Summary

Being physically active and exercising is superior to any other alternative for achieving optimal aging. By continuing to exercise throughout the aging process, age-associated decrements in physical function can be offset and unfavourable fat mass gain can be mitigated.

  • Being physically active has global protective effects that facilitates the aging process by maintaining physiological integrity.
  • Higher levels of physical fitness appear to delay all-cause mortality primarily due to lowered rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
  • Maintaining an active lifestyle doubles the chance that one will still be healthy 10 years from now. This effect appears to be dose dependent; the more a person exercises, the greater the chance of being healthy 10 years later.
  • Resistance training has been shown to significantly increase all health-related quality of life measures. This includes mental, emotional, social and physical functions.
  • Exercise training above the public health recommendations provides additional benefits regarding disease protection and longevity. Endurance exercise, including high-intensity training to improve cardiorespiratory fitness promotes longevity and slows down aging. Strength training should be added to slow down loss of muscle mass, associated with aging and disease.
  • Not only can exercise help maintain physical/health status. It represents a viable non-pharmaceutical therapy with the potential to reverse and enhance impaired mitochondrial function observed with aging, illness, and chronic muscle disuse.
  • Athletic masters have larger cardiac dimensions and enjoy more favourable cardiac function than sedentary counterparts. Notably, athletic populations maintain these effects during chronological aging.
  • Aging alters adipose tissue composition and function resulting in insulin resistance and ectopic lipid storage. Ultimately, obesity accelerates aging by enhancing inflammation and increasing the risk of age-associated diseases.
  • Master athletes have longer telomere length (TL), better oxidative profile, and lower body fat than untrained individuals. Moreover, for this middle-aged sample, body fat was inversely correlated with both TL and markers of oxidative balance, demonstrating the key role of adiposity in biological aging.

 
 

Research