Best way to slow aging? High-intensity interval training

HIIT, as it is commonly known, requires short bursts of intense aerobic activity, intermixed with longer stretches of moderate exercise. Participating in this kind of training encourages cells to make more proteins to fuel the energy producing cellular mechanism. This, in turn, arrests the aging process.

The study found that younger people participating in HIIT showed a 49 percent increase in mitochondrial capacity and the older group saw a 69 percent. (Mitochondria are the cells’ powerhouses, responsible for producing the molecule that transports chemical energy within cells.)

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, used two sets of volunteers: the younger set ranged in age from 18 to 30 and the older ranged in age between 65 and 80. Those studied were then divided into three different supervised exercise training programs that lasted three months. The mixed-age HIIT group did three days a week of cycling, with high-intensity bouts alternating with low-intensity pedaling, and two days a week of moderately difficult treadmill walking.

A strength training group did weights for lower and upper body muscles two days each week, while a third group cycled and lifted weight five days a week, but always less strenuously than the two other groups.

The group that participated in HIIT earnedthebest results at the cellular level. HIIT seemed to reverse the age-relateddeclineinbothmitochondrialfunction and muscle-building proteins.

Dr. Sreekumaran Nair of Mayo Clinic said, “I would recommend high-intensity interval training, but I think it would be more beneficial if they could do three to four days of interval training and then a couple of days of strength training.”