By doing regular exercise and keeping your bones and muscles strong – as well as improving balance and coordination – you will reduce your risk of falls later in life.” ProprioceptionĪ factor that is often overlooked when considering the benefits of exercise, Walton describes proprioception as “the awareness you have of your body in a space”. “According to the World Health Organisation (opens in new tab), falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide. “For our bones and joints, resistance training could increase bone density (as suggested in this study published in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise) meaning you are less likely to break or fracture bones as you get older. “You should think of your body like a car - it needs constant maintenance to keep running well,” Walton says. And what is one of the key ways of achieving this? You guessed it: exercise. Practicing positive longevity involves looking after your organs, muscles and joints. “Being healthy and active now will prevent conditions such as osteoporosis (a health condition that weakens the bones, making them more likely to break) later in life, which can have a huge impact on mobility and quality of life when we’re older.” ![]() “It may be difficult for younger people to imagine being elderly and a lot of people just workout for aesthetics, but exercise should be thought of as a long-term investment,” he says. In essence, what we mean by the term “positive longevity” is exercising in the present to ensure you remain healthy and functional in the future. It later adds: “Physical activity can ameliorate a variety of cardiovascular disease risk factors such as dyslipidemia (the imbalance of lipids) or hypertension (high blood pressure).” Positive longevity “Without regular exercise, fatty material builds up in the arteries which increases your risk of suffering from a heart attack.”Ī 2018 study published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (opens in new tab) stated that “endurance training is associated with elevated levels of circulating high density lipoprotein (HDL) and, to a lesser extent, a reduction in triglyceride levels - both changes that can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease”. “The heart is a muscle, and like all muscles it needs regular stimulation to stay strong and healthy,” Walton says. But why exactly does it have such a positive impact? Hearing that exercise can be beneficial to heart health may be nothing new to you. Walton continues: “Daily exercise has been scientifically proven (in a 2019 study published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity (opens in new tab)) to reduce the risk of heart disease, with 30 minutes of moderate exercise completed five times a week being enough to make a difference.”
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