Startling Study Shows Exercise Is Fountain Of Youth

It’s been said before, and I’ll repeat it here again – the most effective weapon in fighting off old age may be your nearest gym. A study by McMaster University researchers in Hamilton now re-enforces this notion, showing that the impact of exercise upon longevity has long been underestimated. Though many would have you believe that the proverbial fountain of youth comes in a pill or from an exotic berry from the Amazon, the truth is plain old exercise works better.

Research conducted using 3 month old mice (roughly equivalent to 20 years in humans)  which were genetically altered to age quickly, found some startling results. The mice were put on a treadmill for 45 minutes, 3 times a week, while others were left to live a sedentary life. After 5 months (the equivalent of 60 human years), the non-active mice were balding, greying, less sociable, less fertile and afflicted by age to the point of being nearly immobile. The active group however had bright healthy coats and acted like young and healthy wild-type mice that didn’t have the genetic mutation.

Perhaps most surprising is what the scientists discovered in the mitochondria of the mice. Mitochondria are unique in that they have their own DNA. It’s long been thought that accumulation of mitochondrial DNA mutations over our lifetimes leads to the progressive decline in tissue and organ function that results in aging. However, researchers saw “huge recovery” in age-related damage to practically every tissue they could analyze after exercise. The mice experienced anti-aging benefits in their brains, skin, hair, gonads, kidneys, livers and spleens.

“To see a mouse with grey fur and osteoporosis hunched up in the cage, and then the littermate running around with bright healthy coatsand acting energetic, I think that really motivates individuals to say, ‘Wow, this is good for me, not just my muscles, but everything,” said Tarnopolsky, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at McMaster’s Michael DeGroote School of Medicine.

Can Results Transfer to Humans?

So are the results seen in the mice applicable to humans? “Absolutely”, he said. “Others have tried to treat these animals with “exercise pill” drugs and have even tried to reduce their caloric intake, a strategy felt to be the most effective for slowing aging, and these were met with limited success.”

In terms of follow-up work, Tarnopolsky said the researchers have already mapped out the specific biochemical and molecular pathways responsible for the protection, and results will be presented in subsequent papers. They are looking at the effects of some of the proteins that come out of the muscle into the blood.

“We’re looking at all the different tissues in the human body in a petri dish to see how these different proteins that are being secreted by muscle are having a beneficial effect on all tissues in the body,” he said.

In other words, exercise has a very potent systemic effect, and what’s coming out of our muscle is having an effect on all organs in the body, proving through compelling evidence that that people who are physically active or exercise regularly have fewer chronic diseases and tend to live longer. So while death is inevitable,exercise truly is the fountain of sustaining youth, health and vigour.

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