...improved self-esteem ...more muscle strength
....improved memory and cognition
...better stress management
.....stronger immunity
In the summer of 1966, five healthy 20-year-old men went to bed for three weeks. They weren't tired: they were participating in what would become known as the Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study, a landmark study on the effects of exercise (and the lack thereof) on our bodies.
After three weeks of complete inactivity - the men even used wheelchairs to get to the bathroom - their muslce function deteriorated to the point where they could barely stand. As researchers later noted, 'Those three weeks of bed rest had a greater effect on their aerobic fitness than 30 years of ageing.'
After the bed rest part of the study, the men completed eight weeks of intensive exercise training including treadmill work-outs and long-distance running. The results? They completely reversed the damage from the bed rest, proving conculsively the amazing power of physical activity.
What's more studies since then have shown that immobilisation either in hospital or during space flight also causes loss of bone mass. But Scientists have now found that this too can be recovered by exercise. Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University and the Charite University Medicine Berlin persauded 25 healthy young men to stay in bed for 90 days, then measured their bone mineral content (BMC). They lost an average of 3.5 percent BMC, with the worst-affected man registering a staggering 15.6 percent decline. Recovery took time, but 360 days later the volunteers' BMCs were virtually back to normal, and those men who had lost the largest amounts during the bed rest had made the larger gains - in fact, in the most extreme ease, one man gained bone mass at a faster rate than during the growth spurt at puberty. So no matter how inactive you've been, it's never too late to compensate.
Fitness at all ages
Fast-forward 30 years. Researchers contacted the original five men from the Dallas study, now aged 50, for a follow-up study. All had become sedentary, gaining an average of 23kg (50lb) and doubling their overall body fat. They had also lost significant cardiovascular fitness. Not all of that loss was related drop in cardiovascular fitness. Their resting heart rates, blood pressure levels and hearts' maximum pumping ability, or aerobic power, returned to the levels of 30 years earlier. The message? It's never too late to begin exercising.
You don't believe us? Well, how about this one, then: when 50 men and women with an average age of 87 worked out with weighs for ten weeks, they more than doubled their muscle strength and improved their walking speed-even though they weren't doing any walking exercises.
The bottom line: your physical strength, heart health and breathing ability aren't bottoming out just because you're getting older. If they've declined, it's most likely because you've been sitting around instead of working your muscles regularly.
' Muscle mass seems to be very important to longevity,' says Mark Davis, a research associate at the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Bristol.
That's because the amount of muscle you have affects nearly every function in your body. If you maintain good muscle tone, you'll probably gain less weight, have a lower percentage of body fat and prevent insulin resistance. Your LDL cholesterol and blood sugar levels will be lower, and your HDL cholesterol levels higher. You'll also avoid constipation, keep your blood thin and moving smoothly through your veins and arteries, improve your sleep and reduce your risk of depression and memory lapses.
It doesn't take much to reap these benefits. Just a few weeks of regular, moderate to high-intensity physical activity each day, and almost every health measure is likely to improve - no matter what your age.
Ofcourse, the benefits are greater if you've maintained an exercise programme throughout your life. One study, for instance, found that people who took long swims three to five times a week delayed their natural physical decline by decades. In other words, while the swimmers might be 60 years old, they had the medical measurements of 40 year olds.
Just as the human body needs food for life , so must we all have exercise to survive
But even if The Beatles were still touring the last time you put on a pair of plimsolls, it's not too late to see dramatic changes in your health and quality of life if you start exercising today.
Consider this: one study found that men between the ages of 60 and 75 could increase their strength at the same rate as men in their 20s by performing basic weight-training exercises twice a week for 16 weeks. By the end of the study, these older men were raising about 270kg (600lb) on a leg-press machine, compared with the 170kg (375lb) they pressed when they began. They also had lower LDL and higher HDL cholesterol levels. All in just four months.
