This is the best anti-aging workout, according to science

You already use anti-aging moisturizers and anti-aging creams for the eyes. Is it time to adopt an anti-aging workout?

A new study published today in the journal European Heart Journal he says when it comes to the anti-aging effects of exercise, cardio is queen. Endurance exercises, such as running, swimming or cycling, as well as high-intensity interval training, slow the signs of aging in relation to weight lifting, at least at the cellular level.

This is how the study was conducted: a team of German researchers divided 124 healthy but inactive adults aged 30 to 60 into four groups. One group continued their nonexistent exercises. The other three sweated during 45-minute sessions three times a week for 26 weeks.

The endurance training group walked or ran continuously. The HIIT group finished a warm-up, four innings alternating faster and slower race, and recovery. The resistance training group used eight different weight machines to complete an exercise circuit, including seated chest presses, side rollers and leg presses.

By the end of the study, people in endurance training groups and HIIT groups had suffered the anti-aging effects of their workout, unlike the inactivity and strength groups. These backtracking effects were measured at the cellular level, by examining white blood cells from blood collected before the start of the study and a few days after the last exercise session.

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The researchers noted two important changes in runner and HIIT-ers cells: their telomeres – the caps located at the ends of the chromosomes – elongated, and telomerase – an enzyme involved in maintaining these caps – were increasing. These effects "are at the same time important for cellular aging, regenerative capacity and, hence, for healthy aging," said in a statement the study's author, Ulrich Laufs, MD from the University of Leipzig in Germany.

Telomeres naturally contract over time and, in doing so, the cells die instead of continuing to divide. Cell death is bad news not only for gray wrinkles and hair, but also for the risk of age-related health problems, such as heart disease, cognitive decline, and even premature death.

So what was the endurance and the HIIT workouts that could avoid this shrinkage? The researchers hypothesized that these types of exercises were affecting the levels of nitric oxide in the blood. Since nitric oxide increases blood flow and lowers blood pressure, it may also affect the cellular changes observed in these two groups of participants.

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This is not the first study to link exercise to telomere length. A team from Brigham Young University found that adults who jogged for 30 to 40 minutes five times a week had telomeres as long as those of nine-year-olds, for example. And HIIT workouts have already been associated with other anti-aging cellular modifications. This new study is however considered the largest to have directly compared the anti-aging effects on telomeres of different types of exercises.

However, according to an editorial published in parallel to the study, this research does not necessarily mean that one or the other of the exercises is better for your fitness. "The authors indicated that changes in telomere length were not associated with changes in cardiorespiratory fitness," write editorial authors of the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom. According to them, further studies are needed to fully understand the link between telomere length, telomerase activity and disease prevention.

In the meantime, do not give up your weight training sessions. These results fit well with the usual practice recommendations. "Our data corroborate the current recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology that resistance exercise should be complementary to endurance training rather than being a surrogate," said co-author of the study, Christian Werner, MD of the University of Saarland in Germany.

The same is true for the recently updated exercise guidelines for Americans, which suggest to train 150 to 300 minutes of aerobic physical activity of moderate intensity per week, as well as at least two muscle building activity sessions.

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