Too Old to Exercise???

I like many of my friends have always loved exercising, working out, doing yoga, practicing martial arts as well as many other forms of exercise. But, some have told me there are times they’d much rather roll over and stay in bed, sit in front of the computer, or do just about anything but move my body. While some come up with incredibly inventive excuses, “I don’t have time” and “it’s not a priority right now” are two of my favorites. And, in the last few years, I’ve even heard another good one that truly puzzles me: “I’m getting too old to exercise like I used to.”

Most people over 50 (or even over 40!) use the “I’m too old to exercise” excuse and it’s the worst thing they can do for their health.  Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the guru of aerobics, put it this way: “We do not stop exercising because we grow old, we grow old because we stop exercising.”

It’s not just an astute observation; it’s a proven fact. A recent study at Ohio State University focused on yoga, but we’d probably see the same results from any similar type of exercise. The researchers found the regular practice of yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress.

The study, reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood. They also showed smaller increases in IL-6 after stressful experiences than did women who were the same age and weight but who were not yoga practitioners.

IL-6 is a normal and important part of the body’s innate inflammatory response — but too much stress (and/or too little exercise) causes it to elevate to a level where it can contribute to heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis, and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases. Reducing inflammation may provide substantial short- and long-term health benefits, the researchers suggested.

“We know that inflammation plays a major role in many diseases. Yoga appears to be a simple and enjoyable way to add an intervention that might reduce risks for developing heart disease, diabetes and other age-related diseases,” wrote co-author Ron Glaser, a professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics.

“In addition to having lower levels of inflammation before they were stressed, we also saw lower inflammatory responses to stress among the expert yoga practitioners in the study,” explained Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology and lead author of the study. “Hopefully, this means that people can eventually learn to respond less strongly to stressors in their everyday lives by using yoga and other stress-reducing modalities.”

Bill Malarkey, a professor of internal medicine and another of the project’s researchers, pointed to the inflexibility that routinely comes with aging. “Muscles shorten and tighten over time, mainly because of inactivity,” he said. “The stretching and exercise that comes with yoga actually increases a person’s flexibility and that, in turn, allows relaxation which can lower stress.”

Prof. Malarkey sees the people’s adoption of yoga or other regular exercise as one of the key solutions to our current health care crisis. “People need to be educated about this. They need to be taking responsibility for their health and how they live. Doing yoga and similar activities can make a difference.”

Since I can’t use the “too old” excuse, I guess I’ll have to either rely on the “too busy” one or, better yet, stop making excuses and drag out the yoga mat!

Yours for Better Health, Dr. Shapero

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