And a study of 1,020 healthy people ranging in age from 54 to 100 (average age 80) found that for every extra hour a week spent being active, their risk of becoming disabled dropped by 7 percent. By 'disabled', we mean having joint pain, being depressed and/or overweight, and even being unable to walk - the problem that lead to the type of old age you're trying to avoid.
Plus, the more time the older participants spent being active, the lower their risk of dying. Those who spent 21/4 hours a week being physically active were nearly a quarter less likely to die during the 21/2 year study than their couch-potato peers. When the physical activity was upped to 7 hours a week, their risk of dying during the study plummeted by 57 percent. And remember - these were all healthy people to begin with.
It's not that exercise significantly extends your life. 'If you start exercising four times a week at the age of 20, by the end of your life, you've gained three extra years, but those extra years were spent doing the exercise,' notes Jere Mitchell, MD, professor of internal medicine and physiology at the University of Texas and one of the original investigators for the Dallas Bed Rest Study. What exercise does, however, is add life to your years. 'There's a big difference in the quality of life if you drop dead playing tennis at 90 or if you've been in a nursing home since age 60,' Dr Mitchell says.
Yet despite our lip service to an active life, most working adults spend little no none of their time exerting their bodies. The problem is particularly bad in the UK. More than half of all adults do no moderate-intensity physical activity in a typical week - not even 10 minutes a week of vigorous leisure-time physical activity, such as brisk walking, bike riding or swimming. Even young adults (aged 16 to 24) are pretty inactive - 42 percent of men and 63 percent of women fail to achieve recommended activity levels - but the proportions rise to a staggering 93 percent of men and 96 percent of women aged 65 and over.
The more energy you expend today, the more energised you will be tomorrow
That's one reason why the current generation of older adults is shaping up to be the first in modern history that will be less healthy in their odler years than the generation before.
Don't let yourself be lumped into this generational deficiency. Push yourself out of that easy chair and vow that the rest of your life begins today. You won't go it alone, we promise. In the pages ahead you'll learn about the health-related benefits of exercise and, as a bonus, we've included three work-out routines of varying difficulty that you can pick up easily.
....improved memory and cognition
...better stress management
.....stronger immunity
In the summer of 1966, five healthy 20-year-old men went to bed for three weeks. They weren't tired: they were participating in what would become known as the Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study, a landmark study on the effects of exercise (and the lack thereof) on our bodies.
After three weeks of complete inactivity - the men even used wheelchairs to get to the bathroom - their muslce function deteriorated to the point where they could barely stand. As researchers later noted, 'Those three weeks of bed rest had a greater effect on their aerobic fitness than 30 years of ageing.'
After the bed rest part of the study, the men completed eight weeks of intensive exercise training including treadmill work-outs and long-distance running. The results? They completely reversed the damage from the bed rest, proving conculsively the amazing power of physical activity.
What's more studies since then have shown that immobilisation either in hospital or during space flight also causes loss of bone mass. But Scientists have now found that this too can be recovered by exercise. Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University and the Charite University Medicine Berlin persauded 25 healthy young men to stay in bed for 90 days, then measured their bone mineral content (BMC). They lost an average of 3.5 percent BMC, with the worst-affected man registering a staggering 15.6 percent decline. Recovery took time, but 360 days later the volunteers' BMCs were virtually back to normal, and those men who had lost the largest amounts during the bed rest had made the larger gains - in fact, in the most extreme ease, one man gained bone mass at a faster rate than during the growth spurt at puberty. So no matter how inactive you've been, it's never too late to compensate.
Fitness at all ages
Fast-forward 30 years. Researchers contacted the original five men from the Dallas study, now aged 50, for a follow-up study. All had become sedentary, gaining an average of 23kg (50lb) and doubling their overall body fat. They had also lost significant cardiovascular fitness. Not all of that loss was related drop in cardiovascular fitness. Their resting heart rates, blood pressure levels and hearts' maximum pumping ability, or aerobic power, returned to the levels of 30 years earlier. The message? It's never too late to begin exercising.
