Want to Look and Feel Young? Start Interval Training
While you can’t stop time from moving forward and thus getting older, you can control the speed at which your body ages. According to a recent article published on CNN Health that reviewed a Mayo Clinic study on exercise, high-intensity interval training slows the body’s aging process. That is because this type of exercise encourages your cells to produce proteins at a higher rate. More proteins naturally increase your energy level.
While the author of the study quoted on CNN Health states that any type of exercise beats being sedentary, he points out that high-intensity interval training is especially useful to fight the effects of aging. High-intensity interval training can best be described as intense aerobic activity in short bursts while engaged in more moderate exercise. An example of this is sprinting at high intensity for up to a minute in the middle of your more moderately paced jog.
What You Can Learn from the Mayo Clinic Study
Both older and younger participants in the study displayed increased energy and lower levels of insulin sensitivity, a key indicator of diabetes. The study also dug deeper into the role of proteins as they relate to energy production and aging. All proteins sustain environmental damage and must eventually be replaced. When a person is sedentary, the quantity and quality of protein molecules decrease and cause health, mobility, and intellectual functioning to decline. Exercise, particularly high-intensity interval training, offsets this effect.
Since protein molecules support every cell in your body, increasing them through exercise just makes sense. For younger people, interval training can act as preventive medicine against diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other serious health conditions. Older people may be able to reverse the effects of disease by improving protein molecule production. At the very least, exercise helps to maintain skeletal muscle in people over age 65. This can help them avoid problems with weak bones so common in the older population.
Interval Training Exercises to Incorporate into Your Routine
Are you ready to start high-intensity interval exercises but don’t know where to start? Try some of these:
• Jumping rope
• Climbing stairs
• Sprints
• Burpees
• Pull ups
• Push ups
The benefit of these exercises is that they allow you to start slow, build your intensity, and then even out at a more moderate pace. If you would like more suggestions or want to start working with a personal trainer, speak to any staff member at Cape Carteret Aquatic and Wellness.