process. When telomeres become critically short the cell dies.
Regular intensive exercise prevents the telomeres from shortening. The researchers measured the length of telomeres in blood samples from two groups of professional athletes and two groups who were healthy nonsmokers, but not regular exercisers.
"The most significant finding of this study is that physical exercise of the professional athlete’s leads to activation of the important enzyme telomerase and stabilizes the telomere," said Ulrich Laufs, the study's lead author and professor of clinical and experimental medicine at Saarland University in Homburg, Germany.

"This is direct evidence of an anti-aging effect of physical exercise," Laufs said. "Physical exercise could prevent the aging of the cardiovascular system, reflecting this molecular principle."

In addition other studies have shown that exercise protects the cells from other aging effects such as deterioration and programmed cell death. When comparing 32 young professional runners average age 20 and middle-age athletes who had a history of endurance exercise since their youth, against untrained athletes who did not exercise regularly. They were matched in age with the professional athletes. This shows that long-term exercise training activates telomerase and reduces shortening in human white blood cells. The age-dependent telomere loss was lower in the older athletes who had performed endurance exercising for several decades.

What are the keys to exercising for the younger you?

Squats…..’Oh I can’t squat, it hurts my knees’ you hear it all the time. That is actually the point. You squat all the time, picking up the kids, the groceries, or the laundry. Learning to do it right will prevent age related back and hip issues, and create stronger knee joints and less chance of pain.

Maximize your Genes…. While you can’t change your genetic makeup, you can change how certain genes are expressed—that is, how much they do whatever they do. And strength training is one of the best ways to do that. Only 26 weeks of resistance training reverses the aging process at the genetic level. Resistance training also preserves muscle mass; we typically lose 5 lbs. of muscle per decade. We also on average gain 10 lbs. of fat mass per decade, NOT FAIR!!!

Get your brain to the bar….Exercise is the physical crossword puzzle. Sports such as tennis, or racquetball, and choreography like Zumba or kickboxing engage the brain. The more of these types of activities you participate in the better.

Exceed what you think your cardio requirements are….U.S. guidelines say 150 minutes a week, but research shows that for heart health you need to 240 minutes per week. . Aerobic activity improves mitochondrial function (the work of energy-producing organelles in cells), which typically decreases with age.

Use high-impact activity….jumping, you need it. You need the impact to build bone density. This doesn’t mean that you start leaping buildings in a single bound; even a step with the force of squishing a bug can make a difference. Think…squat, lunge, or march with force.

Keep up to pace….average Americans get 2,000 steps a day, but experts recommend 10,000. People who track their steps find that they double the number of steps they take a day. Get a Jawbone, Fit bit, or vivo fit and get in the know.

As always the trainers at MV Health and Fitness Academy are available and excited to help you ward off the effects of aging. There is nothing better than having the energy of someone 10 years younger.

Call us at 208.557.2823 or email questions to ghouston@mvhospital.net.