Information about aging

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HealthyLifeHow.com

Interview with Christian Brüngger
“Health, Fitness, Exercising, Aging”

Christian Brüngger is an editor, came to the sports department at the age of 23, traveled around the (sports) world for a long time and, after the birth of his first boy, increasingly sits on the office chair. Likes to write in the border area between sport and society.

Mr. Brüngger, the ravages of time gnaw at us all, but your latest work gives us courage when it comes to fitness.
That's correct. Because the flexibility of our body is much greater than we have long assumed. But let's start with the bad news: If you stop exercising, you quickly lose the type of fitness that determines individual endurance performance - Cardiopulmonary Fitness.

How fast?
Within a few weeks, it can drop by 10 percent. Many underestimate this rapid decline.

Now, please, a pick-me-up!
You can quickly build up this level of fitness again with targeted training. For less active people, two to three additional sports units per week, such as jogging, cycling or swimming, each 30 to 60 minutes, are often sufficient. That's positive considering that cardiopulmonary fitness is strongly associated with premature mortality and risk of disease. Overweight and inactive people are 15 to 17 times more likely to develop Diabetes than those who are physically active.

You talk about training and sport, which sounds daunting to many. Is light exercise enough?
The World Health Organization recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 to 150 of vigorous physical activity per week — not necessarily exercise. Examples of such movements are: Gardening or going to work instead of driving. Training or sport, on the other hand, means planned activities to get fitter or to keep fit.

“From around the age of 30, we constantly lose performance.”
So the good news is that with exercise, we can put the Brakes on Aging in terms of cardiopulmonary fitness. At what time?
From about the age of 30, the maximum oxygen uptake capacity, abbreviated VO2-max, decreases by 10 percent every decade. From a certain age, we constantly lose performance.

Why does this ability gradually decrease with age?
This is due to aging processes that reduce cardiopulmonary fitness. Cardiovascular and respiratory systems are less efficient, muscles and bones lose quantity and quality, and cells use oxygen less efficiently.
People who are new or have moved again can also increase their fitness significantly in old age.

But you say: If you move enough, you can massively influence this age-related process. . .
. . . and up to half. So that means: instead of 10 percent, my performance with optimal movement only drops by 5 percent per decade.
Our data is based on Masters athletes, i.e. athletes who are still competing at an older age. Because of their continuous training, these masters are a very good model for aging research. We were able to show that their fitness decreases much less rapidly compared to the average population.

Why is normal movement important to us?
You always have to remember that we average athletes are already significantly less fit. So we start at a lower level and continue to lose performance, which at some point even shopping can become a challenge.

If you're unfit and start moving, are you getting fitter than ever?
He gets fitter than before, but after a certain age – between 30 and 40 – he will probably never be as fit as he could have been when he was younger with enough exercise. But let's emphasize the positive message again: People who are new or have returned to exercise can also improve their fitness significantly in old age.

Why is this VO2 max so important?
It describes how much oxygen we can pump through the lungs and cardiovascular system to other parts of the body, where it is used for energy. For example, when I jog, most of the oxygen goes to the leg muscles.

The more oxygen I can take in, the more efficient I am?
Regarding endurance sports: yes.

Does the body not care how long it rests – it always gets fitter with exercise?
There are some examples that suggest this. I am thinking, for example, of a former Olympic marathon competitor who took a 16-year break from running after his career at the age of 32. Then, at 61, he ran a marathon with a top time of 2:31:18. This is of course a special case. But this shows that exercise can make you fitter again, even after a long break.

This is good news for the many couch potatoes among us.
Exactly, because the body is really very adaptable. However, because we gradually lose performance and standing still is accompanied by such a rapid decline in fitness, one thing is important: to exercise as continuously as possible and better not to stop exercising or exercising for a longer period of time. Incidentally, this is why top athletes find it so difficult as they get older to return to their previous level after an injury break. We amateur athletes also know that initial progress is quickly made. However, if hundredths or at most seconds decide about victory or defeat, such a break can be fatal in older athletes.
Because professionals naturally also experience these aging processes.
You can't stop aging completely, even with the smartest training.

For us average athletes, moving is more about prevention, right?
With exercise, we usually invest less in medals or top performances, but in staying fit - especially for everyday life in the form of carrying our shopping or playing with our own children.
"There doesn't seem to be a maximum for moderate endurance sports."

Many people don't feel a continuous decline in performance, but rather sharp spikes - often in their 40s and then again in their 60s. Is this a coincidence?
No. What feels like the first drop is very often related to family and work. In this phase of life, we like to call it middle of life, you are under a lot of stress, so there is often no time for sport or exercise. In the 60s most of them retire, it is a big turning point in life. I believe that social and psychological aspects contribute more to this accelerated drop in performance than physical ones. At least in my professional environment, many scientists in their 60s and later hardly lose disproportionately in performance, probably because they know the subject and continue to train consistently.

So to that question: How much exercise should you do to stay fit - is there a minimum and a maximum?
There doesn't seem to be a maximum for moderate endurance sports. In principle, anyone who is healthy and whose joints can cope with it can train as much as they want. According to research, just 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day reduces the risk of dying from a disease by 14 percent. However, more movement is ideal. For example, if you want to reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease as much as possible, you should exercise around 700 minutes a week, or even 1,200 minutes in the case of cancer.
Both is a lot.
That is why such statistical statements are useless for most people. We don't motivate ourselves by knowing that if we exercise regularly, we reduce our risk of death by up to 50 percent. That's not how we humans tick.

> Info Create Positive Habits

What should I do?
You have to build up the motivation differently – maybe learn New Habits. An example: cycling to work instead of driving. Also important: You should like the type of exercise or the sport, otherwise you lose interest in it. It is also helpful if you link exercise to social activity, keyword here: group training.

What else should you watch out for?
Choosing intensities that suit you. Because, as I said, it's about being active as regularly as possible. Variety is also recommended. Training in a combination of strength, endurance or dexterity is particularly good for preventing age-related neurological diseases such as dementia and movement disorders. That's why dancing or climbing are so recommended, especially in old age.

In your work you have focused on cardiopulmonary fitness and thus above all endurance sports. What can you say about strength?
That it is at least as important to maintain muscle mass and bone density. So it's not an either/or – we ideally train endurance and strength. Compared to endurance, however, strength training appears to take less time to achieve optimal health effects.

More specific please.
Two to three strength training sessions or a total of 30 to 60 minutes per week are sufficient. All major muscle groups should be trained weekly, with or without weights. Eight to twelve repetitions per set are ideal for building muscle, at an intensity that leads to exhaustion. For beginners, one set per workout is sufficient, later several sets per exercise can make sense.