Exercise Doesn’t Just Slow the Aging Process. It Can Reverse It.
You can’t be healthy without being physically active. If you are over 50 years of age and aren’t exercising regularly, then it is time to make exercise a priority in your life and do it. Check with your doctor first if you have a chronic disease or other health issues.
“It’s now considered ‘normal’ for people in their sixties and even seventies to run marathons,” according to the Dean and Ayesha Sherzai MDs, codirectors of the Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Our expectations about aging have changed dramatically in the last 20 years. We shouldn’t settle for an outdated expectation of “normal aging.” Don’t accept inactivity and physical decline.
According to Dr. Dean Ornish, one study discovered that adults who participated in high physical activities had a biological aging advantage of nine years compared to those who were sedentary and seven years to moderately active. Highly functional (or active) was defined as 30-40 minutes of jogging daily, five days a week. Exercise has an “anti-aging effect at a molecular level.”
There are so many health reasons to exercise. Besides feeling better, exercise helps you manage stress better.
According to studies, physical exercise is more effective for increasing cognitive function than brain exercise. Depression, anxiety, memory loss, dementia, diminished reaction time, and more can be stopped by physical activity. Neurotransmitters are freed during exercise to develop brain function and slow the cognitive decline that happens in natural aging, advises Drs. Daniel Monti & Anthony Bazzan, in the book, A Tapestry of Health. Weaving Wellness into Your Life through the Science of Integrative Medicine.
So, what kind of exercise do you do regularly?
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- Dean & Ayesha Sherzai, MD, The Alzheimer’s Solution. A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline at Every Age., p. 145
- Dean Ornish, MD & Anne Ornish, UnDo It! How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases. p. 103
- Daniel A. Monti, MD & Anthony J. Bazzan, MD, Tapestry of Health Weaving Wellness into Your Life through the Science of Integrative Medicine., p.99-100