Run As Part Of Your Routine: It Helps Keep You Young

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and Humboldt State University discovered that senior citizens who run several times a week to keep up with their physical fitness routine can keep their fitness goals on track.

In other words, recent findings published in the journal PLOS ONE show that older individuals who consistently run can actually slow their aging progression.

"The bottom line is that running keeps you younger, at least in terms of energy efficiency," said University of Colorado Associate Professor Rodger Kram, a co-author on the study, in a written release.

For the study, researchers studied 30 health older volunteer adults, all an average age of 69 years who either regularly ran or walked for exercise. The volunteers all had been either running or walking at least three times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes per workout for six months or longer, walking on a force-measuring treadmill at three speeds: 1.6 mph, 2.8 mph, and 3.9 mph.

For the new study, the team also used data gathered as part of Ortega's dissertation on the energy expended by younger and older sedentary adults during similar walking treadmill tests for comparison. Researchers found that those who work out reguarly have more mitochondria in their cells. 

"Walking for exercise has many positive health effects, like fending off heart disease, diabetes, weight gain and depression - it's just that walking efficiency does not seem to be one of them," Kram said. "Because we found no external biomechanical differences between the older walkers and runners, we suspect the higher efficiency of senior runners is coming from their muscle cells."

Probably best to get to the gym, don't you think?