The Lowdown on Exercising for Longevity – Part 3.5

September 8, 2023
By Nathan Nikoloff
On March 2, 2023

Want to catch up with the other articles in this series?

Part 1: What is the impact of endurance training on human lifespan?
Part 1.1: What is VO2max?
Part 2: What are training zones?
Part 2.1: How do muscle fiber types correspond to training zones?
Part 2.2: Training zones 1, 2 and 3
Part 2.3: Training zones 3, 4, 5 and 6
Part 2.4: Moderate intensity vs. high intensity exercise
Part 3: By which mechanisms does exercise delay aging and prevent chronic disease?
Part 3.1: What are the cardiovascular adaptations to endurance training?
Part 3.2: What are the metabolic adaptations to endurance training?
Part 3.3: Can exercise prevent or even treat cancer?
Part 3.4: How does exercise impact the immune system?
Part 3.5: Exercise as a therapy for neurodegeneration and conclusions

Exercise as a therapy for neurodegeneration

Endurance training is beneficial for Alzheimer's disease patients as it improves several features of the disease pathophysiology, including oxidative stress regulation and neurogenesis.

Exercise also increases the production of neurotrophic factors such as BDNF, which can help maintain brain function and promote neuroplasticity. It seems that increasing VO2max leads to a dose-response relationship associated with increased BDNF levels.

BDNF stands for Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor. It is a protein that plays a critical role in promoting the growth, survival, and differentiation of neurons in the brain. BDNF is involved in various functions such as learning and memory, mood regulation, and the development of the nervous system.

BDNF is synthesized in the brain and can be released by neurons in response to various stimuli, including physical exercise, stress, and environmental enrichment. It binds to specific receptors on the surface of neurons and promotes their survival, growth, and differentiation.

Research has suggested that BDNF may be involved in the pathophysiology of various neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

Studies have shown that these effects are mediated by various molecular pathways, including those involving neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine mechanisms. Additionally, neurogenesis can still occur in specific areas of the adult hippocampus with physical exercise being able to change the rate of neurogenesis.

Figure 3.7: The neuroprotective effects of exercise

Conclusion

Regular exercise has a dose-response effect on humans, with higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous exercise being associated with longer life expectancy. Elite athletes, who sustain the highest possible exercise levels, usually live considerably longer than the general population. Exercise has a profound effect on the expression of a substantial proportion of our genome and can help to mitigate many of the negative effects of aging. Physical inactivity is becoming a major public health problem worldwide, and more research efforts should be devoted to understanding the molecular mediators of the benefits of exercise. This could help to determine the most effective combinations, types, and dosages of exercise for different age groups, and to implement efficient exercise interventions for these populations.

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Exercise

The Lowdown on Exercising for Longevity

August 3, 2023
Featured
By Nathan Nikoloff
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There is a powerful treatment that effectively delays the onset of death and preserves healthspan. This treatment is called exercise, and no other treatment or drug rivals its ability to prevent chronic illness.

The problem: it requires consistent effort and commitment over time and the myriad benefits of exercise cannot be packaged and sold as a medication. However, the long-term benefits of regular exercise, such as improved cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure, stronger muscles and bones, and better mental health, far outweigh the effort required to maintain an active lifestyle. These benefits also reduce the reliance on medication to prevent chronic diseases from developing.

The emerging science of longevity and optimising healthspan has seen increasing interest in both scientific and public forums. Much of the hype around longevity has surrounded advances in biology, with suggestions that pharmacological agents could target cellular aging processes and slow aging. There is little evidence to suggest this. There is however, evidence that exercise impacts both lifespan and healthspan. This becomes increasingly evident when reviewing the scientific literature on the impact of exercise on health parameters associated with aging.

The beauty of exercise is that it targets the whole human synergistically: from cellular processes through to multiple body systems and organs. The outcome of the right exercise prescription is an upgrade toward superior physiological and anatomical health. This upgrade comes with countless benefits, including suppressing the pathogenesis of all the major leading causes of death e.g. cardiovascular disease and cancer.

In this extended article on endurance training for longevity, I’ll be breaking down the profound effect of improving cardiorespiratory fitness on lifespan.