Comparing sedentary versus active lifestyles usually happen in one study, but two recently released studies look at each lifestyle individually and the results are illuminating.
First, in January this year, the American Journal of Epidemiology released a study showing elderly women with less than 40 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous* physical activity per day and who remain sedentary for more than 10 hours per day have shorter telomeres. You can compare this directly with the study we reported on May 18, 2017, showing regular vigorous exercise can reduce cellular aging by 9 years and is marked by comparatively longer telomeres for any particular age.
Now, another study appeared yesterday using the Framingham Heart Study, now reaching the third generation of participants, showing that vigorous exercise helps your arteries remain flexible, The study, as reported by the American Heart Association, measured the hardening of the carotid artery in over 3,000 participants between the ages of 50-70+.
As expected, the 50-59 age group showed 30% met the standard for healthy vascular aging, and only 1% of participants over age 70 met the same standard. But the difference was quickly traced to vigorous exercise* as well as other aspects of the AHA Life’s Simple 7 guidelines. While this study doesn’t compare sedentary versus active lifestyles directly, it does directly measure the results of an active lifestyle and can be compared to the sedentary life of January’s American Journal of Epidemiology study participants.
“For the most part, it’s not genetic factors that stiffen the body’s network of blood vessels during aging. Modifiable lifestyle factors – like those identified in the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 – are the leading culprits,” said study author Teemu J. Niiranen, M.D.
Niiranen went on the say, “unfortunately, there is still no magic pill that helps achieve healthy vascular aging. Achieving Life’s Simple 7 increases the odds of keeping healthy blood vessels even into old age,” he said. “For the population’s health, healthy vascular aging should be considered a universal goal.”
He also pointed out that “western culture that includes poor diets and sedentary lifestyles is a hurdle for maintaining healthy blood vessels. Age-associated high blood pressure, for example, is not common in indigenous hunter-gatherer populations.”
So once again, the answer to staying active and healthy is to practice being active and healthy. Eat properly, exercise vigorously, and get a good night’s sleep. Seems we heard this in kindergarten and it remains true today.
Some things never change.
*Vigorous exercise means you sweat. The recommended amount is 150 minutes a week, 30 minutes for five days. This is not simply watering the plants.
