Many anti-aging recommendations are based on known effects of vitamins as it effects processes like oxidation and inhibits the actions of free radicals. The thinking goes that if the negative chemistry is prevented cells with stay healthy longer and hence, “younger.” The March 11, 2009, edition of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the first real biochemical study of the effects of multivitamin use.
Archive for May, 2009
Biochemical Support for Multivitamin Use
On May - 20 - 2009Comments Off on Biochemical Support for Multivitamin Use
Fitness Stories: Her Take
On May - 18 - 2009Comments Off on Fitness Stories: Her Take
Let me tell you a little about myself.
I was never an athletic child. Being short compared to my classmates, I scored poorly on any fitness test that measured us by age instead of height: my short legs couldn’t run as fast; my short arms couldn’t climb as well. I was in 5th grade before it dawned on our Phys Ed teacher that setting the chin-up bar for “average height for xth grader” skewed his results for anyone on my side of the bell curve. He added a folding gym mat for us shorter people, and suddenly 6 girls could do the flex arm hang that never could before! He probably took credit for improving our strength too.
Weird Science: Vitamins May Blunt Exercise Benefits?
On May - 15 - 2009Comments Off on Weird Science: Vitamins May Blunt Exercise Benefits?
I ran across this interesting study from Germany: It seems that Michael Ristow and his fellow researchers have noticed an odd confluence of chemistries. With a small number of volunteers (19 without previous exercise training and 20 with prior exercise training) the researchers subjected their groups to the same vitamin supplementation and exercise rigimens for 4 weeks. The vitamins examined were a combination of vitamin C (1000 mg/day) and vitamin E (400 IU/day). All of the subjects participated in 20 sessions of about 2 hours of supervised training over 4 weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
Salt is Overated
On May - 13 - 2009Comments Off on Salt is Overated
Various sources have been telling Americans that we eat too much salt for some years now. We have been told that salt “causes” high blood pressure — which is strictly speaking only true if you are one of the 65 million Americans with a genetic disorder called “essential hypertension” — and that in turn causes many other health problems. These health problems include heart disease and strokes.
Even though some people think that the health threat of salt is largely overblown, still it’s alarming to consider that some restaurant meals might contain almost 4 times the daily USRDA of salt! That’s like sitting down and eating 3 teaspoons of salt at one sitting.
“Why does an Anti-Aging site talk so much about workouts?”
On May - 9 - 2009Comments Off on “Why does an Anti-Aging site talk so much about workouts?”
I’m 45, going on 46. I don’t believe in age. I don’t believe in aging. Whatever. I’ve got your aging right here! — Tony Horton, P90X
Why on earth do we talk so much about exercise here at Age Against the Machine? Well, it’s simple. Exercise is the single most positive thing you can do to keep your body working right.
Americans want simple fixes. We want a magic pill to fix our pain, high blood pressure, or diabetes. We want a magic pill to make us skinny and attractive. We want a magic pill to help us eat more food without busting out of our pants. We want a magic pill to improve our moods and help us sleep better. We want a magic pill to give us more energy and help us in bed. Call Merlin, that’s a lot of magic pills!
In fact, exercise will do a lot of those things. Everyone knows that it builds attractive muscles. Everyone knows exercise will help you lose weight. Losing weight will in turn help most chronic conditions including joint pain, high blood pressure, diabetes and pre-diabetic conditions. Research suggests that losing weight can even help you remain mentally sharp well into your senior years! Even if exercise didn’t help us lose weight by burning excess calories, the muscle we build by working out increases the metabolism — our bodies burn more calories even when we aren’t working out.
Exercise itself will also improve your mood, even if you have depression or anxiety (with certain genetic limitations). Perhaps this is because exercise helps curb chronic pain — over and above the effects of weight loss alone (mentioned above). That’s a benefit regular exercisers will experience for years to come. The improved mood we get from exercising might also partly be the fact that it is associated with better sleep. Oh, and it also might be that we have more energy for daily activities, including sex. That’s a lot of reasons to be happier!
Anti-aging isn’t only about living longer. It’s about quality of life: feeling better; being physically and mentally able to do things we enjoy as we age; living without chronic pain. Exercise is the magic pill that cures many ills, and it’s the foundation of anti-aging.