With billionaires biohacking themselves amid an insurgent wellness boom, growing interest around exercises for longevity proves more and more of us are paying attention to our health than ever before.
You may not be motivated entirely by a desire to improve your lifespan, but there’s no denying that exercise is the key to remaining mobile, disease free, and independent for longer.
Can exercises for longevity really help us live longer?
Humans were made to move our bodies; we’re designed to do it. In fact, experts believe regular, heart-thumping movement is just as important for a long life as having a healthy diet and cutting out things like cigarettes and booze.
Just ask Dr Alka Patel, longevity and lifestyle doctor, and founder of the Million Hour Club. “Exercise isn’t just about looking good in the mirror—it’s about keeping your mitochondria firing, your inflammation down, and your heart beating strong for decades to come,” she says. “If longevity is your goal, movement is your medicine.”
Dr Kai Koch, consultant physician at Marylebone Health agrees with Patel, pointing to data from the World Health Organization which found that almost a third of the world’s adult population are physically inactive. “This has risen by around 5% in the last decade and at current rates is projected to rise to 35% by 2030,” Koch warns. “Physical activity is now widely accepted as the ‘holy grail’ lifestyle factor that can give the greatest bang for its buck in terms of improving overall health outcomes.”
Muscle mass is important, too. Rhodri Whittaker, a PT at Absolute Body Solutions, calls muscle mass the “armor of the body.” “Muscle has so many functions, but structurally, it provides physical protection to bones and joints, increasing fall survivability,” he says. The more you can maintain as you age, the better your chances.
What does the science say?
Before we dive into what you should be doing and when, it’s worth taking a little more time just to appreciate the plethora of ways a good workout can help you both now and in the future. There’s a lot of data on the subject. Research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that engaging in 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, aligns with optimal mortality reduction, reinforcing current physical activity guidelines.
It also helps slow one of the key markers of aging. Experts like Patel think that telomeres—the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes—are the main culprit when it comes to showing signs of age. Our telomeres shorten as we age, and so far, there’s nothing we can do to reverse the process. But we can slow the decline.
“A study in Oncotarget found that adults with high physical activity levels had significantly longer telomeres than sedentary individuals, suggesting a cellular mechanism by which exercise contributes to longevity,” explains Patel.
Telomeres aside, how exactly does exercise promote longevity? “Exercise triggers a cascade of biological benefits that enhance both lifespan and healthspan,” Patel says.
These are:
Mitochondrial Biogenesis: “Exercise stimulates the production of new mitochondria, increasing energy metabolism and reducing oxidative stress, key to slowing aging at the cellular level,” says Patel.
Insulin Sensitivity: “Regular physical activity improves the body’s responsiveness to insulin, aiding blood sugar regulation and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, a condition linked to accelerated aging.”
Inflammation Reduction: “Chronic inflammation is a known driver of aging and disease. Exercise modulates inflammatory pathways, reducing markers like CRP and IL-6.”
Neuroprotection: “Physical activity increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), supporting neuronal health and cognitive function, essential for reducing dementia risk and maintaining mental acuity,” Patel says. Translation: it’s good for your brain, too.
Can exercise ever be harmful?
We’ve all finished a run and felt like an eighty-year-old whose knees and lungs are crumbling. Is that still an indicator of health? There’s a joke among some athletes—particularly climbers—that your chosen sport advances you ahead of other people. Not in fitness, but in age, with wrists, backs, ankles, elbows all feeling the strain of repetitive movement.
