Ensuring yourself a good mood, maintaining great muscle tone and protecting your brain from age-related changes are all possible with fitness. What are the best workouts for biohacking?
The two pillars on which anti-aging fitness is built are aerobic exercise, or cardio, and strength training. And while the latter keeps our muscles strong and resilient, the former takes care of the most important thing – the health of our heart and blood vessels. This is just a summary. In fact, the list of positive effects of cardio exercise is much longer, and many scientific discoveries have been made in this field in recent years.
Aerobic Exercise, Such as Running, Can Rejuvenate the Heart
If we lead a sedentary lifestyle, working at our desks during the day and gambling at Hellspin Casino in the evening, not only do the arm and leg muscles become flabby as we age, but so does the heart muscle. But the process can be reversed! American scientists from the University of Southwestern Texas conducted an experiment: 53 adults were divided into two groups. One group went jogging 4-5 times a week for two years, and the other took yoga and balance classes as often. When they summed up the results of the study, it turned out that the runners had a much better heart – like much younger people.
Regular Cardio Exercise, Such as Cycling, Swimming or Brisk Walking, Reduces the Risk of Developing Dementia
Swedish scientists from the University of Gothenburg found that women who regularly engage in aerobic fitness in middle age are about 88% less likely to develop dementia in old age than their sedentary counterparts. Researchers followed the health of 191 women who were 50 years old when the study began in 1968. At the outset, the researchers assessed their cardiovascular performance by asking them to take a test on an exercise bike, and based on the results, they divided everyone into three groups: well-trained, moderately trained, and untrained. After 40 years, brain abnormalities appeared in 32% of the untrained, 25% of the moderately trained, and only 5% of the well-trained participants.
Cycling Protects the Immune System From Age-related Decline
British researchers at the University of Birmingham selected 125 cyclists aged 55-79 and compared their health and fitness to 75 peers who were not into fitness. The cyclists had more muscle mass, less fat, lower blood cholesterol, and performed better in strength tests. But the most interesting and perhaps most important thing is that they had a much better function of a small organ called the thymus gland. It’s where immune T cells are produced, which are needed to mobilize the body’s defenses. In fact, in older cyclists, this immune organ functioned like a healthy middle-aged person.
Cardio Exercise Can Increase the Size of Brain Regions Responsible for Memory
In the experiment of Canadian scientists 86 women aged 70-80 years with mild cognitive impairment were divided into three groups: the first twice a week engaged in aerobic fitness (swimming or walking), the second – weight training with dumbbells, the third – balance exercises. After six months, all the participants were examined, and those who did cardio exercise showed an increase in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for learning and memory. So far, scientists are cautious about drawing categorical conclusions from this fact and plan further studies of this phenomenon. So, most likely, in the future we will have new discoveries about the benefits of aerobic fitness.
