Going to gym can help us age more gracefully
December 6th, 2010 - 1:11 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Dec 6 (IANS) Working out can help you look and feel younger - or at least that’s what most of us who regularly work out fondly hope. Now scientists have discovered why exercise can hold back the years.
A study found an endurance exercise like a jog or spinning class increases the number of stem cells in our muscles, helping rejuvenate them, reports the journal PLoS ONE.
Tests showed that rats running on a treadmill for just 20 minutes a day could increase stem cells by almost half, proving exercise could be the secret of youth for our muscles, according to the Daily Mail.
Professor Dafna Benayahu from the Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine in Israel, who ran the study, said: “When we age, we experience sarcopenia, a decline in mass and function of muscles.”
“As a result, our musculoskeletal system is more susceptible to daily wear and tear, which also explains the increased risk of falling in the elderly.”
“For the first time our findings can explain why older people who have exercised throughout their lives age more gracefully.”
The number of muscle stem cells normally declines with ageing. This prevents proper maintenance of muscle mass and its ability to repair itself. However, tests on rats who ran for 20 minutes a day for 13 weeks found the opposite happened.
The results showed younger rats exhibited a 20 to 35 percent increase in the average number of stem cells per muscle fibre. Older rats benefited even more, showing a 33 to 47 percent increase.
- 'Endurance exercises' can make us look younger - Dec 02, 2010
- Exercise protects you from forgetting things - Aug 10, 2011
- How hormonal and molecular responses to exercise differ by age - Jan 26, 2011
- Resistance exercise builds muscle, ups strength among older adults - Apr 01, 2011
- High-protein diet should begin with breakfast - Jul 25, 2010
- Exercise, caloric restriction may delay debilitating effects of aging - Aug 03, 2010
- Human umbilical cord blood cells boost survival, maturation of key brain cells - Dec 15, 2010
- Dieting alone cannot help stave off type 2 diabetes - May 28, 2010
- Stem cells ageing may be reversible - Jan 31, 2010
- Stem cells from diseased hearts can treat cardiac failure - Nov 22, 2010
- A woman's guide to age-proofing health - Jan 19, 2011
- Higher testosterone helps older men preserve muscle mass - Oct 29, 2011
- Exercise fights obesity by turning stem cells into bone - Sep 02, 2011
- Stem cell transplant 'doubles muscle mass' - Nov 11, 2010
- Chemical 'switch' that reverses biological clock pinpointed - Oct 01, 2009
Tags: ageing, daily mail, decline, declines, endurance exercise, function of muscles, jog, mail professor, muscle fibre, muscle mass, musculoskeletal system, proper maintenance, rats, running on a treadmill, sackler school of medicine, school of medicine, scientists, stem cells, tel aviv university, wear and tear