Train and Live Forever - How Exercise Affects Longevity

Introduction:

Interventions for increasing one’s lifespan are almost endless. Everything from legitimate actions proven to be effective through rigorous and sound, peer-reviewed research to a kooky homemade beverage you discovered during a rabbit-hole web search. Among them all, there is one that reigns supreme: exercise. It isn’t just my opinion that deems exercise king, it has been proven time and time again. There is simply nothing you can do to improve your lifespan more than exercise. But we aren’t concerned about lifespan and lifespan alone here. What good is an extended life if you find yourself living with disease and unable to do the things you love? Exercise not only has the power to extend your life, but to improve the extra years you are afforded. This is done through a myriad of dizzying mechanisms but while the mechanisms are complex, the end result is clear.

The Link Between Exercise and Lifespan and Longevity:

While exercise has long been understood to have potent effects on overall human health, it isn’t until recently that the link between exercise and longevity has been firmly established and promoted. So, what’s going on here? The key mechanism by which exercise has the potential to increase an individual’s lifespan is through reducing all-cause mortality. All-cause mortality is essentially, the chance that you’ll die at any given moment by disease, accidental death or other means of kicking the bucket. Through exercise, we are really focusing on the disease aspect and in particular, the “Four Horsemen” of death as coined by Peter Attia. When we exercise, we are reducing our chances of dying of cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease and type 2 diabetes or other related metabolic dysfunction. That may all seem farfetched; the link between exercise and a risk reduction of cardiovascular disease and metabolic dysfunction would seem more obvious, cancer less so and neurodegenerative disease even more but emerging research and literature is pointing to just that. The figures commonly reported are anywhere between a 22 – 30% reduction in all-cause mortality risk, and you bet that scales with just how active you are.

Improving Health Span Through Exercise:

As discussed, we aren’t simply concerned with just living longer, we want to live better, fuller lives AND longer. It’s nonsensical to extend an individual’s lifespan to have them wasting away in a nursing home for an extra 10 years; that’s downright depressing. So, to avoid this, we focus on extending one’s health span as well. Health span can be defined as the period of one’s life that is free from major debilitating disease. Traditional thought has viewed the “golden years” as a time to slow down and relax and reflect upon a life of hard work while reaping the rewards. But is simply existing and sitting really reaping the rewards? Or are we put into this position in our old age because we have no other option? What if you could still travel, be active and thoroughly drain every ounce of living that you have left? Beginning an exercise regimen in our middle age or even as we age can have unbelievable effects on our abilities to thrive in our golden years and allow us to do just that. Much like in physics, a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Not only this, but the potent power that exercise can have in staving off illness and disease keeps us free of ailments that would otherwise leave us incapacitated and confined to the couch. Just imagine, retiring at the age of 60 – 65 knowing that you have not only the finances to fund your remaining life of adventure, but the vitality, strength, and health to maximize every moment. Now that to me truly puts the GOLDEN in golden years.

Maintaining Muscle Mass and Strength as You Age:

One key aspect of staying in motion as we age is the amount of muscle mass that we can carry into old age. In fact, the amount of muscle mass you have as you get older is a key determinant of life expectancy. The reasons for this are readily apparent; with less muscle comes greater weakness, less mobility, increased risk for osteoporosis, falls and injuries that can have detrimental impacts to our health. Perhaps as you read this, you’re still relatively young with a sizeable degree of muscle mass. To you, this may seem like an impossible reality. However, the true reality that we must face is that the loss of muscle mass as we age, sarcopenia, is a certainty. For men, muscle mass has been shown to decline, on average, 3 to 5% every decade past the age of 30. Despite this, we have a strong intervention to combat these effects: resistance training. You can keep and even add more muscle as you age with dedication, consistency, and a strategic plan. If you’re young, you should be striving to put on as much muscle as is reasonably possible to set yourself up for success into old age and continue training with that level of intensity as long as you can muster it. So, which elderly individual do you want to be? The one who struggles to get off the couch? Or the one who lifts their grandchildren high into the air with ease? The difference lies in the decisions and actions you take now.

