Researchers at the University of Helsinki will soon publish the results of a study in which they followed 287 men from 1974 to 2003. The average age of the subjects in 1974 was 47. The researchers were able to divide the men into three groups: non-active, moderately active and highly active. The men didn’t change their pattern of activity as they aged.
The moderately active men walked, cycled, gardened, bowled and fished. The highly active men ran or cycled. The publication makes no mention of strength sports or fitness.
In 2003 the researchers took blood samples from the subjects, extracted immune cells from the blood and measured the length of the telomeres. They discovered that the group that did moderately intensive activity had longer telomeres than the other groups. So activities like walking and gardening might delay your molecular aging, but more intensive forms of exercise don’t.
Proportion of short telomeres
Low activity 12.20
Moderate activity 11.40
High activity 12.40
Note the telomeres measured came from specific cells - immune cells.
So the Brigham Young findings talk about length of telomeres, while the Finns talk about the percentage of telomeres that are short. Brigham Young has the edge on size of sample population - 4,458. The Finns have the edge on the years they followed the subjects - 1974 - 2003.
Brigham Young compared those who were active versus those who were not physically active. The Finns compared among those with low physical activity, moderate, and high physical activity.
Everything in moderation, has oft-been repeated. So I will go with the Finns.
TBH I have not looked into it in-depth. I recall from the book that Attia cited a VO2 of around 30 mL/kg/min being the point at which people tend to lose the ability to do stuff. So, it stands to reason that if elderly people can stay consistently above that number, PEDs such as EPO could be potential longevity drugs. When Attia had a recent podcast on PEDs, I thought he might address this issue, but it turned out mainly to be about steroids. I didn’t get through the whole thing.
There are negative risks obviously, such as the blood thickening issue. As you mentioned, taking less than what a doping pro athlete is an option, as well as using low grade blood thinners (like Pantethine) or even low doses of blood thinning drugs. Another option is just monitoring, by D-dimer, fibrinogen, or other clotting risk assessment tests through Marek.
Per this article, the effects don’t last long:
Here’s a review article:
These articles look worthwhile to go through in detail:
In regards to cellular protection with EPO and mTOR during programmed cell death, EPO blocks apoptotic cell death through the activation of mTOR
In mature populations that are affected by aging-related disorders, the conclusion for the use of EPO to treat clinical disease is less clear. In a small study with twenty-six Parkinson’s disease patients, recombinant EPO administration improved cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction and cognition, but did not alter motor function (216). Increased expression of the EPO receptor in temporal cortical and hippocampal astrocytes in sporadic AD patients has been observed and considered to be an early neuroprotective pathway (272). The biosimilar epoetin α (Binocrit) administered in elderly patients with myelodysplastic syndromes also have experienced improved cognitive function that may be related to resolution of anemia (273). Yet, in relation to TBI, neither the administration of EPO or maintaining hemoglobin concentration above 10 g/dL led to improvement in neurological outcome at six months (274). In a large clinical trial with close to six hundred patients that experienced brain injury, EPO did not significantly affect six-month mortality, reduce severe neurological dysfunction, or increase the occurrence of deep venous thrombosis of the lower limbs (275). In addition, administration of human choriogonadotropin alfa followed by EPO did not show improvement in neurological recovery in patients with ischemic stroke (276). Similar to prior studies with cardiovascular disease (229, 250, 277–279), additional work suggests that high concentrations of EPO may not be effective for cardiac protection. Recent studies with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest demonstrate that EPO did not confer a benefit and was associated with a higher thrombotic complication rate (280, 281).
Are you saying you don’t run at all? Or that you do run but not until your legs fall off? What is the most vigorous exercise you do? If I may ask, what is your height and weight? You’re very health conscious for your age and, at 82, you’re probably cheating death already. My doctors tell me that 85 is when most people start falling off the cliff. It takes them longer to recover, or they don’t recover at all.
Agreed. If I was a wiser person, open to considering all ideas regardless of the presentation, and I had unlimited time, I would not use this feature. But I do what I can with what I have right now…
No, I don’t run anymore. I loved running (jogging) and did so for many years. Unfortunately, my body wasn’t built for running. Between, running on asphalt and playing tennis on hard courts, my right ankle kills me if I try to run. Oddly, stair climbing doesn’t bother me so I climb a lot of stairs daily. Mainly I do resistance training, 6 days a week at present, to keep fit.
I am sure aging accelerates past a certain point, but I hope that the several “life-extending” supplements that I take will slow it down somewhat.
Peter Attia visualizes cardiorespiratory fitness as the volume of a pyramid. Zone 2 training is the base of the pyramid (the wider the better), while HIIT (Zone 5) is the apex/height of the pyramid. Even if you do a lot of one or other other, the volume will be fairly small. Do both regularly, and you’ll have a nice, big pyramid. For VO2 max training, he recommends 4x4 intervals (4 min low intensity followed by 4 minutes of high intensity), repeated 4 times per session, I think once per week.
Yes - I’m just re-listening to the podcast from the first post. Peter recommends a minimum (and no maximum) of 3 hours a week of exercise, 80% zone 2, and about 20% HIIT / Zone 5 to increase Vo2 max. This is my general plan right now, with a mix of activities in both areas. The research he cites suggests a longer, more active & healthier lifespan with the higher the VO2 max you can get. And to add to that weight lifting, stability training, etc…
@RapAdmin I’d keep the percentage of time at max effort at 10% or less. The total workout time can total 20% including rests. This is from Dr Stephen Seiler who is the “father of polarized training”. Err on the side of too much zone 1 and 2. The real risk will be going too hard when you are trying to do zone 2…figure out your fatmax HR, and don’t touch it. You can use nasal breathing or the talk test to estimate it but a lactate meter will provide perfect info.
Attia has been testing an app called Morpheus (free app, but need the proprietary HR monitor) as an alternative to lactate testing, and so far he says it’s been quite accurate. Mine is getting delivered Monday (100 bucks).
Interesting - thanks! Let us know your thoughts after you use it for a while…
Part of me goes “Arggg… not another heart rate monitor!”… I already have one chest HRM, and just bought the new Coros Apex 2 watch with heart rate monitoring, and was just looking at the Coros arm-based HRM which I really like from a comfort standpoint: COROS Heart Rate Monitor
But then this new Morpheus HRM sounds pretty compelling, but how many heart rate monitors can you wear at once
