Exercise Is the Best Way to Fight Old Age

They say a woman’s worst enemy is growing old. In many respects, they’re right in the sense that no one really wants to be old, helpless, and eventually die. Yet, this is the reality of life – but that does not mean that there is nothing we can do. As Dr. Henry S. Lodge says for the latest issue of Parade magazine, what we perceive as growing old is an entirely different matter for “natural aging,” and the only way we can choose the latter is by opting for a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise.

Dr. Lodge points out that our bodies are actually programmed to grow old gracefully, beautifully, in a rather slow process. With all this, by the time we reach 40, some of us already feel beat, have health issues that should not appear at such a young age, and are overall unhappy and depressed.

This happens, Dr. Lodge explains, because of our sedentary lifestyle and lack of a proper nutrition – and, to some extent, lack of genuine human contact. All of them, though, can be bettered with regular exercise, as the doctor stresses.

“The hard reality of our biology is that we are built to move. Exercise is the master signaling system that tells our cells to grow instead of fade. When we exercise, that process of growth spreads throughout every cell in our bodies, making us functionally younger. Not a little bit younger – a lot younger. […] Whether that body is functionally younger or older is a choice you make by how you live. You choose whether those new cells come in stronger or weaker. You choose whether they grow or decay each day from then on. Your cells don’t care which choice you make. They just follow the directions you send. Exercise, and your cells get stronger; sit down, and they decay.” Dr. Lodge pinpoints for Parade.

Cases of men and women who had lived a sedentary, unhealthy life and were utterly depressed and “old” are many, as the doctor explains. What they all have in common, though, is that they were able to make a change and start exercising on a regular basis, which is why they’re now unrecognizable as the persons they were a while back. In the end, men and women who say they feel as if they were in their ‘20s when they’re actually past 40 are telling the truth, because their body is aging the way nature meant it to and not as a consequence of a flawed lifestyle, Dr. Lodge further remarks.

Other than exercise, there is yet another factor that plays an essential part in the way our body ages, and that is human contact. “One of the most fascinating revelations of the last decade is that emotions change our cells through the same molecular pathways as exercise. Anger, stress and loneliness are signals for ‘starvation’ and chronic danger. They ‘melt’ our bodies as surely as sedentary living. Optimism, love and community trigger the process of growth, building our bodies, hearts and minds.” Dr. Lodge underlines.