How Exercise Can Help You Live Longer
May 02, 2014
Story at-a-glance
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Your diet accounts for about 80 percent of the benefits
you’ll reap from a healthy lifestyle, but even if you're
eating right, you still need to exercise effectively to
reach your highest level of health
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Recent research found that, compared to those who exercised
daily, and often vigorously, sedentary people had a six
times greater risk of dying from heart disease over the
course of 15 years
-
Intermittent movement is equally critical. Chronic,
undisrupted sitting—even if you maintain a regular fitness
program—has been found to be an independent risk factor for
premature death
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Physical activity also produces biochemical changes that
strengthen and renew your brain—particularly areas
associated with memory and learning
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One recent study found that those who had greater
cardiorespiratory fitness in their teens and 20s scored
better on cognitive tests in their mid-40s and 50s
By Dr. Mercola
One of the key things you can do to extend not only the
quantity of your years, but also the quality, is to
make a few simple changes to your lifestyle. One of the most
important changes is regulating your insulin and leptin levels
through diet and exercise.
I've often stated that your diet accounts for about 80 percent of
the benefits you'll reap from a healthy lifestyle, but even if
you're eating the best diet in the world, you still need to exercise
effectively to reach your highest level of health.
This means incorporating core-strengthening exercises,
strength training, stretching, and high-intensity activities
into your rotation.
High-intensity interval training boosts human growth hormone
(HGH) production, which is essential for optimal health, strength,
vigor, and yes—longevity.
That said,
intermittent movement is equally (if not more) critical for
maximizing the quality of your life. Chronic,
undisrupted sitting—even if you maintain an optimum fitness
program—has been found to be an independent risk factor for
premature death. Intermittent movement is nothing more than the
interruption of sitting, which can be done simply by standing
up every 15 minutes or so. Physical activity also produces
biochemical changes that strengthen and renew your
brain—particularly areas associated with memory and learning.
Dementia may not be commonly regarded as a "killer disease." But
the fact is that Alzheimer's disease now claims an estimated half a
million American lives each year,1
making it the third most lethal disease in the US, right after heart
disease and cancer! Loss of cognitive function, regardless of
severity, also certainly impacts your quality of life.
Exercise Lowers Your Risk of Heart Disease, Even if You Have Risk
Factors
As recently discussed in the New York Times,2
one of the ways exercise helps you live longer is by lowering your
risk for heart disease. It cites a recent Australian study published
in PLOS One,3
which set out to quantify the role of exercise when it
comes to reducing the risk for cardiac disease.
Using health screening data collected from more than 8,600
Australian men and women 15 years prior to the study, the
researchers determined each person's Framingham Risk Score at the
time of data collection.
The "Framingham Risk Score" is an algorithm that was developed
decades ago. By inputting health conditions thought to be risk
factors for heart disease—conditions such as high blood pressure,
obesity, smoking, and so on—it estimates your risk for having a
cardiac event within the next decade.
This calculation does NOT take exercise into account, however,
and this is what the featured study sought to investigate. Could
exercise override or ameliorate other risk factors for heart
disease?
Regular Brisk Walking Can Cut Your 10-Year Heart Disease Risk in
Half
The study participants were divided into three groupings based on
their reported exercise levels at the time of data collection:
- Those who never or rarely exercised
- Regular brisk walking and/or occasional vigorous exercise
- Those who worked out daily, and often vigorously
Next, they checked the national death registry to determine who
had died since the health data was collected, and the cause of
death. Most of those who had perished from heart disease had had
high Framingham Risk Scores. But the level of reported exercise
did turn out to be an important factor for who lived and who
died. As reported by the New York Times:4
"Overall, people in the lowest exercise category had
about twice the risk of dying from heart disease as those in the
middle group and six times the risk of those in the group who
exercised the most often and vigorously.
More surprising, when the researchers controlled for each
volunteer's Framingham risk score and waist size, they found
that exercising still significantly reduced people's risk of
dying from heart disease. The benefits were fainter, amounting
to about half as much risk reduction as before adjustment for
these health factors.
But they accrued even among volunteers who had
less-than-ideal blood pressure, cholesterol levels or
waistlines. Someone with a high Framingham score who exercised
had less risk of dying than someone with a similar score who did
not."
Walking Also Cuts Stroke Risk in Elderly Men
Other research published in the November 2013 issue of the
journal Stroke5
found that daily walking reduced the risk of stroke—another
potentially lethal cardiovascular event—in men over the age of 60. A
stroke involves either a rupture of an artery that feeds your brain
(hemorrhagic stroke), or an obstruction of blood flow (ischemic
stroke), with the ischemic type representing 75 percent of all
strokes.
Nearly 3,500 men between the ages of 60 and 80 participated in
the study, and here, they were divided into five groups, depending
on how long they walked each week:
- Those who walked 0-3 hours/week
- 4-7 hours/week
- 8-14 hours/week
- 15-21 hours/week
- More than 22 hours/week
The findings suggest that walking for at least an hour or two
could cut a man's stroke risk by as much as one-third, and it didn't
matter how brisk the pace was. Taking a three-hour long walk each
day slashed the risk by a healthy two-thirds.