You don't believe us? Well, how about this one, then: when 50 men and women with an average age of 87 worked out with weighs for ten weeks, they more than doubled their muscle strength and improved their walking speed-even though they weren't doing any walking exercises.
The bottom line: your physical strength, heart health and breathing ability aren't bottoming out just because you're getting older. If they've declined, it's most likely because you've been sitting around instead of working your muscles regularly.
' Muscle mass seems to be very important to longevity,' says Mark Davis, a research associate at the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Bristol.
That's because the amount of muscle you have affects nearly every function in your body. If you maintain good muscle tone, you'll probably gain less weight, have a lower percentage of body fat and prevent insulin resistance. Your LDL cholesterol and blood sugar levels will be lower, and your HDL cholesterol levels higher. You'll also avoid constipation, keep your blood thin and moving smoothly through your veins and arteries, improve your sleep and reduce your risk of depression and memory lapses.
It doesn't take much to reap these benefits. Just a few weeks of regular, moderate to high-intensity physical activity each day, and almost every health measure is likely to improve - no matter what your age.
Ofcourse, the benefits are greater if you've maintained an exercise programme throughout your life. One study, for instance, found that people who took long swims three to five times a week delayed their natural physical decline by decades. In other words, while the swimmers might be 60 years old, they had the medical measurements of 40 year olds.
Just as the human body needs food for life , so must we all have exercise to survive
But even if The Beatles were still touring the last time you put on a pair of plimsolls, it's not too late to see dramatic changes in your health and quality of life if you start exercising today.
Consider this: one study found that men between the ages of 60 and 75 could increase their strength at the same rate as men in their 20s by performing basic weight-training exercises twice a week for 16 weeks. By the end of the study, these older men were raising about 270kg (600lb) on a leg-press machine, compared with the 170kg (375lb) they pressed when they began. They also had lower LDL and higher HDL cholesterol levels. All in just four months.
And a study of 1,020 healthy people ranging in age from 54 to 100 (average age 80) found that for every extra hour a week spent being active, their risk of becoming disabled dropped by 7 percent. By 'disabled', we mean having joint pain, being depressed and/or overweight, and even being unable to walk - the problem that lead to the type of old age you're trying to avoid.
Plus, the more time the older participants spent being active, the lower their risk of dying. Those who spent 21/4 hours a week being physically active were nearly a quarter less likely to die during the 21/2 year study than their couch-potato peers. When the physical activity was upped to 7 hours a week, their risk of dying during the study plummeted by 57 percent. And remember - these were all healthy people to begin with.
It's not that exercise significantly extends your life. 'If you start exercising four times a week at the age of 20, by the end of your life, you've gained three extra years, but those extra years were spent doing the exercise,' notes Jere Mitchell, MD, professor of internal medicine and physiology at the University of Texas and one of the original investigators for the Dallas Bed Rest Study. What exercise does, however, is add life to your years. 'There's a big difference in the quality of life if you drop dead playing tennis at 90 or if you've been in a nursing home since age 60,' Dr Mitchell says.
Yet despite our lip service to an active life, most working adults spend little no none of their time exerting their bodies. The problem is particularly bad in the UK. More than half of all adults do no moderate-intensity physical activity in a typical week - not even 10 minutes a week of vigorous leisure-time physical activity, such as brisk walking, bike riding or swimming. Even young adults (aged 16 to 24) are pretty inactive - 42 percent of men and 63 percent of women fail to achieve recommended activity levels - but the proportions rise to a staggering 93 percent of men and 96 percent of women aged 65 and over.
The more energy you expend today, the more energised you will be tomorrow
That's one reason why the current generation of older adults is shaping up to be the first in modern history that will be less healthy in their odler years than the generation before.
Don't let yourself be lumped into this generational deficiency. Push yourself out of that easy chair and vow that the rest of your life begins today. You won't go it alone, we promise. In the pages ahead you'll learn about the health-related benefits of exercise and, as a bonus, we've included three work-out routines of varying difficulty that you can pick up easily.
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