Physical activity will make you stronger and prolong your life

• A 7.5-year study involving 16,000 male veterans found that exercising reduced the risk of death by 50-70% (depending on the amount of exercise performed). The authors of the study conclude that exercise turns out to be an even more important risk factor for early mortality than cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels.
• 2007 study conducted by Italian scientists showed that the more exercise you do, the lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
• study of 12,000 Danish adults published in 2008 found that combining regular physical activity with moderate alcohol consumption reduced the risk of heart attack by 50% and the risk of death from all causes by a third.
• On January 28, 2008, a joint study by British and American scientists was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal of the American Medical Association, according to which, in both men and women, exercise in their free time is associated with an increase in the length of leukocyte telomeres (white blood cells) compared with the length of leukocyte telomeres in people leading sedentary lifestyle. An increase in telomere length, in turn, is associated with an increase in life expectancy.

If we know that exercises are so useful and that we look and feel much better if we do them, then why don’t we do them? Even though almost everyone is aware of the generally recognized importance of regular physical activity for health, only a few remain faithful to them all the time. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 74% of Americans over the age of 18 exercise irregularly and almost 40% never use their free time for exercise. And the reason for this is one of the obvious and completely ignored facts. Here he is, an elephant that is not noticed: most people just don’t like doing exercises.

Remember that we inherited our genes from cavemen. Scientists suggest that in the distant past, preferring rest to exercise, the ancestors had a better chance of survival. In those early days, the main task was to get enough food to survive. Cave men and women have not yet learned how to grow crops and preserve food for more than a few days. They lived half-starved, and they didn’t have refrigerators to store food. Relaxation and rest at any appropriate time – that is, when there was no need to look for food or escape from danger – allowed the ancestors to save calories, and often a small supply of food was enough for a longer period, and the chances of survival increased.

But there is also no doubt that the human body is designed for intense and regular physical activity. And in prehistoric times, there were plenty of them – intense physical activity was an integral part of life in the Stone Age. Walking and long–distance running, mountain climbing, and throwing were common ways for our hunter–gatherer ancestors to get food. In addition, they performed quite a lot of “exercises”, avoiding dangers. Most of the time, they either ran for their next meal or ran away from predators so as not to become their next meal. Our Cro-Magnon ancestors needed neither willpower nor self-control to make themselves want to exercise regularly; they were motivated by empty bellies and impending danger.

Understanding that we are still the same cavemen who are genetically programmed to enjoy rare moments of relaxation, as well as the fact that our bodies need regular exercise, can help motivate us to exercise regularly. Moreover, the best motivation is knowing that physical exercise has a very positive effect on every aspect of our biology. Over the years, working with thousands of friends, colleagues, and patients, we have found that being fully aware of these facts can bring relief and strength.

Even today, a few simple changes can transform your workout from hard work that you force yourself into a long-awaited event. People are often surprised at how quickly their appearance and well-being improve and how easy it is to regularly follow the program described below. The first principle is to do exercises to boost your endorphin levels, chemicals that produce intense feelings of pleasure. The second principle is to combine the exercise program with activities that you really enjoy, such as exploring a new scenic park or taking a walk with a friend. By turning exercise into an activity that evokes pleasant emotions, you get the opportunity to overcome the genetic predilection for rest that you inherited from your Stone Age ancestors.

One of the theories explaining why we age has to do with the length of the telomeres at the ends of our chromosomes. Telomeres are frequently repeated DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that keep double–stranded DNA from unwinding. They resemble plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces, preventing them from fraying. Each time a cell replicates, the telomere sheds one of its “beads” (repeating DNA sequences). Having lost all telomeres, the cell cannot reproduce itself and dies. A recent study conducted by King’s College London compared telomere lengths among 2,400 twins. The average difference between the most and least physically active people was 200 nucleotides. In other words, the most active participants in the study had the same telomere length as people 10 years younger than them. The least active participants in the study exercised for only 16 minutes, while the most active trained for 200 minutes per week. In terms of telomere length, three hours of exercise per week rejuvenated the body for 10 years. Telomere retention is just one of a number of beneficial properties of physical activity.

Source: Kurzweil R., Grossman T. “Nine steps towards eternal life”

Photo: naked-science.ru