Live Longer

Eat Less, Live Longer: Dietary Restrictions Increase Lifespan and Improve Brain Health

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Summary: Recent research reveals a significant discovery about dietary restriction and its impact on brain health and aging. They identified the OXR1 gene as crucial for extending lifespan and ensuring healthy brain aging, particularly in response to dietary restriction.

This breakthrough was achieved through extensive studies involving fruit flies and human cells, highlighting OXR1’s role in neuronal protection and retromer function preservation. These findings open new avenues for therapeutic interventions targeting age-related neurodegenerative diseases and lifespan extension.

Key Facts:

  1. The OXR1 gene is essential for the lifespan extension benefits of dietary restriction, with a specific impact on brain health and aging.
  2. Research showed that OXR1 influences the retromer complex, crucial for recycling cellular proteins, and is vital for neuronal function and health.
  3. The study, conducted on fruit flies and human cells, suggests potential new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and strategies for healthy aging.

Source: Buck Institute

Restricting calories is known to improve health and increase lifespan, but much of how it does so remains a mystery, especially in regard to how it protects the brain. Buck scientists have uncovered a role for a gene called OXR1 that is necessary for the lifespan extension seen with dietary restriction and is essential for healthy brain aging.

“When people restrict the amount of food that they eat, they typically think it might affect their digestive tract or fat buildup, but not necessarily about how it affects the brain,” said Kenneth Wilson, Ph.D., Buck postdoc and first author of the study, published online on January 11, 2024 in Nature Communications. 

“As it turns out, this is a gene that is important in the brain.”

This shows healthy foods.
“The gene is an important brain resilience factor protecting against aging and neurological diseases,” said Buck Professor Lisa Ellerby, Ph.D., co-senior author of the study.

The team additionally demonstrated a detailed cellular mechanism of how dietary restriction can delay aging and slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. The work, done in fruit flies and human cells, also identifies potential therapeutic targets to slow aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

“We found a neuron-specific response that mediates the neuroprotection of dietary restriction,” said Buck Professor Pankaj Kapahi , Ph.D., co-senior author of the study. “Strategies such as intermittent fasting or caloric restriction, which limit nutrients, may enhance levels of this gene to mediate its protective effects.”

“The gene is an important brain resilience factor protecting against aging and neurological diseases,” said Buck Professor Lisa Ellerby, Ph.D., co-senior author of the study.

Understanding variability in response to dietary restriction

Members of the team have previously shown mechanisms that improve lifespan and healthspan with dietary restriction, but there is so much variability in response to reduced calories across individuals and different tissues that it is clear there are many yet to be discovered processes in play. This project was started to understand why different people respond to diets in different ways.

The team began by scanning about 200 strains of flies with different genetic backgrounds. The flies were raised with two different diets, either with a normal diet or with dietary restriction, which was only 10% of normal nutrition. Researchers identified five genes which had specific variants that significantly affected longevity under dietary restriction. Of those, two had counterparts in human genetics.

The team chose one gene to explore thoroughly, called “mustard” (mtd) in fruit flies and “Oxidation Resistance 1” (OXR1) in humans and mice. The gene protects cells from oxidative damage, but the mechanism for how this gene functions was unclear.

The loss of OXR1 in humans results in severe neurological defects and premature death. In mice, extra OXR1 improves survival in a model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The link between brain aging, neurodegeneration and lifespan

To figure out how a gene that is active in neurons affects overall lifespan, the team did a series of in-depth tests. They found that OXR1 affects a complex called the retromer, which is a set of proteins necessary for recycling cellular proteins and lipids.

“The retromer is an important mechanism in neurons because it determines the fate of all proteins that are brought into the cell,” said Wilson.

Retromer dysfunction has been associated with age-related neurodegenerative diseases that are protected by dietary restriction, specifically Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Overall, their results told the story of how dietary restriction slows brain aging by the action of mtd/OXR1 in maintaining the retromer.

“This work shows that the retromer pathway, which is involved in reusing cellular proteins, has a key role in protecting neurons when nutrients are limited,” said Kapahi.

The team found that mtd/OXR1 preserves retromer function and is necessary for neuronal function, healthy brain aging, and lifespan extension seen with dietary restriction.

“Diet is influencing this gene. By eating less, you are actually enhancing this mechanism of proteins being sorted properly in your cells, because your cells are enhancing the expression of OXR1,” said Wilson.

The team also found that boosting mtd in flies caused them to live longer, leading researchers to speculate that in humans excess expression of OXR1 might help extend lifespan. “Our next step is to identify specific compounds that increase the levels of OXR1 during aging to delay brain aging,” said Ellerby.

 “Hopefully from this we can get more of an idea of why our brains degenerate in the first place,” said Wilson.

“Diet impacts all the processes in your body,” he said. “I think this work supports efforts to follow a healthy diet, because what you eat is going to affect more than you know.”

Other Buck researchers involved in the study are: Sudipta Bar, Enrique Carrera, Brian Hodge, Tyler Hilsabeck, Joanna Bons, George Brownridge III, Jennifer Beck, Jacob Rose, Melia Granath-Panelo, Christopher Nelson, Grace Qi, Akos Gerencser, Jianfeng Lan, Rachel Brem and Birgit Schilling.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part through funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation, and the National Centerrs of Competence in Research (NCCR).

COI: Kapahi is founder and a member of the scientific advisory board at Juvify Bio. The other authors have no conflicts of interest.

Abstract

OXR1 maintains the retromer to delay brain aging under dietary restriction

Dietary restriction (DR) delays aging, but the mechanism remains unclear. We identified polymorphisms in mtd, the fly homolog of OXR1, which influenced lifespan and mtd expression in response to DR. Knockdown in adulthood inhibited DR-mediated lifespan extension in female flies.

We found that mtd/OXR1 expression declines with age and it interacts with the retromer, which regulates trafficking of proteins and lipids. Loss of mtd/OXR1 destabilized the retromer, causing improper protein trafficking and endolysosomal defects.

Overexpression of retromer genes or pharmacological restabilization with R55 rescued lifespan and neurodegeneration in mtd-deficient flies and endolysosomal defects in fibroblasts from patients with lethal loss-of-function of OXR1 variants.

Multi-omic analyses in flies and humans showed that decreased Mtd/OXR1 is associated with aging and neurological diseases. mtd/OXR1 overexpression rescued age-related visual decline and tauopathy in a fly model. Hence, OXR1 plays a conserved role in preserving retromer function and is critical for neuronal health and longevity.

Sugar Is Crucial for Immunity: 2 Kinds Boost Immunity and Help You Live Longer

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B-cell white blood cell, type of lymphocyte produce antibody molecules. B cell is humoral immunity component of the immune system producing antibodies, protect against pathogens: bacteria, viruses. By Corona Borealis Studio/Shutterstock

B-cell white blood cell, type of lymphocyte produce antibody molecules. B cell is humoral immunity component of the immune system producing antibodies, protect against pathogens: bacteria, viruses.

Nowadays, the concept of a low sugar and no-sugar diet is very popular. Many people are beginning to pay attention to reducing sugar intake in their diet, and are even implementing a “zero sugar” diet to some extent.

However, a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that sugar is important for the body’s immune function, and sugar plays a decisive role in the activation of immune cells. When the body has the right amount of sugar, immunity can be activated.

Immune Cells Need Sugar to Obtain the Strength to Fight

Many of our immune cells live in the lymph nodes, and the energy in the lymph nodes is sufficient for their function. “It’s as if the lymph nodes are filled with lunch boxes. These cells can be permanently filled with energy, and even grab a box to go when they leave the lymph nodes to circulate through the body,” said the head of the study, Associate Professor Marc Veldhoen of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (IMM).

When immune cells leave the lymph nodes and kill viruses, they can even bring some “lunch boxes” with them to provide themselves with energy. It’s like a person who has eaten his fill at home and brings some more to work.

However, there are some immune cells that don’t live in the lymph nodes, but in tissues, such as the gut. They don’t have access to the same level of energy resources. These immune cells stay in a constant state of partial activation and are prepared to react to issues like infections, according to Veldhoen.

They need to “eat” glucose to replenish energy and become active. Using the gut of a mouse as a model, the researchers found that the activation of resident lymphocytes in the gut and the time it took for infections to clear depended on how much sugar was available.

“We found that in mice infected with an intestinal pathogen, the local availability of glucose can determine the activation of the resident lymphocytes and to a faster clearance of infection,” explained another researcher, Spela Konjar.

People Are Healthiest When Carbohydrates Account for 50 to 55 Percent of Total Energy

The human body obtains energy from three macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and lipids.

Carbohydrates are also known as saccharides. The main carbohydrates that are eventually converted into glucose are starch and sucrose, which are part of the larger carbohydrate family.

Since our body needs carbohydrates to get glucose, how much should we consume to be healthy?

A study published in The Lancet followed more than 15,000 American adults aged 45 to 64 over an average of 25 years.

They found that, out of the total energy obtained from carbohydrates, protein, and fat, people lived the longest when 50 to 55 percent of energy was derived from carbohydrates.

When the energy intake through carbohydrates is less than 50 percent or more than 55 percent of the total energy, it affected people’s lifespan. In other words, eating too much or too few carbohydrates could have a negative health impact.

The researchers estimated that a 50-year-old with intake of less than 30 percent of energy from carbohydrates would have a projected life expectancy of 29.1 years; a 50-year-old with 65 percent or more of energy from carbohydrates would have a projected life expectancy of 32 years, and someone who consumed 50 to 55 percent of total energy from carbohydrates would have a projected life expectancy of 33.1 years.

Epoch Times Photo

Supplement ‘Good Carbs’ to Supply the Right Kind of Sugar

So, how do we choose good carbohydrates—a source of high-quality glucose—for our body?

1. Eat natural starchy foods

The main source of glucose in our diet is starch.

Starch is a nutrient produced by photosynthesis in plants and is our body’s preferred fuel. Each plant produces its own unique starch, but all starch breaks down into glucose when digested. Each gram of starch or sugar will furnish 4 calories of energy.

Please remember that not all carbohydrates are the same.

There are many different types of carbohydrate-containing foods, and they all have different health effects. Sources of starch can be divided into two categories. One is the starch in natural foods, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and other root vegetables, as well as brown rice, corn, and other natural grains.

The other type is refined starch. Refined starch is made from natural foods that have been further processed to remove most of the fiber and many nutrients, such as white rice and white flour. Since there is no fiber and other substances, refined starch will break down quickly, causing a rapid rise in blood sugar level.

It is best to choose starch from natural foods. Since these starches have a lot of fiber and other substances wrapped around them, they are not easily digested. The presence of organic acids slows down the emptying of the stomach, making the release of sugar relatively slow. This means that while the body’s getting sugar energy, the impact on blood sugar is relatively small.

Epoch Times Photo

2. Eat natural sugars

Another source of glucose is sucrose. When sucrose is digested, it produces 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose.

Natural sucrose is found in many fruits, vegetables, and grains.

Many fruits contain sucrose, glucose, and fructose. For example, the ratio of glucose, sucrose, and fructose is about 2:1:2 in bananas, which are  commonly eaten. Peaches, oranges, apples, peas, and mangoes all contain large amounts of natural sucrose, and tomatoes and blueberries have half of their sugars as glucose.

Fruit juice is not the same, as it has the fiber and some of the ingredients in the fruits removed, making the fruits’ nutrition no longer complete. People can also easily exceed their daily fruit or sugar intake when drinking juice instead of eating fruit.

When eating whole fruits, with the chewing action and a lot of fiber intake, people usually won’t eat too much, unlike simply drinking fruit juice. And the whole fruit contains a good mix of natural nutrients, including fiber, micronutrients, and other substances that work together to slow down the absorption of sugar in the body.

There is another type of sucrose extracted from food, which is the refined sugar we often eat, such as white sugar. Sucrose is added to most processed foods. Sugar is also added to products that do not taste sweet, such as seasonings and sauces.

In fact, we do not need to get any sugar from added sugars. Added sugars only provide calories but not nutrients, which in the long run can damage one’s metabolism.

Artificially refined foods, such as cane sugar or starch, can provide a sweet, silky texture, but oftentimes, some of their good ingredients are removed. They can only provide people with the short-term pleasure of “eating sugar,” but cannot provide other nutrients, and in the long run will lead to addiction and other hazards. To really quit sugar, you must first quit this type of sugar.

There is a simple and easy way to do this—choose natural foods as much as possible to get sugar and energy from them.

Can Exercise Help Me Live Longer?

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A raft of recent research is reinforcing the long-held notion that even a little exercise can go a long way in extending our lifespans.

Consider these notable stats.

  1. About 110,000 deaths could be prevented each year if middle-aged and older U.S. adults spent as little as 10 minutes more per day engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, according to Pedro Saint-Maurice, PhD, and his team, who tracked data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. “These findings support implementing evidence-based strategies to improve physical activity for adults and potentially reduce deaths in the United States,” Saint-Maurice writes in the March 2022 issue of JAMA.
  2. Lack of physical activity was responsible for 8.3 percent of all deaths among U.S. adults 25 and older between 1990 and 2011, a 2018 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Among those 40 to 69 years old, that portion rose to nearly 10 percent.
  3. People who exercised for 150 minutes per week were 25 percent less likely to die during a nearly 23-year period compared with their inactive peers, a 2015 British study discovered. “If everyone adhered to recommended or even low activity levels,” the authors noted in the European Journal of Epidemiology, “a substantial proportion of premature mortality might be avoided.”
  4. A mere 20 minutes of daily exercise significantly lowers the risk of heart disease, concluded a study involv­ing about 3,000 Italian seniors that was published in the March 2022 issue of the journal Heart. Even those who waited until age 70 to ramp up their physical activity realized long-term cardiovascular benefits.
  5. It’s never too late to start moving your body, according to a meta-analysis presented at the 2021 European Society of Cardiology Congress. Researchers examined the activity levels of almost 34,000 people — average age 62.5 — over a period of about seven years. Formerly inactive participants who ramped up their exercise routines enjoyed a 45 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with those who remained sedentary.

That’s an encouraging outcome, given that longtime exercisers who maintained their regimen during the study period enjoyed a 50 percent lower risk.

Among those diagnosed with heart disease, researchers reported similar results. Dedicated exercisers were 51 percent less likely than their inactive counterparts to die from the disease; late bloomers had a 27 percent lower risk.

“The results show that continuing an active lifestyle over the years is associated with the greatest longevity,” notes lead study author Nathalia Gonzalez, MD. “However, patients with heart disease can overcome prior years of inactivity and obtain survival benefits by taking up exercise later in life.”

No matter your age, the evidence linking exercise of any sort with a longer, healthier life continues to mount.

How to Live Longer and Better

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As of today, no drugs, supplements or potions have been shown to extend your life, in spite of the fact that the internet is full of an incredible number of fraudulent life-extension products that provide no benefits while they steal your money. However, we do have overwhelming evidence that several healthful lifestyle habits can extend how long you live and improve your quality of life in your later years. These lifestyle factors have been associated with freedom from type-2 diabetes, heart and respiratory diseases, cancers, and other diseases that can make your life miserable.

A study of 116,043 European men and women, followed for 15 years, found that of 16 different lifestyle profiles, four were associated with the greatest disease-free life years (JAMA Intern Med, published online April 6, 2020):
• absence of obesity (BMI < 25),
• never smoked,
• exercised regularly, and
• drank no more than a moderate amount of alcohol.

Longevity and Quality of Life
In North America, the average man lives to age 76, and the average woman to age 81. Harvard researchers found that adopting five healthy habits could extend life expectancy by 14 years for women and by 12 years for men (Circulation, 2018;345:345):
• eating a diet high in plants and low in fats,
• exercising at a moderate to vigorous level for several hours a week,
• maintaining a healthy body weight,
• not smoking, and
• consuming no more than one alcoholic drink a day for women and two for men.

The team of Harvard researchers followed that study with another that found that by following a healthful lifestyle, women can extend their disease-free life expectancy after age 50 by 10 years, and men can add about eight more years (BMJ, Jan 8, 2020). Women who followed four out of five of the healthful lifestyle factors lived on average 34 more years without those diseases after age 50 compared to 24 years for women who said they did not follow any of the healthy habits. Men who reported fulfilling four or five of the lifestyle habits lived on average 31 more years free of disease after age 50 while those who adopted none of them lived on average 23 more years after age 50.

Longevity is determined by both genes and lifestyle, but genes are estimated to contribute only about seven percent, so lifestyle is much more important. Living with a person who practices a healthful lifestyle increases your chances of practicing a healthful lifestyle (Genetics, November 1, 2018;210(3):1109-1124), and parents’ healthful lifestyles can change their genes so that they pass on more healthful genes to their children (Epigenomics, Jun, 2011;3(3):267–277). This process is called epigenetic modification. Mothers who live to their 90s with a healthy lifestyle are far more likely to have healthy daughters who live to their 90s (Age and Ageing, Nov, 2018;47(6):853–860).

Alcohol Does Not Have Health Benefits
The authors of the European study found that those who took in 1-21 drinks a week had the most disease-free years. Next came non-drinkers, and as expected, those who took in more than 22 drinks per week suffered the most disease. However, other recent studies on alcohol consumption show that alcohol at any dose does not benefit health. One review of 45 studies found that the studies that associated moderate drinking with reduced heart attack rates were flawed (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2017;78(3):375-386). Studies designed to show that alcohol prevents heart attacks must have a control group of nondrinkers, but many members of the control groups were former drinkers who had given up alcohol because they were alcoholics, had heart, liver or kidney diseases, were diabetic, or had some other disease or condition that forced them to give up alcohol. When these unhealthy people are removed from the non-drinking control groups, the corrected studies show that even moderate drinking can shorten your life. Alcohol causes inflammation and oxidative stress that damages cells and increases risk for disease. There may be a threshold at which alcohol causes disease, but alcohol at any dose increases cancer risk and does not help to prevent heart attacks.

My Recommendations
Here are the major components of a healthful lifestyle:
• Diet: You should be eating primarily a plant-based diet with lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts and other seeds. Your main drink should be water; avoid fluids with calories, including fruit juices and adding sugar or cream to coffee or tea. I recommend that you avoid mammal meat, processed meats, fried foods and sugar-added foods. Restrict refined carbohydrates, particularly if weight control is an issue for you. That means everything that is made from flour or other refined grains such as bread, pretzels, bagels, spaghetti, macaroni, white rice, most cold breakfast cereals, and so forth.
• Exercise: Try to exercise for at least a half hour every day, and an hour is better. All exercise is beneficial, but increasing intensity at least once a week will help you even more. Resistance exercise to strengthen your muscles has been shown to help prevent heart disease and strengthen bones.
• Avoid smoke: Recent data show that you can shorten your life by breathing other people’s smoke (second-hand smoke) or even living in an environment where people have smoked previously (third-hand smoke).
• Avoid or restrict alcohol: Most doctors agree that men who take more than two drinks a day and women who take more than one drink a day, or have any pattern of binge drinking, are at increased risk for disease and premature death. I believe that no amount of alcohol has health benefits.
• Avoid overweight: The fat that kills is in your belly and around organs. Fat elsewhere is far less dangerous. Research shows that skinny people can be at high risk for heart attacks, diabetes and premature death if they store most of their fat in their belly (Annals of Internal Medicine, November 10, 2015), and the people who are at highest risk for premature death are those who have big bellies and small buttocks (J Bone Miner Res, July 2019;34(7):1264-1274). Your doctor can order a sonogram of your liver to see if you store too much fat there.

How Strength Training Can Help You Live Longer

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People who lift weights understand they’re playing a long game.

Once they get past the “newbie gains” – the quick and exciting increases in muscle strength and size – it takes time, effort, and patience to keep making progress.

Whether they know it or not, they’re also playing the longevity game.

A growing body of research shows that resistance training adds years to both lifespan and “healthspan” – the period of life when we’re in good health.

A 2022 study review from Japanese researchers linked “muscle-strengthening activities” to a 15% lower risk of dying.

Resistance exercise was also linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (17%), cancer (12%), and diabetes (17%).

We’ve known for a long time that strength is an excellent predictor of future health. Lots of research has shown that, if all else is equal, stronger men and women have a much lower risk of dying during a given period than people with less strength.

This new research shows that strength training offers similar protection, regardless of the results of that training. So even if you don’t think you’re getting as strong or as lean as you’d like to be, you should keep it up – because chances are, you’re still helping your health in a big way.

How Strength Training Helps as You Age

For longevity, strength training seems to be especially effective for older adults, says Tufts University professor Roger Fielding, PhD, who’s been studying the role of exercise in the aging process since the early 1990s. Slideshow

Benefits of Strength Training

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Reviewed by Melinda Ratini on 5/4/2022

“With aging, we see clear deficits in muscle function and bone health,” he says. “That all can be slowed, attenuated, or reversed with appropriate exercise.”

His concept of “appropriate” has changed a lot in the past 3 decades. “When I first started studying this stuff, we would try to give people a very formalized prescription” for strength training, he says.

That strength training prescription typically included a lot of sets (three per exercise), moderate reps (eight to 12 per set), and relatively heavy weights. It also required professional supervision in a well-equipped gym, which was both unappealing and impractical for most of the target population.

“What I’ve learned is that even lower-intensity strength training, at home, without a lot of specialized equipment, has some benefits,” he says.

Which benefits? That’s harder to say.

The research linking resistance exercise to lower mortality comes from large, population-wide surveys, looking at tens or even hundreds of thousands of people. The broad category of “muscle-strengthening exercises” can include anything from calisthenics in the living room to a serious bodybuilding or powerlifting program.

They’re also based on self-reporting by the people studied. Because of that, “we should be careful how we interpret some of these studies,” Fielding says.

How Much Strength Training Should You Do?

That warning seems especially appropriate for the study’s most surprising conclusion: The maximum longevity benefit comes from one or two resistance exercise sessions a week totaling 30 to 60 minutes.

The study adds that it’s unclear why more strength training would have diminishing or even negative returns.

Robert Linkul, owner of Training the Older Adult in Shingle Springs, CA, thinks the answer is perfectly clear.

“Less might be more for the beginning lifter,” he says. That’s why his new clients typically begin with two 50-minute workouts a week. But after 3 months, they need to train three times a week to continue seeing gains.

He currently has 14 clients who have been with him at least 16 years. Most of them started in their 50s and are now in their 60s or 70s. If there were any downside to working out more than two times a week, he’s pretty sure he would’ve seen it by now.

Live Longer and Move Longer, Too

Linkul says that his training program includes a lot more than lifting. Clients start each workout with 10 to 15 minutes of mobility and warmup exercises. That’s followed by 15 minutes of strength training and 15 minutes of high-intensity resistance training (HIRT).

HIRT uses functional exercises – lifting and carrying dumbbells or kettlebells; pushing or pulling a weighted sled – to improve strength and endurance at the same time.

“Most of the clients I get are training for real-life function,” Linkul says.

Falling is one of their biggest concerns, and for good reason: According to the World Health Organization, it’s the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths worldwide, behind only traffic accidents.

Their other major concern is losing their independence, which often follows a fall. “They want to feel they’re not near using a cane or a walker or being stuck in a wheelchair,” he says. “The more we train, the further we get from that.”

That’s where strength training offers its most unique advantages, according to a 2019 study from researchers at McMaster University. Resistance exercise is “particularly potent for maintaining mobility in older adults,” the study says.

Training for Life

Traditional aerobic exercise also offers many of the same benefits, including longer life and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.

But there’s no need to choose one or the other. As a recent study noted, combining aerobic and strength exercises leads to a lower risk of early death than either of them separately.

Which makes perfect sense to Fielding.

“Usually, people who’re physically active aren’t just doing strength training alone,” he says. “Some exercise is better than no exercise,” and more is usually better than less. “People have to find things they like to do and want to do and are able to do consistently.”

Do Optimists live longer?

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Summary: People who are more optimistic tend to live longer than those who are more pessimistic, a new study reports.

Source: Wiley

In a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that included a racially diverse group of 159,255 women, higher levels of optimism were associated with longer lifespans and a greater likelihood of living past 90 years of age. 

Investigators found that the link between optimism and longevity was evident across racial and ethnic groups, and that lifestyle factors accounted for nearly one-quarter of the optimism-lifespan association. 

“Although optimism itself may be patterned by social structural factors, our findings suggest that the benefits of optimism for longevity may hold across racial and ethnic groups,” said lead author Hayami K. Koga, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

This shows a happy looking lady
Investigators found that the link between optimism and longevity was evident across racial and ethnic groups, and that lifestyle factors accounted for nearly one-quarter of the optimism-lifespan association. Image is in the public domain

“Optimism may be an important target of intervention for longevity across diverse groups.”  

Background

Research has suggested optimism is associated with healthy aging and exceptional longevity, but most studies were conducted among non-Hispanic White populations. We examined associations of optimism to longevity across racial and ethnic groups and assessed healthy lifestyle as a possible mediating pathway.

Methods

Participants from the Women’s Health Initiative (N = 159,255) completed a validated measure of optimism and provided other demographic and health data at baseline. We evaluated associations of optimism with increments in lifespan using accelerated failure time models, and with likelihood of exceptional longevity (survival to age ≥90) using Poisson regression models. Causal mediation analysis explored whether lifestyle-related factors mediated optimism-lifespan associations.

Results

After covariate adjustment, the highest versus lowest optimism quartile was associated with 5.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.5, 6.4%) longer lifespan. Within racial and ethnic subgroups, these estimates were 5.1% (95%CI = 4.0, 6.1%) in non-Hispanic White, 7.6% (95%CI = 3.6, 11.7%) in Black, 5.4% (95%CI = −0.1, 11.2%) in Hispanic/Latina, and 1.5% (95% CI = −5.0, 8.5) in Asian women. A high proportion (53%) of the women achieved exceptional longevity. Participants in the highest versus lowest optimism quartile had greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity (e.g., full sample risk ratio = 1.1, 95%CI = 1.1, 1.1). Lifestyle mediated 24% of the optimism-lifespan association in the full sample, 25% in non-Hispanic White, 10% in Black, 24% in Hispanic/Latina, and 43% in Asian women.

Conclusions

Higher optimism was associated with longer lifespan and a greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity overall and across racial and ethnic groups. The contribution of lifestyle to these associations was modest. Optimism may promote health and longevity in diverse racial and ethnic groups. Future research should investigate these associations in less long-lived populations.

Harvard scientists say this one exercise can help you live longer

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What’s the secret to living a long and healthy life?

I see this question asked ALL the time.

Here’s the thing…

When you look up stories from centenarians describing how they lived so long, the stories vary wildly: one may say that they ate bacon every day, another may claim that daily jogging is the key to long life, and another may say they’ve been drinking alcohol every day for the last ninety years.

So, how can you work out the habits that will give YOU the best chance of living a longer life?

Scientific research, and lots of it!

Research is designed to eliminate factors you can’t control, and also be statistically significant for the majority of participants.

And the more positive research there is, the higher chance it will actually benefit you.

And in study after study, scientists have found the one key conclusion towards living a longer and more active life: exercise.

Exercise is the be all end all answer when searching for an all-around Fountain of Youth.

Doctors usually recommend at least half an hour of exercise, five days a week, or around 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week.

And for good reason, too: not only have studies proven that exercise can extend your lifespan, but they have also proven that it can improve cognitive strength and generally keep your brain healthy and active.

Beat Out the Sweat, Beat In the Life

Harvard University School of Public Health recently released a study that examined the exact kind of exercise that was found to be most effective in significantly cutting down average death rate.

The secret is moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, which is also known as MVPA. MVPA basically includes exercise that forces you to break out a sweat, raising your heartbeat and pushing yourself slightly more than you’re comfortable with.

Activities such as light biking, swimming, and brisk walking all fall in this category.

To find these results, the study examined a total of 16,741 women over a four-year period. The participants who had actively engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout their lives were found to have 60 to 70% lower mortality rates than the participants who generally lived lives with no exercise, or sedentary lifestyles.

Changing Methodology and Improving Results

As great as the study may be, it’s easy to think of it as just another study lauding the great benefits of exercise.

However, there is something about this study that makes it slightly more accurate than most of those that have come before it.

According to the lead author of the study, Harvard professor I-Min Lee who specializes in epidemiology, the one aspect about their study that made it much more reliable than earlier studies on the connection between exercise and lifespan was their methodology.

Whereas other studies have come to similar conclusions regarding exercise and lifespan, those conclusions could have been shaped by confirmation bias; that is, since we are already expecting that exercise can add years to the average human life, then it is easier to believe in links that could prove that this is the case, even if those links aren’t truly definitive in the first place.

This is because many studies rely entirely on self-reported results: participants are chosen to take part in the study, and then are requested to submit updates about their health and condition over a certain period of time.

The problem with this data collection technique is that the average individual can’t be totally relied upon to submit consistently truthful information.

They may be suffering confirmation bias themselves (those who exercise believe they are healthier than they actually are), or they could misremember how much they exercise or exaggerate certain details. Ultimately, it is a flawed way of collecting data.

But Lee wanted to tackle this by conducting a study where the data could be absolutely trusted. They did this with the use of a device known as a triaxial accelerometer.

Participants wore this device for four years, which collected information about their physical activity; how much they exercised and to what magnitude.

Just How Useful Exercise Really Is

What they found through this more accurate means of data collection not only gave more definitive proof for the link between exercise and extending lifespans.

It also found that previous estimates of just how beneficial exercise could be were lower than their own findings. Lee’s study found that exercise was far more beneficial than we previously thought.

As Lee described to Psychology Today, previous studies that relied on self-reported data generally estimated a 20 to 30% mortality rate reduction, while their study found a 60 to 70% reduction.

In the scientific community, a difference as huge as 40% can be considered a game changer.

So what are you waiting for? Get those jogging shoes on right away.

Staring at boobs is just one of six easy ways men can live longer.

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It is the secret we are all trying to unlock — how to live long and happy lives.

Science has found the key to success — for men, anyway.

In the United Kingdom, men in general are not expected to live as long as women — so maybe they need a little bit more help.

The average life expectancy for a man is 79, where women are expected to live to 82.

The reason for women outliving men is genetics, according to Medical Daily. Women have two X chromosomes, which provides them with a backup if a mutation occurs. However, men do not have that luxury — they only have one X chromosome to express all their genes.

Lifestyle factors can also impact how long a person will live.

Here are six ways a man can boost his life expectancy.

1. Stare at boobs

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It may seem like an inconvenience or an invasion of privacy to many women, but staring at boobs creates a positive mindset in men.

The same effect occurs when they look at cute animals.

A 2012 study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at the effects positive thinking had on men’s health.

After a year, positive thinking had a powerful effect on health choices.

More than half of the patients with coronary artery disease increased their physical activity versus 37 percent in the control group, who were not asked to write down positive thoughts in the morning.

The same happened to men with high blood pressure.

More than 40 percent of those with high blood pressure followed their medication plan compared to 36 percent in the non-positive-thinking group.

2. Have lots of sex

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What every man wants to hear, but there is a good reason for it.

A study in the BMJ found that sex could decrease a man’s mortality rate by as much as 50 percent.

It is all down to sex promoting physical well-being, as well as being a stress reliever — which can help reduce the likeliness of illness.

Not to mention sex releases serotonin, the happy hormone, which makes us feel better overall.

In the study, life expectancy increased by three to eight years in the group who reported more orgasms.

3. Get married

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Not something everyone would have thought — especially those who refer to their wife as their “ball and chain” — but married men do live longer.

But it also depends on the age at which they get married.

A survey of more than 127,000 Americans found men who got married after they were 25 were likely to live longer than those who married young.

Researchers have questioned whether healthy men are more likely to marry than men with health problems, but unhealthy men actually marry earlier, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to remarry after divorce or being widowed than healthy men.

Others have wondered whether living with another person has health benefits.

But it seems to be both.

4. Have kids

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It seems like a natural progression, really.

Men who marry and have kids live longer than those who don’t.

A study in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that when parents reached age 60, men with kids saw their life expectancy go up two years while women increased by 1.5 years.

By the age of 80, men with kids were expected to live eight months longer than those without kids.

5. Be responsible

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A sense of responsibility can do wonders.

A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology discovered older people in nursing homes who were given a plant to care for had improved socialization, alertness and general function.

Perhaps that is why having kids is good for you.

6. Get a ‘dad bod’

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Most men gain a bit of weight after they have kids, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

A book called “How Men Age” argues that tubby men are less likely to suffer a heart attack or prostate cancer and are more likely to invest their time in their children.

Author Richard G. Bribiescas says their increased fat levels also make them more attractive to women — which will help with the above tips.

Source:NY Times.

Consider Racket Sports and Swimming to Help You Live Longer

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There’s no shortage of evidence showing that being active can extend your life. Less widely known, however, is whether certain types of activities may work in your favor more so than others.

Surprisingly, research on the health benefits of specific types of activities is scarce, so researchers from Europe and Australia examined the associations between six different sports/exercises and risk of death from heart disease and all causes. Three of them rose squarely to the top.

exercise benefits

Story at-a-glance –

  • Racket sports, swimming and aerobics topped the list of best physical activities for lowering the risk of premature death
  • A significant reduction in cardiovascular death was also found for the three activities, more so than found from running, cycling or football (soccer)
  • Racket sports, aerobics and swimming require the use of your full body — arms and legs — which makes your heart work harder
  • These activities often require intense bursts of activity, which could be responsible for their life-enhancing edge

3 Top Physical Activities to Lower Your Risk of Death

Researchers analyzed data from more than 80,000 people, and it turned out racket sports, swimming and aerobics topped the list of best physical activities for lowering the risk of premature death.1

Those who played racket sports, such as tennis, badminton or squash, had a 47 percent lower risk of dying during the nine-year study period than non-exercisers. Swimmers, meanwhile, had a 28 percent lower risk of death while aerobics’ participants enjoyed a 27 percent lower risk of dying.

A significant reduction in cardiovascular death was also found for the three activities. Those who played racket sports were 56 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease during the study, followed by 41 percent less likely for swimmers and 36 percent less likely among aerobics enthusiasts.

No statistically significant reductions, however — for cardiovascular or all-cause mortality — were observed for the other three activities included in the study (cycling, running and football, i.e., soccer in the U.S.).

Are Full-Body Workouts Best?

Racket sports, aerobics and swimming require the use of your full body — arms and legs — which makes your heart work harder. This could be one reason why these full-body workouts lower the risk of death more than other activities.

In addition, they often require intense bursts of activity, which could be responsible for their life-enhancing edge. As noted by the University of Rochester Medical Center:2

“Racquet sports alternate bursts of high-intensity exercise while you score points, with brief rest periods while you pick up the ball and serve. This stop-and-start activity is similar to interval training.

Playing racquet sports, or any active sport, [three] hours a week can cut your risk of developing heart disease and lower your blood pressure, according to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

One key to getting a good aerobic workout in tennis or racquetball is to keep your rest periods brief. Your heart will continue to work at an aerobic level, but without the sustained stress.”

On the other hand, cycling was only associated with a small decline in mortality risk, but this could be because many of the participants used cycling recreationally to get to and from work (as opposed to doing it vigorously as a workout).

The researchers speculated that running may not have made the top list because the runners in the study were younger, on average, and a longer follow-up period may have been needed to gauge its full benefits.

However, research is increasingly showing that short bursts of intense activity (such as you might engage in when playing a vigorous game of tennis) may be better than long, slow cardio like running.

Among the study participants, more than 44 percent met the minimum exercise recommendations (150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity a week for adults ages 18 to 65).

Popularity-wise, swimming topped the list as the favorite form of exercise, followed by cycling, aerobics, running/jogging, racket sports and football (soccer) or rugby.

It’s important to note that engaging in any type of activity was better than none at all; active participants reduced their risk of death by 28 percent, regardless of which activity they engaged in.

Swimming Versus Racket Sports and Aerobics

Ultimately, you should choose your physical activities based on what you enjoy, and keep your routine varied to get the best results. You might try swimming one day, a game of tennis another and do a high-intensity interval aerobics workout the next.

All of these exercises offer benefits for cardiovascular fitness, strength and fat burning, but swimming offers one clear benefit over the others for people who have trouble exercising on land: It’s not a weight-bearing workout.

If you are overweight or obese, struggle with joint pain or osteoarthritis or are elderly and unable to engage in higher impact activities, exercising in water will allow your body to move in a wider range of motion, often without pain, and with less of a risk of injury or falls.

Vertical water workouts, such as deep water running, water aerobics, water yoga and more, are becoming increasingly popular because you experience much greater resistance (and hence greater fitness gains) than when swimming horizontally.

It’s quite possible to get a high-intensity, vigorous workout done in the water, and this may be an ideal form of exercise for those with chronic pain or mobility issues.

There’s a ‘Goldilocks Zone’ When It Comes to Exercising

If you want to reap the most benefits from exercising (i.e., lower your risk of premature death as much as possible), you might assume that the more you exercise, the better.

In reality, a large analysis involving data from 661,000 adults revealed that people who exercised 10 times the recommended level (150 minutes of moderate exercise per week) did not gain any additional benefits in terms of mortality risk reduction.3

Those who met the exercise guidelines lowered their risk of death during the 14-year study period by 31 percent while those who engaged in moderate exercise for 450 minutes per week (just over an hour a day) lowered their risk of premature death by 39 percent compared to non-exercisers.

Even those who exercised at all (yet didn’t meet the requirement) lowered their risk of premature death by 20 percent. Those who did not exercise at all had the highest risk of premature death, which again sends home the message that any exercise is better than no exercise.

Exercise intensity also plays an important role, however, and data from a separate study found that engaging in even occasional vigorous exercise led to additional reductions in risk of premature death.4 In fact, when you include brief bursts of high-intensity activity in your workouts, you can slash your workout time considerably.

Brief, Intense Activity Promotes Longevity Via Mitochondrial Biogenesis

Pushing your body to the extreme for a very brief duration, such as cycling on a stationary bike or elliptical machine for 30 seconds as fast as you can, then resting for a recovery period before repeating the cycle again, taps into a new level of exercise advantages that cannot be gained from moderate- or low-intensity workouts alone.

Such workouts, known as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), lead to immediate changes in your DNA, including reprogramming your muscle for strength and stimulating your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which in turn triggers production of vital human growth hormone (HGH).

HIIT also triggers mitochondrial biogenesis, which is important for longevity. According to one review in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, exercise alters mitochondrial enzyme content and activity, which helps increase cellular energy production, and in so doing decreases your risk of chronic disease and slows down the aging process.5

Working Out Smarter

Research has clearly demonstrated that short bursts of intense activity are safer and more effective than conventional cardio — for your heart, general health, weight loss and overall fitness. The bonus is that exercising in this way allows you to exercise much more efficiently.

The American College of Sports Medicine, which recommends 20 minutes of more vigorous activity three days per week, even notes that HIIT workouts tend to burn 6 percent to 15 percent more calories compared to other workouts, thanks to the calories you burn after you exercise.

Even for HIIT, however, there are variations among workouts, and it’s important to find one that works right for you. If you’re very fit and want to take your workout to the next level, Tabata Training is one (very challenging) HIIT workout to try.

If you’re new to high-intensity interval training, however, don’t go directly to a full Tabata workout. Instead, try the Peak Fitness method of 30 seconds of maximum effort followed by 90 seconds of recuperation. When repeated eight times, and including a four-minute warm-up, this workout takes about 20 minutes.

Here are the core principles (I also incorporate Buteyko breathing into the workout, which means I do most of the workout by breathing only through my nose, which raises the challenge to another level). For another HIIT alternative, try Super Slow strength training.

  1. Warm up for three minutes
  2. Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should be gasping for breath and feel like you couldn’t possibly go on another few seconds. It is better to use lower resistance and higher repetitions to increase your heart rate
  3. Recover for 90 seconds, still moving, but at slower pace and decreased resistance
  4. Repeat the high-intensity exercise and recovery seven more times. (When you’re first starting out, depending on your level of fitness, you may be able to do only two or three repetitions of the high-intensity intervals. As you get fitter, just keep adding repetitions until you’re doing eight during your 20-minute session)
  5. Cool down for a few minutes afterward by cutting down your intensity by 50 to 80 percent

Variety Is the Spice of Life — and Exercise

Remember that HIIT is only one facet of a well-rounded exercise program. Incorporating other physical activities you enjoy, such as the highly beneficial choices revealed in the featured study, will only add to your fitness and longevity. Let your interests guide you and feel free to experiment with new activities, like a water aerobics class one week or a game of tennis the next.

By making simple tweaks, you can easily turn a fun game of tennis with a friend into a moderate-to-vigorous workout that enhances your longevity and strength. To get the most from your racket sports workout, consider these tips from the University of Rochester Medical Center:6

” … [Y]ou and your opponent should agree to play for the aerobic benefit, as well as for fun. Instead of firing aces past each other, plan on a volley-and-return match that keeps you both moving. Scatter your shots around the court to make the most of the distance you both run. Also limit your number of serves. Or play for total points instead of using traditional scoring.”

Study: Consider Racket Sports and Swimming to Help You Live Longer

Posted by

0


There’s no shortage of evidence showing that being active can extend your life. Less widely known, however, is whether certain types of activities may work in your favor more so than others.

Surprisingly, research on the health benefits of specific types of activities is scarce, so researchers from Europe and Australia examined the associations between six different sports/exercises and risk of death from heart disease and all causes. Three of them rose squarely to the top.

exercise benefits

Story at-a-glance –

  • Racket sports, swimming and aerobics topped the list of best physical activities for lowering the risk of premature death
  • A significant reduction in cardiovascular death was also found for the three activities, more so than found from running, cycling or football (soccer)
  • Racket sports, aerobics and swimming require the use of your full body — arms and legs — which makes your heart work harder
  • These activities often require intense bursts of activity, which could be responsible for their life-enhancing edge

3 Top Physical Activities to Lower Your Risk of Death

Researchers analyzed data from more than 80,000 people, and it turned out racket sports, swimming and aerobics topped the list of best physical activities for lowering the risk of premature death.1

Those who played racket sports, such as tennis, badminton or squash, had a 47 percent lower risk of dying during the nine-year study period than non-exercisers. Swimmers, meanwhile, had a 28 percent lower risk of death while aerobics’ participants enjoyed a 27 percent lower risk of dying.

A significant reduction in cardiovascular death was also found for the three activities. Those who played racket sports were 56 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease during the study, followed by 41 percent less likely for swimmers and 36 percent less likely among aerobics enthusiasts.

No statistically significant reductions, however — for cardiovascular or all-cause mortality — were observed for the other three activities included in the study (cycling, running and football, i.e., soccer in the U.S.).

Are Full-Body Workouts Best?

Racket sports, aerobics and swimming require the use of your full body — arms and legs — which makes your heart work harder. This could be one reason why these full-body workouts lower the risk of death more than other activities.

In addition, they often require intense bursts of activity, which could be responsible for their life-enhancing edge. As noted by the University of Rochester Medical Center:2

“Racquet sports alternate bursts of high-intensity exercise while you score points, with brief rest periods while you pick up the ball and serve. This stop-and-start activity is similar to interval training.

Playing racquet sports, or any active sport, [three] hours a week can cut your risk of developing heart disease and lower your blood pressure, according to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

One key to getting a good aerobic workout in tennis or racquetball is to keep your rest periods brief. Your heart will continue to work at an aerobic level, but without the sustained stress.”

