Endurance training can be better anti-aging than strength training | Life

BERLIN, Nov. 29 – New European research has revealed that endurance exercises such as running, swimming and cycling can be better than resistance exercises to slow aging at the cellular level.

Led by researchers from the University of Leipzig, Germany, the new study examined the effects of three types of exercise: endurance training, high intensity interval training. and resistance training, which involves strength training with weights, on how cells age.

The team recruited 266 young, healthy, but previously inactive participants and randomly divided them into four groups.

One group had to follow six months of continuous endurance training, another six months of high intensity interval training, and the third followed resistance training with machines. The fourth group did not make any lifestyle changes and served as a control.

The researchers also analyzed telomere length and telomerase enzyme activity in white blood cells taken at the beginning and end of the study. Telomeres are the protective "caps" at the end of chromosomes that are found in every cell of the body. They naturally shorten with age, whenever our cells divide, but some lifestyle factors seem to accelerate this process. When the telomeres become too short, it is thought that the cells are no longer able to divide to repair the body, a sign of aging. Telomerase is able to thwart this process of shortening and may even add length to the telomeres.

The results, published in the European Heart Journal yesterday, showed that in the endurance and high intensity training groups, the telomerase activity was doubled and telomere length significantly increased compared to the resistance and resistance groups. control.

The researchers suggest that these two types of exercises can affect nitric oxide levels in the blood vessels, which contributes to changes in cells.

Although the small sample size is a limit of the study, the researchers noted that this was the largest study to date to examine the effects of different exercises on cell aging in a controlled and randomized.

Dr. Christian Werner, co-author of the study, also added: "Our data corroborate the current recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology, that resistance exercises should be complementary to endurance training rather than substitute. "

However, strength training also brings health benefits. A recent study by St George's University in Grenada found that strength training seemed more effective in reducing the risk of heart disease than cardiovascular exercise such as walking or cycling.

At the same time, an American study released earlier this month also found that just 1 to 59 minutes of weightlifting a week, divided into one, two, or three sessions, was associated with a reduced risk of 40 to 70% experience a cardiovascular event. – AFP-Relaxnews