I have a binder filled with page after page of the studies I’ve summarized over the past nine years. These summarized studies are all interrelated. Each study relates, in some way, to the benefits derived from various habits.
One such habit, aerobic exercise, has so many benefits, I thought I’d highlight them:
- Reversal of Mild Cognitive Impairment – The first stage of Alzheimer’s disease is known as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Several studies of older individuals with MCI concluded that when these individuals engaged in aerobic exercise thirty minutes a day, four days a week, they showed a reduction in MCI.
- Prevents Alzheimer’s – Other studies have documented that individuals who regularly exercised aerobically throughout their lives were 88% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. One longitudinal study even found that only 5% of women who exercised aerobically throughout their lives developed Alzheimer’s, compared to 32% of the women who did little to no aerobic exercise.
- Younger Thymus – The thymus is responsible for manufacturing immune cells called T-Cells. It typically begins to shrink around age 20, thus producing fewer and fewer T-Cells as we age. Those who exercised aerobically, however, had thymus glands of a twenty year old – meaning, aerobic exercise keeps your thymus youthful, your immune system healthy, and these two things enable you to live a long, healthy life.
- Healthier Hearts – Various studies show that those who exercise aerobically during their lives have stronger, healthier heart muscles.
- Better Cardiovascular Systems – Studies show that those who exercise aerobically have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and other favorable heart metrics across the board than sedentary people.
- Less Depression – Those who exercise aerobically have lower levels of adrenaline and cordial, stress hormones that have been linked to stress-related diseases and increased depression.
- Better Guts – Those who exercise aerobically have higher concentrations of butyrate, a type of fatty acid that helps keep you gut healthy, lowering inflammation and increasing energy production.
- Lower Cholesterol – Regular aerobic exercise, in many studies, lowered LDL (bad cholesterol) and increased HDL (good cholesterol).
- Reduction in Type 2 Diabetes – Various studies show that regular aerobic exercise increases insulin action and glucose tolerance, significantly reducing the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
- Youthful Skin- Individuals over age 40 who engage in regular aerobic exercise have healthier skin than their sedentary peers. Many in various studies had skin comparable to 20 – 30 year-olds.
If you want to live a longer, healthier, more youthful life, forge the aerobic exercise habit. It’s never too late. Studies show that aerobic exercise reverses many of the aging effects that lifelong bad habits produce. Aerobic exercise, in effect, makes old people, un-old.
Hi Tom…thank you for this extraordinary synthesis of information on aerobic exercise and the many benefits it offers us! You bring together super-valuable information that many of us just don’t have the time to gather. I for one truly appreciate it. And, as I finish this email, I am heading out the door to the gym!