Health guru Dr Michael Mosley has shared three simple exercises that he says can help people live longer and slow the signs of ageing. The inventor of the 5:2 diet often shares lifestyle and nutrition tips, as well as exposing what he believes to be diet and exercise myths.
Dr Mosley has now released ways people can live longer, boost their metabolism, improve brain function and lose weight - all through just three simple exercises. According to the expert, the answer to all these things could lie in weight training.
On his BBC Sounds podcast, Just One Thing, Dr Mosely shared that recent evidence suggests that doing muscle-strengthening exercises for only a few minutes a day can "confer some remarkable health benefits", including helping you live longer, WalesOnline reports.
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He said: "An American study found that muscle mass is one of the strongest predictors of longevity, even more than weight or body mass index. Researchers followed 3,600 men and women over the age of 50 for a decade they found that those who had more muscle mass were at a lower risk of death from all causes."
He said muscle training can also benefit your metabolism and your waistline, all while reducing your blood sugar levels, and some evidence suggests it even slows down ageing.
Dr Mosley added: "Strength training may even reverse ageing at a cellular level. In one small but fascinating study, scientists asked 14 older people to do strength training twice a week for six months and then compared their muscles to that of younger adults. They looked at the parts of the muscle cells that generate energy, the mitochondria. Normally these wane with age but the older adults who had been doing strength training boosted their mitochondria levels similar to those seen in younger men and women."
Speaking to one listener on the podcast, Dr Mosley advised her to do three simple exercises using household objects, doing three sets of ten every day of the week, as follows:
- A bicep curl using a large bottle of milk
- Calf raises by pushing yourself onto your tippy toes using a counter top
- Weighted squats by filling a backpack with books
He spoke to one expert, Dr Teresa Liu-Ambrose at the University of British Columbia, who described how one study showed that weight training can improve your memory as well as your more complex cognitive abilities such as decision-making. Dr Mosley described it as having "remarkable health benefits".
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