More movement = Better ageing

15 July

Like sleep science, I find the science of physical activity fascinating. And I’m not the only one. One of the questions people are most interested in is, how much of an anti-ageing effect can physical activity have? This is a deceptively simple question with no simple answers. However, it is possible to say a couple of general things:

General thing #1 - Increased physical activity promotes healthy ageing by enhancing both the quantity and quality of life. Large scale studies show that death from all causes is around 30% lower for people who are physically active compared to those who are physically inactive. Also, because physically active people tend to be stronger, more flexible and have better joint mobility, they can do and accomplish more in life.

General thing #2 - Physical activity triggers bodily processes that slow the ageing process. Although ageing can’t be stopped, there’s plenty of evidence to show that the physical decline that comes with it can be lessened, sometimes considerably. The question has always been…by how much? That’s a question only science can answer, but the type of studies needed to answer that question are not easy to run.

Having said that, some studies have been conducted that do offer some sort of answer…

The Dallas Bed Rest study

In 1966 a research team of physiologist commenced what became a landmark study. They wanted to know what the health impact would be if you stopped people being physically active. So, they recruited five healthy 20-year-old male volunteers, assessed their state of health, and then got them to undergo 3 weeks of total bedrest. Not surprisingly, the effect was dramatic and negative. When they got back out of bed, they had accumulated more fat, had higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels, less muscle mass and had lost fitness.

Happily, the intense 8-week endurance training program they then completed helped to reverse those declines and resulted in a net improvement in their health status. But the researchers weren’t done. Thirty years later, in 1996, the participants – now 50 – were invited back, retested, and found to be less healthy than at 20 years of age. No great surprise about that.

Once again, they undertook a training program, albeit a longer and less intense one (due to their age). As it had previously, this program also positively impacted their health.

Now, here’s the interesting bit…

The data showed their post-training cardiovascular fitness – at 50 – was the same as it was in 1966. By sticking to an endurance training program for 6 months, these men had effectively reversed the effects of 30 years of ageing! But still the researchers were not done…

Ten years later, in 2006, the men can back but only for health testing. This allowed the researchers to observe something truly unique. The health results of the 60-year-old men were the same as those of the inactive 20-year-olds, which showed that the declines from three weeks of physical inactivity (assessed in 1966) were the equivalent of 40 years of ageing!

So, does physical activity have anti-ageing effects? According to this (very rare) study, it seems so. Or perhaps more accurately, it can help us to regain what gets lost when our activity levels fall below what helps to keep us in good condition.

Avoidance motivation or approach motivation?

If you’ve read Get Moving. Keep Moving you’ll know I focus a lot on motivation. And if you’re the sort of person that needs a ‘burning platform’ to get moving, you’ll find plenty of avoidance motivation in this blog and the previous one. For example, you might feel motivated to avoid cognitive decline (by getting more sleep) or premature ageing (by moving more).

Avoidance motivation is often about being reactive & trying to move away from what do DO NOT want. Whilst there’s no doubt this can energise you, it’s not the most enduring form of motivation. In contrast, approach motivation is more proactive, insofar as your goal setting is about moving you towards things you want. It’s what the book is really about. Identifying forms of physical activity that interest and excite you. Physical activity that you’ll look forward to doing and be more likely to follow through with.

Sleep and physical activity: Two sides of the same coin

To connect this blog to the previous blog…by pairing physical activity with more sleep, you can set up a positive spiral for yourself. How? Simple. Getting more sleep can give us more energy for physical activity, more physical activity leads to more physically tiredness, more physical tiredness leads to better quality sleep, and so forth.

Whilst the pathway to healthy ageing requires a few things to be working well together, it can all start with a single point of initial focus. And physical activity is a good place to start. By doing some head work before we start the leg work (read the book!) our commitment to get moving can help us to make other decisions we feel might be important, like improving our sleeping patterns, dietary habits, hydration, etc.

Naturally we need to start somewhere. Why not make the first step be - quite literally - a step?

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