Here are the nondrug, surgery-free way to look and feel younger.
April 22, 2006 (Press Release) --
In 1976, Jimmy Carter won the presidency, Roots swept the Emmys, and Lawrence Golding, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, began a groundbreaking study. He started tracking 20 men—average age, 47—enrolled in a five-day-a-week exercise program. Two decades later, Golding discovered something remarkable: They were as flexible, strong, fit, and lean as they'd been when they started.
"These men had none of the changes in fitness or body composition that we attribute to aging," says Golding, whose ongoing research is one of the most convincing arguments for the anti-aging benefits of exercise. "A man who was 54 when he started is now 82, and he can outperform most 25-year-olds."
Many studies confirm that people 50 and older can halt, and partly reverse, the loss of flexibility, strength, balance, and fitness that we chalk up to aging. Though Golding's study looked at men, research has found the same holds true for women. (Golding had enrolled women as well—and got spectacular results—but not enough stayed with the program to include in his final tally.)
Regardless of gender, exercising can help you lose fat, build muscle and bone, and lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and risk of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and diabetes, says Tufts University researcher Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., author of Strong Women Stay Young. That's not all: Exercise can help stave off "age-related" declines in immunity, according to a recent University of Colorado study of 46 men ages 20 to 79.
Even your brain benefits: A 2004 University of Illinois study of 29 adults ages 58 to 77 found that just six months of aerobic exercise bolstered brain function. "Most of the negative things we associate with aging aren't a result of chronological aging, but rather, a lack of physical activity," says Walter M. Bortz II, M.D., a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and former president of the American Geriatrics Society.
So what are you waiting for?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a third of all Americans age 50 and older are sedentary. Let yourself slide into the comfy chair of inactivity, and you can find yourself noticeably out of shape by the time you hit 50. After age 30, you start losing 10 percent of your calorie-hungry muscle mass per decade.
Skip bone-building weight training and weight-bearing exercise (such as walking) and your bones can thin dangerously, a process that accelerates in women after the hormonal changes accompanying menopause kick in. In a study of women ages 50 to 64, nearly a third had bone density low enough to run an increased risk of potentially debilitating fractures.
But you can get fit far faster than you fell out of shape. That's what Golding finds as he signs up new participants every year: "When new people join our exercise program, they look at the young volunteer leading it and think, 'When I was her age, I could do that.' In a few weeks, they realize they still can."
What's more, research suggests that older adults can make bigger, faster gains than younger, fitter people once they start exercising. A 2001 study found that women 50 and older lowered their systolic blood pressure 12 points more than the youngest women after starting a 20-week cycling program. "If you are not fit and start exercising, you gain more quickly," explains Bortz.
Source: http://health.msn.com/centers
"These men had none of the changes in fitness or body composition that we attribute to aging," says Golding, whose ongoing research is one of the most convincing arguments for the anti-aging benefits of exercise. "A man who was 54 when he started is now 82, and he can outperform most 25-year-olds."
Many studies confirm that people 50 and older can halt, and partly reverse, the loss of flexibility, strength, balance, and fitness that we chalk up to aging. Though Golding's study looked at men, research has found the same holds true for women. (Golding had enrolled women as well—and got spectacular results—but not enough stayed with the program to include in his final tally.)
Regardless of gender, exercising can help you lose fat, build muscle and bone, and lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and risk of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and diabetes, says Tufts University researcher Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., author of Strong Women Stay Young. That's not all: Exercise can help stave off "age-related" declines in immunity, according to a recent University of Colorado study of 46 men ages 20 to 79.
Even your brain benefits: A 2004 University of Illinois study of 29 adults ages 58 to 77 found that just six months of aerobic exercise bolstered brain function. "Most of the negative things we associate with aging aren't a result of chronological aging, but rather, a lack of physical activity," says Walter M. Bortz II, M.D., a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and former president of the American Geriatrics Society.
So what are you waiting for?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a third of all Americans age 50 and older are sedentary. Let yourself slide into the comfy chair of inactivity, and you can find yourself noticeably out of shape by the time you hit 50. After age 30, you start losing 10 percent of your calorie-hungry muscle mass per decade.
Skip bone-building weight training and weight-bearing exercise (such as walking) and your bones can thin dangerously, a process that accelerates in women after the hormonal changes accompanying menopause kick in. In a study of women ages 50 to 64, nearly a third had bone density low enough to run an increased risk of potentially debilitating fractures.
But you can get fit far faster than you fell out of shape. That's what Golding finds as he signs up new participants every year: "When new people join our exercise program, they look at the young volunteer leading it and think, 'When I was her age, I could do that.' In a few weeks, they realize they still can."
What's more, research suggests that older adults can make bigger, faster gains than younger, fitter people once they start exercising. A 2001 study found that women 50 and older lowered their systolic blood pressure 12 points more than the youngest women after starting a 20-week cycling program. "If you are not fit and start exercising, you gain more quickly," explains Bortz.
Source: http://health.msn.com/centers
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