Anti-Aging Benefits of Exercise

Artery stiffness is recognized as a barometer of aging, supporting the 17th century axiom from the English Hippocrates that “man is as old as his arteries.” Normally, large arteries in the body expand and recoil with every heartbeat. That’s the pulse you feel in your wrist. This helps cushion the pressure waves to prevent damage to tiny sensitive blood vessels in organs like your brain and kidneys. Thankfully, not all age-related stiffening is inevitable. Endurance-trained men and women have artery elasticity closer to that of younger sedentary individuals, a status that can be achieved after daily brisk walks or jogging for just three months. This may help explain why those who exercise appear to live so much longer.

A single exercise session can improve insulin sensitivity for up to seventeen hours. Exercise is such powerful medicine that researchers at Stanford and the London School found that exercise may work as well as drugs for patients with coronary heart disease, heart failure, and prediabetes, and even better than some medications for stroke. They suggested that drug companies should perhaps be required to compare any new chronic disease drugs head-to-head against exercise, as “patients deserve to understand the relative impact that physical activity might have on their condition.”