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Researchers: Keeping Aerobically Fit Could Delay Biological Aging by upto 12 Years
| Author: Tony Cappasso |
| Article Date: 4/16/2008 |
Aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging or cycling, kept up through middle age and beyond, could delay the effects of aging by up to 12 years, according to scientists writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Aerobic exercising boosts the body’s oxygen consumption, the researchers write, and increases oxygen’s use in generating energy. But maximal aerobic power starts to fall steadily from middle age, decreasing by around 5 ml/[kg.min] every decade.
When it falls below aound18 ml in men and 15 ml in women, it becomes difficult to do very much at all without severe fatigue, they note.
Research shows that relatively high intensity aerobic exercise over a relatively long period boosted maximal aerobic power by 25 percent, equivalent to a gain of 6 ml/ [kg.min], or 10 to 12 biological years.
In a typical sedentary man, for example, the maximal aerobic power will have fallen to around 25 mil/[kg.min] by the age of 60, almost half of what it was at the age of 20.
But the evidence shows that regular aerobic exercise can slow or reverse the inexorable decline, even in later life, according to the researchers.
In addition, they say, aerobic exercise indulged in on a regular basis, reduced the risks of serious diseases, promotes faster recovery after illness or injury and reduces the risk of falls because it preserves muscle tone, balance and coordination.
Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine
Aerobic exercising boosts the body’s oxygen consumption, the researchers write, and increases oxygen’s use in generating energy. But maximal aerobic power starts to fall steadily from middle age, decreasing by around 5 ml/[kg.min] every decade.
When it falls below aound18 ml in men and 15 ml in women, it becomes difficult to do very much at all without severe fatigue, they note.
Research shows that relatively high intensity aerobic exercise over a relatively long period boosted maximal aerobic power by 25 percent, equivalent to a gain of 6 ml/ [kg.min], or 10 to 12 biological years.
In a typical sedentary man, for example, the maximal aerobic power will have fallen to around 25 mil/[kg.min] by the age of 60, almost half of what it was at the age of 20.
But the evidence shows that regular aerobic exercise can slow or reverse the inexorable decline, even in later life, according to the researchers.
In addition, they say, aerobic exercise indulged in on a regular basis, reduced the risks of serious diseases, promotes faster recovery after illness or injury and reduces the risk of falls because it preserves muscle tone, balance and coordination.
Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine