Exercises like cycling can hold back the effects of ageing and keep people young in profound ways, a new study has found.
Activities like regularly riding a Hybrid city bike appear to undo the assumption that we get more frail as we get older, the authors of the new research claim.
The studies compared data on amateur cyclists with healthy adults that did not regularly exercise. It found that those who were exercising seemed to be preserving many parts of their health.
The findings showed that the cyclists preserved muscle mass and strength with age, while maintaining stable levels of body fat and cholesterol. In men, testosterone levels remained high.
More surprisingly, the anti-ageing effects of cycling appeared to extend to the immune system.
Cycling can hold back the effects of ageing and rejuvenate the immune system, a study has found.
Scientists carried out tests on 125 amateur cyclists aged 55 to 79 and compared them with healthy adults from a wide age group who did not exercise regularly.
The findings, outlined in two papers in the journal Aging Cell, showed that the cyclists preserved muscle mass and strength with age while maintaining stable levels of body fat and cholesterol. In men, testosterone levels remained high.
More surprisingly, the anti-ageing effects of cycling appeared to extend to the immune system.
Source: www.theguardian.com
An organ called the thymus, which makes immune cells called T-cells normally starts to shrink from the age of 20. But the thymuses of older cyclists were found to be generating as many T-cells as those of young individuals.
Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham, said: "Hippocrates in 400 BC said that exercise is man's best medicine, but his message has been lost over time, and we are an increasingly sedentary society.
Have you ever thought that cycling could be making you younger? Think about it. Perhaps your riding is helping you beat the clock, holding back the years and giving you a chronological advantage. But on the other hand, if you don’t treat yourself well, cycling could be adding a few years to your real age.
So try to be honest. Do you look, feel, act and think your age? What would the people around you say? There is good chance others might have a different answer to your own.
Our ageing is not just a result of what we do, there’s also a significant genetic component. For example, skin type, varicose veins or rate of hair loss are just three ways in which heredity will help to determine the hand that is dealt you.
How often have you heard it said that a person looks like their mother, father or grandparents? We might be unique individuals but our genetic building blocks will often closely match those of our parents. To counter the argument that we are bound to turn into our parents and therefore age as they did, we must consider both sides of the nature-nurture paradigm. Although genetics give us the building blocks, we can do much to make positive – or negative – choices that will affect our health and fitness and thus our rate of ageing.
Few smokers, excessive sun worshippers or totally sedentary people look good for their age. Their lifestyle choices tend to make them age more quickly than non-smoking, active people who slap on the suntan lotion. The person who smokes 60 a day and lives to 90 is a rarity, far outnumbered by those who have ill health and poor cardio-respiratory systems, and look to have prematurely aged.
In other words, what you do – the nurture – can make big differences to the genetic nature you start life with.
A good or bad hand
You may or may not have good ageing genetics, but as with those genes that affect your fitness, taking the right actions almost always has a positive effect. How you age can show how much you do or don’t care for your body. Obvious ways to make yourself look, feel and perform older than you actually are include weight gain, excessive UV damage to the skin, lack of exercise and a poor diet.
As a cyclist, you’re not sedentary, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you look good for your age. It could be that you are just starting out as a rider or that you are only recently getting back into the two-wheeled world. Or it might be that you’re a long-time rider but that you’ve not got your weight under control. It’s clear that many active people still fight weight as one of their primary demons. And if you stop riding, the demon will catch you.
You might have genetics that are very good at storing fat. If so, it’s easy to blame your make-up and get yourself into a mindset where you accept that there’s nothing you can do about it. But in fact it’s nearly always possible to make yourself leaner, stronger or fitter.
NATURE AND NURTURE:
The rest of your life starts now. Today. The take away message from this article is quite simple: you do have the power to slow down the ageing process, and to use cycling as a means towards this end. How fast you’re ageing is a see-saw effect of nature and nurture. You must control the nature with how you nurture your body. Start right now by doing the reality check – do you look, feel, act and think your age? Write this in your diary, or as a Post-It reminder; don’t just think it – write it down and acknowledge the truth. Good or bad.
I hope this article will help you to make yourself motivated to keep riding but as always if you have any questions, queries or advice please let us know, Our team will love to get back to you and happy to help.
MEANWHILE, RIDE HARD & RIDE SAFE.
Back to blog
As a fitness and aging expert with a deep understanding of the topic, I'd like to emphasize the significance of the recent study mentioned in the article. The study suggests that activities like regularly riding a Hybrid city bike, particularly among amateur cyclists aged 55 to 79, can have profound anti-aging effects on various aspects of health.
The research compared data on amateur cyclists with healthy adults who did not engage in regular exercise. The key findings indicate that regular cycling helps preserve muscle mass and strength with age, maintains stable levels of body fat and cholesterol, and keeps testosterone levels high in men. More remarkably, the study suggests that the anti-aging benefits extend to the immune system.
The immune system-related findings reveal that older cyclists had thymuses (organs responsible for producing T-cells) that were generating as many T-cells as those of young individuals. Typically, the thymus starts to shrink from the age of 20, but cycling seems to counteract this age-related decline.
The concept of exercise as a powerful tool for maintaining health and vitality is not a new one. The article references the ancient wisdom of Hippocrates, who stated that "exercise is man's best medicine." Despite this, the modern sedentary lifestyle has led society away from this wisdom.
The article also touches upon the interplay between nature and nurture in the aging process. While genetics play a role in aging, lifestyle choices such as smoking, sun exposure, exercise, and diet significantly influence how individuals age. The nurture aspect, represented by lifestyle choices, can either accelerate or decelerate the aging process.
For cyclists, the article highlights that being active doesn't automatically translate to looking young. Factors like weight control, exercise consistency, and overall fitness play a role in determining how well one ages. The article encourages cyclists to take a proactive approach to their health by acknowledging the impact of their choices on aging.
In conclusion, the study provides compelling evidence supporting the notion that cycling can be a potent tool in slowing down the aging process. The article encourages individuals to assess how they look, feel, act, and think in relation to their age, emphasizing the power they have to influence the aging process through positive lifestyle choices, particularly through regular cycling.
