# Can exercise reverse the ageing process? BBC programme



## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

I suspect most of us here know that.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47331544

To me the relevant bit is:

_So, if an active 80-year-old has a similar physiology to an inactive 50-year-old, it is the younger person who appears older than they should be, not the other way around._


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

no it's true for cyclists

special relativity

if you move faster than someone else (your speed relative to their speed) you will age slower. at speeds accessible to us, it's a tiny amount, but not null

over a lifetime (60 years on bikes, and world class mileage, 20,000 miles a year) cycling you might age .02 seconds less than the couch potato.


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

127.0.0.1 said:


> no it's true for cyclists.


Except for Scottish cyclists, who's faces are weathered and look twenty years older.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

"The younger you start exercising the better.

Analysis of American adults aged 50-71 found those who had exercised between two and eight hours a week from their teens through to their 60s, had a 29-36% lower chance of dying from any cause over the 20-year study period.

The study suggests active young people should keep their activity levels up, but also that those aged 40 and above may be able to become more physically active and reap similar benefits."

So exercise doesn't reverse poor health, but it certainly improves poor health.

Being a health professional, I cringe at what young people do to their bodies, more so because I have middle age and geriatric clients who are the product of what they did to themselves in their youth.

It's the odd bird that continues to exercise from youth into old age, most folks have a gap between high school/college and mid life; they fall off the wagon.

Getting back on the exercise/healthy living wagon at any age is certainly better than staying inactive.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

It's never too late to start exercising. You can build strength ie muscle, improve balance, increase endurance with age etc. (at any age). Also having a routine, good nutrition, hydration, interaction with other, helps to improve activities of daily living. 

I work in health care too. I manage 2 long term care veteran's units 68 beds in total. Every patient on my units is over 90 yr old and I have 8 veterans over that age of 100... one vet just celebrated his 106th. Unless they are end of life they are all mobile. Being mobile and active and maintaining relationships with others is important for quality of life and enhances cognition.


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

"Can exercise reverse the ageing process?"

No.
You can slow it down. You can mitigate the effects of age. You can dramatically improve quality of life. You can reverse some of the effects of aging, improving cardio, strength and so on, but eventually, you just run out of time.


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## str8edgMTBMXer (Apr 15, 2015)

I sort of look at it like MSU does...it will not reverse it, but it will definitely make it easier to deal with for most...as I get older, I fear immobility the most...I have had to "up" my workout routine since my heart attack, and doing that has made me feel so much better than I had been before it. It has also made me more smart about how my body works in that capacity...from an intake and output standpoint.

In fact, just sitting here right now, I was chastising my self for having been a bit lazy about the gym recently..I can feel things starting to tighten up again...gotta get back into it!

I still think the "input", what and how much we eat, has more effect on "reversing aging" or putting off death, than exercising...or maybe I am wrong? I go back and forth with this in my head


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

It seems like the main takeaway is that exercise doesn't reverse aging but not exercising accelerates it, and that what most people consider to be a normal 50, 60, 70 y/o really isn't normal, or at least it shouldn't be.


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

Somewhat interesting (to me) that they pick 65 as the benchmark age...the knee in the curve of decrepitude.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-03-age.html


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

I think you would need to define "reverse aging". Lengthening telomeres adds life to a cell. Mitochondria can function more efficiently and increase in number= more energy. Detoxification of vital organs and so on. If you go from being sedentary to active with a cleaner diet, less stress, more sleep and can physically measure these effects in the body and cells what do you call it?


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

WHALENARD said:


> I think you would need to define "reverse aging". Lengthening telomeres adds life to a cell. Mitochondria can function more efficiently and increase in number= more energy. Detoxification of vital organs and so on. If you go from being sedentary to active with a cleaner diet, less stress, more sleep and can physically measure these effects in the body and cells what do you call it?


You're not going to lengthen telomeres through diet and exercise, and you're not going to reverse the accumulated damage to DNA, immune system responses, scarring, etc. You're not going to become younger, prettier, or live forever.

You may end up back in diapers, but not because you reverted back to being an infant.


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

It's all about the telomeres, and not about the nooky.

I think going backward in the aging process is the work of 50's sci-fi movies. However, as we know, working out at a good intensity certainly wards off many of the typical ailments of aging.


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## JimmyAsheville (Oct 21, 2018)

If exercise could reverse aging, I would be 25 not 64!


