In recent years there has been increasing acceptance of the idea that the debilitating effects that go along with aging are not inevitable. Various interventions have been found that hold out the promise of a long life that is healthy to the end. Among these interventions are:

• Eating healthy foods
• Restricting calories, particularly “empty” calories that provide energy without much nutrition
• Practicing intermittent fasting, where eating is confined to a prescribed interval of time
• Taking drugs that seem to slow aging in animals, such as metformin and rapamycin
• Exercising on a regular basis

Those are all good things, and they all have the potential to increase a person’s healthspan. The only caveat is that taking drugs should only be done under the supervision of a medical doctor. Consult your doctor before initiating a course of either metformin or rapamycin.

There’s a little vagueness associated with that last bullet point. If you decide to get up out of your chair and start an exercise program, what kind of exercise should you do? There are a lot of choices, and some are bound to be more effective in countering the effects of aging than others.

First of all, you should choose an activity that you like. This must be something that you will be willing to practice daily for the long term. By long term, I mean hopefully for the rest of your life.

Second, the activity should be something that requires exertion. For that reason, I would not recommend playing billiards as a valid route to a long and healthy life, although it is a fine recreation.

Of possible activities that can be pleasurable enough for people to maintain them for years, or even decades, there are two main categories: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic activities would include such things as running, cycling, and swimming. Anaerobic activities would include weight training, shotput, discus, or playing center, guard, or tackle on an American football team. There are also some activities, such as rowing, that combine both aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

How might vigorous exercise diminish or perhaps even reverse the deleterious changes that take place as we age? One idea stems from the telomere theory of aging. All the genes that determine who we are as well as our state of health reside on our chromosomes. These consist of long strands of DNA. On both ends of each strand is a telomere. Telomeres have been likened to those plastic tubes on the ends of shoelaces, that keep the ends of the lace from fraying. The telomeres themselves have no genetic function. They are only there to protect the coding portion of the chromosome from harm. As time goes on, they are sacrificed so that the functional part of the chromosome can survive.

Every time a cell divides, a portion of the cell’s telomeres are lost. As an organism ages, its telomeres get shorter and shorter. When the telomeres are all used up, functional DNA starts to get lost and the cell dies. Decrepitude and death are the ultimate result of the trajectory.

However, all is not lost! There is an enzyme named telomerase that fights this degenerative process. It rebuilds telomeres that have been shortened due to the vicissitudes of aging. Normally the amount of telomerase in a person’s body decreases with age. However, it is possible to turn that trend around. One way to do it is through vigorous exercise. Research has been done that compares telomerase activity in people who participated in three different forms of vigorous exercise. The results of the experiment are interesting.

124 healthy non-smokers who were not exercisers, aged between 30 and 60 were placed into four groups:

• Group 1 did continuous running for 45 minutes, three times a week.
• Group 2 did high intensity interval training (HIIT) for 45 minutes, three times a week.
• Group 3 did resistance training (circle training on 8 devices) for 45 minutes three times a week.
• Group 4 (the controls) did not exercise.

The experiment continued for six months. At the beginning and end of that time participants were tested for physical fitness with a treadmill test, and for telomere length in mononuclear cells.

The results:

• No changes were observed in the control group (Group 4}
• Maximal running speed increased more for Group 1 and 2 subjects than for Group 3 subjects.
• Telomerase activity increased more for Group 1 and 2 subjects than for Group 3 subjects.
• Telomere length didn’t increase in either Group 3 or 4, but it did increase in Groups 1 and 2.

The primary thing I take away from this research is that aerobic exercise drives changes in the human body that have a positive effect on healthspan, while anaerobic exercise does not. This reinforces what my current practice is. I gave up my gym membership and corresponding weight training months ago to avoid potential exposure to Covid-19. I get my aerobic exercise by running around my neighborhood by myself. My training regimen matches Group 1 from this research quite closely. The main difference is that I run more than three times a week. It’s nice to know that what I felt intuitively that I should be doing, is backed up by rigorous research.

BIO:

Allen G. Taylor is a 40-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 40 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 9th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Third Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at wwwallengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org.