The Free Market Alternative: What if the Most Powerful Way to Live Longer Is Just Exercise?

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

What if the Most Powerful Way to Live Longer Is Just Exercise?

People are chasing longevity with ice baths and supplements. But the benefits of exercise have years of science behind them

By Alex Janin of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Longevity researchers have spent decades hunting for a magic pill to slow the aging process. But the best solution—at least for now—may be the simplest one: Move more.
No single thing—whether it’s regular cold plunges or off-label drugs and supplements like metformin, rapamycin or taurine—has a track record that can match exercise’s in terms of protecting against age-related diseases and helping people get more from their later years, a vast body of research shows.
The muscle and bone growth stimulated by exercise can help older adults maintain their independence, lessen fatigue and protect against bad injuries from falls, the leading cause of injury-related death among those over 65.
Regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing certain age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“It’s really remarkable how many of these different hallmarks of aging exercise can target,” says Nathan LeBrasseur, an exercise and aging researcher and director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic.
LeBrasseur co-wrote a study in 2021 that showed a structured exercise program reduced a key marker of aging, cell senescence. Senescent cells stop dividing as they age and contribute to multiple age-related diseases."
"Federal guidelines recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week.
A team of researchers who analyzed data on more than 650,000 adults over about a decade found that, compared with those who were inactive, those who got about half the government’s recommended physical activity added an average of 1.8 years to their lives. Those who exercised for roughly five to eight hours weekly gained an average of 4.2 years."

"Lifespan benefits persisted across age groups, and for people who were classified as overweight."
"Exercise helps fight aging in a number of ways, including by improving immune function, reducing inflammation and increasing insulin sensitivity, research has found."
"Exercise is always important, but becomes especially important after middle age when muscle mass and basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories the body naturally burns at rest, start to decline, aging researchers say.
Doctors and scientists generally recommend following the federal guidelines for time and intensity of training, including a mix of endurance and strength-training exercises. Strength training becomes especially important for people in older age, says Mayo Clinic’s LeBrasseur."