Want to Slow the Aging Process? Start Exercising!

PROTECT AGAINST CELL-DAMAGING FREE RADICALS
For years, health-conscious individuals have looked to aerobic exercise as a key to preventing heart disease. But now a new study has found that weightlifting protects the body against damage from free radicals, harmful particles that have been linked not only to cardiac problems but also to aging-related disorders, stroke, and even cancer.

"Resistance exercise is healthy because it helps improve strength," said Kevin Vincent, PhD, a medical student at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

"Now we've also shown that weight training, even at low intensities, provides protection from free radicals. That's a benefit only before found in high-intensity aerobic exercise," he said.

A KEY TO SLOWING THE AGING PROCESS
Vincent and colleagues found that healthy elderly people who performed a series of weight-resistance exercises three times per week for 6 months had less evidence of free radical damage--as judged by levels of free radicals found in their blood--than did a group who didn't exercise. Weightlifting did not decrease the levels; rather, it appeared to prevent the usual aging-related increase observed in the control group by either reducing the formation of free radicals or providing better antioxidant protection against them.

The scientists tracked 62 healthy adults ages 60 to 85 for 6 months. During that time, one group performed high-intensity weight-resistance exercise while another performed low-intensity weight training three times a week. They performed 12 different exercises targeting all the major muscles of the body. A third set of research participants served as a control group and did no exercise.

PROTECTS AGAINST ARTERY-CLOGGING PLAQUE
At the end of the 6 months, the levels of lipid peroxidation, evidence of free-radical damage to LDL (bad cholesterol that turns to artery-clogging plaque when oxidized), increased significantly in the non-training group but stayed the same in the weightlifters during a test in which all the participants were asked to walk on a treadmill until they could walk no longer. The levels increased 13% in the group who did not exercise, while they increased just 2% in the high-intensity exercisers and declined 2% in the low-intensity group. Lipid peroxidation was measured in the blood by two specific biochemical markers.

A BOOST TO YOUR BONES AND HEART
In addition to slowing the formation of free radicals, the study showed that weight-resistance exercise provided several other advantages such as:

Improved aerobic and cardiovascular fitness and boosts in muscular strength and endurance. The high-intensity group also showed increased bone density and decreased blood concentrations of homocysteine: High levels of homocysteine are considered a risk factor for heart disease.

Results of this study shows that resistance training in older adults may provide metabolic benefits--namely, reduced oxidation of LDL (bad cholesterol) and slowing the decline of bodily functions commonly attributed to the aging process.