Physical Activity for Health and Longevity

Regular physical activity is a must for staying healthy and living long. In the foundation of longevity, sport is a cornerstone.

In addition to proper nutrition, adequate sleep, developing positive thinking, and stress resistance, physical activity must be part of a healthy lifestyle.

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10 reasons to exercise

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How to develop stress resilience and self-control

But saying "you should exercise" is not saying much! It's similar to saying you should eat. You need to know how to eat properly to be healthy and live long.

You also need to know what kind of exercise will prolong your life, and which might be harmful or useless. Not everything called a sport is beneficial for health and longevity. It is believed that the most beneficial sport is swimming (read more about this in our article ☛).

Shooting, billiards, golf, darts are completely useless in terms of extending life, while weightlifting, powerlifting, arm wrestling will only cause harm. Among mental sports, intellectual ones like checkers and chess stand apart.

It is necessary to understand the mechanisms of action of different types of physical activity.

The most physiological type of exercise involves movement. Typically, when we talk about the need to exercise, we mean aerobic or cardio exercises to promote blood circulation, train the heart muscle, improve microcirculation, metabolism, oxygen transport, burn calories, etc.

Aerobic exercise with a specific duration (normally 1 hour) and appropriate heart rate (pulse) should be the priority. Remember the main rule — do no harm!

What types of sports are suitable for this kind of exercise? Suitable ones include: running, skiing, swimming, tennis, cycling, all kinds of active games (football, basketball, hockey, etc.).

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Why you should do morning exercises

7 reasons to start swimming

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In addition to recommending necessary physical activities, it is also important to advise on what the proper load should be. It should be comprehensive. For a future centenarian, in addition to cardio exercises, strength training, as well as flexibility and stretching, are necessary.

No matter how good and beneficial aerobic exercise is, it alone will not provide everything needed to maintain the form required for active longevity.

Strength training is needed to prevent muscle atrophy with age. Running alone is good, but you run with your legs, and your arm muscles don't get enough load. Moreover, running does not contribute to the flexibility of the spine, which is necessary since youth and flexibility are inseparable concepts.

There are certain requirements for physical activity aimed at extending life. After the age of 40, it is no longer necessary to compete or set records. We have a completely different task — to ensure physical activity that is age-appropriate and sufficient for health and longevity. You should not work to the point of exhaustion or at the limit of your capabilities.

The load should be, first and foremost, pleasant for you. You should train at a pulse rate that does not exceed the value calculated by the formula:

200 minus your age (for women — another minus 10)

So, if you are 55 years old, you should train at a heart rate of no more than 145 beats per minute (200 — 55 = 145). This is the maximum pulse for a health-promoting workout. Nowadays, there are many fitness bracelets available to monitor your pulse.

Any static load is harmful to longevity. Exercises that involve muscle tension while holding your breath and without movement are not physiological, and therefore harmful, as they disrupt blood flow, increase blood pressure, and lead to faster heart wear. Only exercises with a load that you can perform at least 20 times while breathing freely are beneficial. For example, push-ups from the floor or working with a very light barbell.

During physical activity, muscles contract alternately, helping the heart pump blood, thereby reducing its load.

With age, muscle mass decreases. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain it with dynamic strength exercises. The optimal load is the one that maintains muscle mass at a constant level.

It is very important to train endurance. Endurance training increases the number of stem cells.

In addition to strength and endurance training, it is important to mention flexibility training for the spine. We are young as long as we are flexible!

Below is a set of simple exercises that, if done daily, will help keep your spine in shape. Performing them will take no more than 5 minutes a day.

1. Stand with your arms raised up. Feet shoulder-width apart. Without changing the position of your arms, perform 10 bends to the right, then 10 to the left, and 10 bends back. Perform the bends as deep as you can.
2. Without bending your knees, perform 10 forward bends, trying to touch the floor with your hands.
3. Without changing your vertical position and without lifting your feet off the ground, (you can bend your arms at the elbows) perform a twisting motion of the spine, turning 10 times to the right and left, as deep as you can.

And the last type of sports training is mental sports, the training of brain activity. Checkers and chess are well-suited for developing mental activity, which contributes to increased longevity.

Details on why active intellectual activity contributes to longevity are explained in our article “Why do smart people live longer?”.