Brief exercise reduces impact of stress on aging

I've pointed to research in the past on the effect of different types of exercise on cell aging, as measured by telomere length( for example - Marathons make your muscles old). As usual, things are quite complex.

Anyway, there is some new research just published that

Vigorous physical activity appears to protect those experiencing high stress by buffering its relationship with telomere length.

Chronic psychological stress is responsible for a range of health problems, but it seems that it even has an effect at a cellular level right in the DNA. Exercise however can reduce its negative impacts:

In the study, 62 post-menopausal women – many of whom were caring for spouses or parents with dementia -- reported at the end of each day over three days the number of minutes of vigorous physical activity in which they had engaged. Vigorous activity in the study was defined as "increased heart rate and/or sweating.'' They also reported separately their perceptions of life stress that they had experienced during the prior month. Their blood's immune cells were examined for telomere length.

Results support the UCSF-led discovery six years earlier in premenopausal women that psychological stress has a detrimental effect on immune cell longevity, as it relates to shorter telomeres. The new study showed, however, that when participants were divided into groups – an inactive group, and an active group (i.e., they met federal recommendations for 75 minutes of weekly physical activity) – only the inactive high stress group had shorter telomeres. The active high stress group did not have shorter telomeres. In other words, stress predicted shorter telomeres in the sedentary group, but not in the active group.

There is more in the report here.

Dry January

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was taking part in "Dry January". I didn't make a big song and dance about it, but I decided to go for a calendar month or so with no alcohol. A few people have asked me about my experience, so here are a few points. Why take a break from drinking? Alcohol is an interesting topic. As a drug it is widely accepted in society, central to so much of our socialising and leisure. There seem to be lots of health benefits - so we are told - yet there are also a lot of problems in terms of health, relationships and lifestyle that come from drinking. Over a few years I'd begun to become aware and then concerned that I was drinking too much and too regularly. I am in a busy and stressful job and sometimes a glass of wine after work to relax is really helpful. But over time, one glass became two. Two glasses became ....I might as well finish the bottle. A habit got established....and was starting to get too e...

So where have I been?

You will have noticed that this blog has been quiet for a while.... There are a few reasons for that, reasons that I thought I'd list here: WORK - my day job has been incredibly busy and stressful this year. Working 10-14 hour days the last thing on my mind when I got home was putting something on here. FACEBOOK/TWITTER - I suppose I've been using other channels to do some of what I used to do here. Quick fire posts pointing to interesting studies or news etc tend to get posted to Twitter (@chrishighcock) or to the Facebook Hillfit group http://www.facebook.com/groups/263083947097000/ REASSESSMENT - I've found myself less comfortable with some of the positions I've taken in the past. Sometimes I'm embarrassed by some of the things I've promoted. I'm not Paleo or low carb. I think Tabata and intervals are misunderstood and misapplied. I cannot really claim to be HIT. I find myselfunable honestly to post things on here and pretend that I am some sort o...

Taking up space for a brief update

I've a couple of posts in draft that I will get up soon - an update / reflection on Dry January and some thoughts on the scheduling benefits of short workouts if your life is busy. Before that though, I am pointing to something else. However, I wanted to highlight something that is coming this weekend that I've been involved in. Amber Rogers (Gokaleo and author of Taking Up Space ) has been pulling together a bundle of books from various authors with a common theme, one that I've been pushing here recently. Keep it simple, avoid the hype, be patient, be consistent and flee the gurus. I've talked before about how we get obsessed with pushing for more and more, when enough is OK. I've given my view that so much of the health and fitness internet world is more like a gnostic religion than something that will benefit your life. There are other voices out there saying similar things and I'll be pointing to a bundle of books later this week ...

Conditioning Research

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