Can exercise be an anti-aging polypill? How does exercise target the molecular and cellular pillars of human aging? Yeah, exercise is wonderful. I wouldn't call it polypill. Sometimes I prescribe exercise as I would prescribe drugs, which helps to increase motivation. Dr. Andrea B. Maier, MD. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. But as you have already said, exercise is very important, hugely important. It influences the pillars of aging, nearly all the pillars of aging. We made a huge effort to summarize all the data in the literature showing how often a person is exercising and what the physical activity pattern is.This is what the pattern is of sedentary behavior shows.We used objective devices like gyroscopes. We used all the devices that can measure physical activity objectively. We were looking at associations of having diseases and mortality. We showed that, in aging individuals, every step counts. I mean that every additional step that you make will decrease your chance of cardiovascular disease and the chance to be disabled later in life, the chance of premature deaths. And that's, I think, is very important. Dr. Andrea B. Maier, MD. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. There is no doubt that exercise helps. And all the epidemiological evidence has now been summarized and published. So there is no doubt that exercise is very good for you. Exercise should be at a certain level, the WHO, the World Health Organization says 10,000 Steps. It doesn't matter. You have to increase your physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior, which will have beneficial health effects. So no doubt about that. And then, of course, it's a question. Why is exercise so important? And what does it do? So we looked at the pillars of aging. We asked ourselves, how can exercise interfere with cellular functions? There are already studies showing sedentary individuals, so really like being on the couch. These individuals can do an exercise program, being on a treadmill for around about three times a week. After three months, their cellular phenotypes, their biological age is lower. Dr. Andrea B. Maier, MD. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. It is depicted by a lesser number. So they have a lower number of senescent cells, longer telomeres, and a better structure of the cells of the individuals. It shows that exercise is a polypill because it works on all the pillars of aging. And we now know that it has positive effects on how your mitochondria work and how proteins are being folded. And at least a couple of studies have already shown that the number of senescent cells is lower in the circulating blood in that area. This is also in line with the positive health benefits. We see that in epidemiological studies. Dr. Andrea B. Maier, MD. Dr. Anton Titov, MD.
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