To Take Exercise as 'Medicine'—Mind Your Dose
Research and experience clearly tell us that exercise is a
powerful medicine. But while the elderly may reap sufficient rewards
by simply staying in motion for as long as possible each day,
younger people (including those in middle age) would do well to pick
up the pace and intensity.
As noted in the Australian study above, compared to those who
exercised daily, and often vigorously, sedentary people had
a SIX TIMES greater risk of dying from heart disease over the course
of 15 years. There's not a pill on earth that can bolster your life
expectancy that much!
I've often stated that to optimize your benefits from exercise,
you'll want to push your body hard enough for a challenge, while
still allowing adequate time for recovery and repair. One of the
best ways to accomplish this is with high intensity interval
training (HIIT), which consists of short bursts of
high-intensity exercise followed by longer periods of recovery, as
opposed to extended episodes of continuous vigorous exertion. This
is a core part of my
Peak Fitness program, and the Australian study makes a case for
the wisdom of such an approach.
Exercising in Your 20s May Result in a Sharper Middle-Aged Mind
In related fitness news,6,
7,
8 researchers at the University of Minnesota have again
highlighted the link between exercise, heart health, and brain
health. They examined data collected over a 25-year period from
2,700 American men and women, concluding that those who had greater
cardiorespiratory fitness in their teens and 20s scored better on
cognitive tests in their mid-40s and 50s.
For each additional minute spent on the treadmill during the
initial test, he or she was able to accurately recall 0.12 more
words at follow-up 25 years later. Those who were fitter in their
early adulthood also scored better on tests designed to assess
reaction speed and the mental agility needed to answer trick
questions. Here, the impact of fitness was again deemed to be
independent of other dementia-related risk factors such as diabetes,
high cholesterol, and smoking.
As discussed in a recent post, obesity is associated with
cognitive decline,9
in part because it increases levels of inflammatory chemicals known
as cytokines in your body, which are strongly damaging to brain
function. According to a study published in the Journal of
Neuroscience,10
it appears your body may react to excess fat as an invader, causing
levels of cytokines to stay elevated, thereby causing chronic
inflammation.
Exercise is, of course, a key ingredient for weight loss. But
it's also a simple yet remarkably potent way to lower your levels of
inflammatory cytokines, which will help protect your brain function.
Physical exercise has also been found to
protect against other age-related brain changes. For example,
those who exercise the most tend to have the least amount of brain
shrinkage over time. Not only that, but exercise actually causes
your brain to grow in size. For example, Kirk I. Erickson,
PhD of the University of Pittsburgh found that adults aged 60 to 80
who walked for 30 to 45 minutes, three days per week for one year,
showed a two percent increase in the volume of their
hippocampus11
— a brain region associated with memory.
For Total Body-Mind Health, Adopt a Well-Rounded Fitness Program
Ideally, you'll want to strive for a varied and well-rounded
fitness program that incorporates a wide variety of exercises. As a
general rule, as soon as an exercise becomes easy to complete, you
need to increase the intensity and/or try another exercise to keep
challenging your body. Additionally, as I mentioned in the
beginning, more recent research has really driven home the
importance of non-exercise movement.
My interview with NASA scientist
Dr. Joan Vernikos goes into great detail why this is so, and
what you can do to effectively counteract the ill effects of
prolonged sitting. Truly, the key to health is to remain as active
as you can, all day long, but that doesn't mean you have to train
like an athlete for hours a day. It simply means, whenever you have
a chance to move and stretch your body in the course of going about
your day—do it! And the more frequently, the better. That
said, I recommend incorporating the following types of exercise into
your overall fitness regimen:
- Interval (Anaerobic) Training: This is when
you alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with
gentle recovery periods.
- Strength Training: Rounding out your
exercise program with a one-set strength training routine will
ensure that you're really optimizing the possible health
benefits of a regular exercise program. You can also "up" the
intensity by slowing it down. For more information about using
super slow weight training as a form of high intensity interval
exercise, please see my interview with
Dr. Doug McGuff.
- Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core
muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen, and pelvis. This
group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout
your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and
support your back, make your spine and body less prone to
injury, and help you gain greater balance and stability.
Foundation Training, created by Dr. Eric Goodman, is an
integral first step of a larger program he calls "Modern
Moveology," which consists of a catalog of exercises. Postural
exercises such as those taught in Foundation Training are
critical not just for properly supporting your frame during
daily activities, they also retrain your body so you can safely
perform high-intensity exercises without risking injury.
Exercise programs like Pilates and yoga are also great for
strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you
can learn from a personal trainer.
- Stretching: My favorite type of stretching
is active isolated stretches developed by Aaron Mattes. With
Active Isolated Stretching, you hold each stretch for only
two seconds, which works with your body's natural physiological
makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of
muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to repair
itself and prepare for daily activity. You can also use devices
like the
Power Plate to help you stretch.
- Stand Up Every 15 Minutes. I usually set a
timer for 15 minutes while sitting, and then stand up and do
one-legged
squats, jump squats, or lunges when the timer goes off. The
key is that you need to be moving all day long, even in
non-exercise, or as I now like to call them, intermittent
movement activities.
© Copyright 1997-2014 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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