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

MSU Alum said:


> You're not going to lengthen telomeres through diet and exercise.


Evidence suggests that you can: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30266522

Though, obviously, it's best to just not shorten them prematurely through inactivity and eating like crap.

Also, this is obligatory in a thread like this:


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

But tid the 70 y/o reverse it or maintain it?


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## plummet (Jul 8, 2005)

127.0.0.1 said:


> no it's true for cyclists
> 
> special relativity
> 
> ...


Hahahaha, You win the internet today!


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

J.B. Weld said:


> But tid the 70 y/o reverse it or maintain it?


Captain obvious much? It's all about getting it and maintaining it. No one lives a shorter life from being healthy.

I do so love the sci-fi idea of increasing telomere length, in your dreams people! The study looked at ten men, ten, as if that's a large enough population to even find a valid conclusion! Man, talk about bad science.

What gets me is that people actually live their lives not caring, then one day they care and they expect it to matter. Come on people, there are no re-dos, being healthy is hard work and the rewards are years away.

It's never too late to start being healthy, but don't expect to fix the stuff you already messed up.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

Nurse Ben said:


> I do so love the sci-fi idea of increasing telomere length, in your dreams people! The study looked at ten men, ten, as if that's a large enough population to even find a valid conclusion! Man, talk about bad science.


The paper I linked to was n=68, with male and female participants. The abstract doesn't state the M/F ratio or how measured changes in telomere length varied between sexes. Without access to the full text it's hard to say what the quality of the study really was, but n=68 is hypothetically enough data to produce statistically significant results.

Your other points I already acknowledged.


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## 1niceride (Jan 30, 2004)

My experience goes like this...most of my friends I have had since youth today are 50 or more are not in good shape. They have had long days at desk jobs and life responsibilities have kept them from any real exercise. They just seem to be living out the rest of their time sitting. When I got my degree in 1985 I had a choice of a normal job or take over the family hvacplumbing-repair service business. If it wasn't for me being 210lbs instead of 190 like I should be I would not be too far off from when I was 25. All day its getting on the floor, standing and going down 2 flights of steps out to the van and back up stairs and back under the vanity. Replacing water heaters alone. Or carrying a potty to the 3rd floor bathroom...then bring the old one down to the van for disposal. Then I play my drums for an hour or more every other day. Freestyle on my standup jet ski really is a workout. During the good weather the wife and myself ride the bike paths or gravel. If I had gotten a regular job I could not do the things I do to stay in shape. I don't worship money so I make due on a modest income and have time to live. 


I am just hoping that I have sturdy DNA...cant do anything about that..I am working on that 20lbs at the moment though..I haven't figured a way to eat my way lighter..I have hand to mouth disease. 

I read somewhere to keep your wisdom teeth in a container as they have the original DNA coding and might in the future to be used to reestablish the DNA on ones cells.


I have also read where castrated men live longer...I don't want to live that long..


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

Telomere testing is available in some high end health clubs; 89$ a pop.


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## the-one1 (Aug 2, 2008)

Crankout said:


> Telomere testing is available in some high end health clubs; 89$ a pop.


Where I work, pop is only 65c.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

Crankout said:


> Telomere testing is available in some high end health clubs; 89$ a pop.


A fool and his money....


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

the-one1 said:


> Where I work, pop is only 65c.


1.25 here....


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

RMCDan said:


> A fool and his money....


I know. I read that it's recommended to do it every 5 years assuming an ongoing exercise regimen.


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## JLDickmon (Jun 4, 2018)

can it reverse aging? 
No. 
can it mitigate the effects? 
To an extent. 

At some point, we're ALL going to be William Shatner and Martha Stewart.. wheeling around our estates on Pedigos. We'll still be "active." but we're not going to be shredding the gnar and catching mad air..

But we can put off how long it takes us to get to the point we need to start riding a rocking chair.


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

JLDickmon said:


> At some point, we're ALL going to be William Shatner and Martha Stewart.. wheeling around our estates on Pedigos.


Excellent! At what age do you your estate?


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

JLDickmon said:


> can it reverse aging?
> No.
> can it mitigate the effects?
> To an extent.
> ...


Charles Eugster would like a word with you....


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## Davide (Jan 29, 2004)

Velobike said:


> Can exercise reverse the ageing process


No ... these are delusions. Like the "50 is the new 30" type slogans. You can get in better shape at any age, and that of course involves physiological changes, but it has nothing to do with reversing the aging process.


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