Cognitive and Emotional Benefits of Exercise:

Much of this discussion thus far has focused on the tangible benefits of exercise (disease prevention, muscle preservation etc.) however, we have yet to address the benefits that are less measurable specifically, those related to cognitive and emotional health. Cognitive decline is a natural part of the process of aging. It may be accelerated or more detrimental in some individuals while in others it remains mild and comes on relatively slowly. Historically, we’ve viewed this process as somewhat immune to intervention; however, this is changing in modern science. Alongside medication-based, nutritional, and social approaches to addressing cognitive decline, exercise is becoming solidified as another legitimate method.

A recent meta-analysis that looked at numerous studies of physical activity as an intervention from the perspective of evidence-based medicine concluded that physical activity was effective in delaying the onset of cognitive decline1. Furthermore, improvements were seen regardless of the individual’s current mental status. This highlights the potent ability of exercise to not only prevent cognitive decline, but also to improve the condition of an individual who is already experiencing cognitive decline.

There are numerous theories on what is occurring physiologically here, but without getting exhaustingly technical, much of the improvements in cognitive health are attributed to increased blood supply and clearance of free radicals from the brain. On top of this, the collection of amyloid plaques that are a prominent feature of dementia—whether they be causative or not—are reduced through exercise. In this light, the idiom “what’s good for the heart is good for the mind (brain)” rings true!

But what about the emotional benefits? This aspect is more clearly defined. As in individuals of all ages, exercise promotes the release of endorphins—opioid neuropeptides which naturally provide a boost in overall mood and reduce stress and pain. These molecules are also released when we take part in other pleasurable activities essentially signalling to your body that whatever you are doing at the present moment is GOOD and to keep doing it.

On top of the neurochemical mechanisms, exercise provides a feeling of achievement and self-efficacy to older adults, which can be vital at a time when individuals typically begin to rely on outside support in daily living. Often, exercise requires that you leave your house. Whether it be going to a gym or going outside for a walk or run or any other type of aerobic activity, exercise forces older adults to get out and continue enjoying and living their life. Again, this is a crucial aspect to improving emotional health in older individuals. Many suffer simply due to being confined to their household and loneliness and physical activity can intervene here in a significant way.

Staying Active as You Age:

As mentioned above, a body in motion tends to stay in motion. While exercising frequently throughout your life can certainly provide an effective blunting to the afflictions of aging, it’s equally important to continue moving as you transition into old age. You may not be able to sprint 100m like you used to and there is a pretty good chance you aren’t going to be performing rounds of burpee box jumps, but you can still take part in aerobic activities, lift weights, and enjoy recreationally activities that involve exercise that allow you fully enjoy your remaining years.

A key aspect of setting yourself up for success in this regard is essentially getting yourself as physically fit as you possibly can in your earlier years. When we think about the typical physical decline in old age such as declines in cardiovascular health, muscle wasting and stability, we can begin forming a picture of the areas that need to be targeted early on. Focusing on improving stability, adding muscle and strength, improving zone 2 cardio as well as higher levels of cardio such as zone 4 and 5, speed and power etc. are crucial. This is why it’s vital that your training regimen in your 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s be reflective of all these metrics (I am looking at you, 20-something gym bros). Look at your training from a more wholistic perspective. Are you training in different planes of motion? Do you train stability? Speed? Power? Do you frequently avoid cardio equipment and training in different heart rate zones? Maybe its time you did a real deep dive on your training to ensure you are giving yourself every opportunity to be physically fit and continue moving as you age.

Conclusion:

While some degree of physical and cognitive decline is expected as we age, we have at our fingertips a most potent intervention to improving our physical and mental health as well as improve longevity and the vitality in those years. I should note that much of the discussion above points to early intervention and while its undoubtedly true that early intervention of physical activity produces more favorable outcomes later on, its never too late to begin. So, if you are reading this and lucky enough to still be in your 20s and 30s, do yourself a favor and get moving. If you are in your 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, GET MOVING. You would be doing yourself a massive disservice otherwise.

References:

1.       Xu L, Gu H, Cai X, Zhang Y, Hou X, Yu J, Sun T. The Effects of Exercise for Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 7;20(2):1088. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021088. PMID: 36673844; PMCID: PMC9858649.