On the other hand, cycling was only associated with a small decline in mortality risk, but this could be because many of the participants used cycling recreationally to get to and from work (as opposed to doing it vigorously as a workout).

The researchers speculated that running may not have made the top list because the runners in the study were younger, on average, and a longer follow-up period may have been needed to gauge its full benefits.

However, research is increasingly showing that short bursts of intense activity (such as you might engage in when playing a vigorous game of tennis) may be better than long, slow cardio like running.

Among the study participants, more than 44 percent met the minimum exercise recommendations (150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity a week for adults ages 18 to 65).

Popularity-wise, swimming topped the list as the favorite form of exercise, followed by cycling, aerobics, running/jogging, racket sports and football (soccer) or rugby.

It’s important to note that engaging in any type of activity was better than none at all; active participants reduced their risk of death by 28 percent, regardless of which activity they engaged in.

Swimming Versus Racket Sports and Aerobics

Ultimately, you should choose your physical activities based on what you enjoy, and keep your routine varied to get the best results. You might try swimming one day, a game of tennis another and do a high-intensity interval aerobics workout the next.

All of these exercises offer benefits for cardiovascular fitness, strength and fat burning, but swimming offers one clear benefit over the others for people who have trouble exercising on land: It’s not a weight-bearing workout.

If you are overweight or obese, struggle with joint pain or osteoarthritis or are elderly and unable to engage in higher impact activities, exercising in water will allow your body to move in a wider range of motion, often without pain, and with less of a risk of injury or falls.

Vertical water workouts, such as deep water running, water aerobics, water yoga and more, are becoming increasingly popular because you experience much greater resistance (and hence greater fitness gains) than when swimming horizontally.

It’s quite possible to get a high-intensity, vigorous workout done in the water, and this may be an ideal form of exercise for those with chronic pain or mobility issues.

There’s a ‘Goldilocks Zone’ When It Comes to Exercising

If you want to reap the most benefits from exercising (i.e., lower your risk of premature death as much as possible), you might assume that the more you exercise, the better.

In reality, a large analysis involving data from 661,000 adults revealed that people who exercised 10 times the recommended level (150 minutes of moderate exercise per week) did not gain any additional benefits in terms of mortality risk reduction.3

Those who met the exercise guidelines lowered their risk of death during the 14-year study period by 31 percent while those who engaged in moderate exercise for 450 minutes per week (just over an hour a day) lowered their risk of premature death by 39 percent compared to non-exercisers.

Even those who exercised at all (yet didn’t meet the requirement) lowered their risk of premature death by 20 percent. Those who did not exercise at all had the highest risk of premature death, which again sends home the message that any exercise is better than no exercise.

Exercise intensity also plays an important role, however, and data from a separate study found that engaging in even occasional vigorous exercise led to additional reductions in risk of premature death.4 In fact, when you include brief bursts of high-intensity activity in your workouts, you can slash your workout time considerably.

Brief, Intense Activity Promotes Longevity Via Mitochondrial Biogenesis

Pushing your body to the extreme for a very brief duration, such as cycling on a stationary bike or elliptical machine for 30 seconds as fast as you can, then resting for a recovery period before repeating the cycle again, taps into a new level of exercise advantages that cannot be gained from moderate- or low-intensity workouts alone.

Such workouts, known as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), lead to immediate changes in your DNA, including reprogramming your muscle for strength and stimulating your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which in turn triggers production of vital human growth hormone (HGH).

HIIT also triggers mitochondrial biogenesis, which is important for longevity. According to one review in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, exercise alters mitochondrial enzyme content and activity, which helps increase cellular energy production, and in so doing decreases your risk of chronic disease and slows down the aging process.5

Working Out Smarter

Research has clearly demonstrated that short bursts of intense activity are safer and more effective than conventional cardio — for your heart, general health, weight loss and overall fitness. The bonus is that exercising in this way allows you to exercise much more efficiently.

The American College of Sports Medicine, which recommends 20 minutes of more vigorous activity three days per week, even notes that HIIT workouts tend to burn 6 percent to 15 percent more calories compared to other workouts, thanks to the calories you burn after you exercise.

Even for HIIT, however, there are variations among workouts, and it’s important to find one that works right for you. If you’re very fit and want to take your workout to the next level, Tabata Training is one (very challenging) HIIT workout to try.

If you’re new to high-intensity interval training, however, don’t go directly to a full Tabata workout. Instead, try the Peak Fitness method of 30 seconds of maximum effort followed by 90 seconds of recuperation. When repeated eight times, and including a four-minute warm-up, this workout takes about 20 minutes.

Here are the core principles (I also incorporate Buteyko breathing into the workout, which means I do most of the workout by breathing only through my nose, which raises the challenge to another level). For another HIIT alternative, try Super Slow strength training.

  1. Warm up for three minutes
  2. Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should be gasping for breath and feel like you couldn’t possibly go on another few seconds. It is better to use lower resistance and higher repetitions to increase your heart rate
  3. Recover for 90 seconds, still moving, but at slower pace and decreased resistance
  4. Repeat the high-intensity exercise and recovery seven more times. (When you’re first starting out, depending on your level of fitness, you may be able to do only two or three repetitions of the high-intensity intervals. As you get fitter, just keep adding repetitions until you’re doing eight during your 20-minute session)
  5. Cool down for a few minutes afterward by cutting down your intensity by 50 to 80 percent

Variety Is the Spice of Life — and Exercise

Remember that HIIT is only one facet of a well-rounded exercise program. Incorporating other physical activities you enjoy, such as the highly beneficial choices revealed in the featured study, will only add to your fitness and longevity. Let your interests guide you and feel free to experiment with new activities, like a water aerobics class one week or a game of tennis the next.

By making simple tweaks, you can easily turn a fun game of tennis with a friend into a moderate-to-vigorous workout that enhances your longevity and strength. To get the most from your racket sports workout, consider these tips from the University of Rochester Medical Center:6

” … [Y]ou and your opponent should agree to play for the aerobic benefit, as well as for fun. Instead of firing aces past each other, plan on a volley-and-return match that keeps you both moving. Scatter your shots around the court to make the most of the distance you both run. Also limit your number of serves. Or play for total points instead of using traditional scoring.”