Welcome to the latest Ageing Runner Reading recommendation You can see a list of all my reading recommendations here and sign up for the Ageing Runner newsletter here to keep unto date with the latest research on running as we get older. – Chris
This is a post by Chloe Williamson in the blog of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It is based on the PhD project ‘ Stress Healthy Ageing and Physical Exercise (SHAPE)’ at the University of Stirling in Scotland.
It has introduced me to endocrine (hormone) health and its relationship to healthy ageing. The research describes a cocktail of healthy ageing made up of cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). The stress hormone, cortisol increases with age. It is useful. It reduces inflammation and we need a sharp increase in the morning when we first wake up. Too much, however, is damaging. DHEA is a steroid hormone which counters cortisol but our production of DHEA reduces with age. We can mitigate that through physical exercise (PA) with physically active individuals having a better hormone balance that those who are not physically active. That DHEA production is most impactful when activity intensity is above 60% of VO2 max. That feels right to me. I love a blast. I feel rinsed after a hard session and I need to know more about VO2 max. The original paper ‘Physical Activity Influences Cortisol and Dehydroepiandrosterone (Sulfate) Levels in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’ in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity falls into the CARP initial list search and we will get to it in time. This summary post is a quick interesting read.
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