The Lowdown on Exercising for Longevity
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.
