In the United States, the average person gets to live around 79 years. So obviously it makes sense that Americans would like to know the secret for the longevity of the people of the Blue Zones: the 5 places in the world where for some reason people tend to live long and healthful lives up into the hundreds. The secret behind the longer life expectancy is being revealed through the famous biohack technique called exercise.

There is of course not a single factor talent ensures longevity as such. Many studies discuss the importance of building connections in relationships with those who are near and dear, leading life with a strong sense of purpose, and maintaining a good diet. Buettner’s cookbook, the Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100 is full of healthy recipes that ensure that your body maintains its natural state of balance and that you can make the most out of it. However, this is not all there is to the secret of a long life. The key ingredients, in fact, also include regular exercise in order to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle. And lucky for the readers, this book has recommendations for that too.

Like most Americans, you might also be stationed in front of a computer for the larger part of the day. Unfortunately for many, it could mean that you do not necessarily get the required amount of daily activity needed by your body. It is extremely important to include exercise and movement in our lifestyles as exercise is the single most important drug that ensures longevity. There does not have to be one way about it, though. Depending on your own preference, you can incorporate into your routine the type of exercise and movement that you like. Whichever practice you choose, the general goal as set by the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans is to achieve almost 150 to 300 minutes of active movement in a week.

Can physical activity ensure longevity?

The simplest answer to this question is: whichever form of physical activity you personally prefer and enjoy, then it can ensure longevity. It should however be something that you can easily make a part of your daily routine and something that you can continue doing for the rest of your long life.

For example, versions of tai chi and martial arts are common among people. By this, all that we really mean to say is that perform the exercise that you prefer. All that really matters is that all parts of your body are actively working and taking part in the movement for a total of at least 5 to 10 hours per week.

This obviously does not mean that you have to overwork your body. We do not mean to say that you should be running marathons each week. Exercising too much, and sometimes even beyond your capacity, is never a good idea. A simple example to understand this would be to consider a car that is 5 years old but has been driven a hundred thousand miles. Now even though the car is not that old itself, it has been driven a lot. You wouldn’t want to buy this car now, would you? Because even if you were to repair most parts, you would not be able to replace them all. And at some point in the future, any of the overworked parts of the car will give in and that’s is always going to be a risk with your overworked body too. In the same way, none of us would want a car that sits in a constant place for too long because eventually the rust and dust will make it break down.

This applies to the human body as well. While it is important to say active and maintain a healthy dose of exercise, one should try not to engage in excessive exercise as it can cause gradual damage to the muscles and joints of the body especially those of the knees and the hips. This is especially true if you continue to work out despite feeling pain in one part of your body or the other. Luckily, however, you are not a car. So even though you might injure something during exercise, with a healthy lifestyle our bodies have been given the innate ability to repair themselves to a certain degree.

Types of exercises to biohack

The following set of exercises provides the perfect so that you can ensure optimum health and longevity. Here is all the guidance you will need :

Use your muscles.

With technology comes an easier way to do things, and make you comfortable about being lazy. Humans were given muscles to be used through walking, climbing, or running. But advancement in the world has introduced us to escalators, elevators, cars, dishwashers, and washing machines. Whatever we were supposed to do is being taken over by a machine. We have forgotten to fix things on our own, whether it’s a relationship or a broken tap, we always call for help, hire people to do our work for us.

Our body needs to be moved. Our muscles need to move. This way they can gain strength, and repair themselves when need be. If you haven’t climbed in a long time, climbing five flights of stairs will make you end up with a leg cramp or pain. This pain is due to muscle injuries that you are unaware of. When your body has sufficient proteins to retain, it stimulates the growth of muscles. Moving your muscles by doing chores every day can strengthen your muscles and can even repair minor injuries. But it should be kept in mind that these minor injuries can also become serious injuries if you went for a heavy exercise, therefore slow and at gradually increasing pace exercises should be done. Weight lifting exercises can be injurious in this situation. In the end, it is important to build up muscle training to balance out the serious and slow injuries.

We all have been lazy about exercising. We’ve promised to be a better person tomorrow but to no avail. But for once, we can think about our life ahead and how much laying around can have a negative impact on ourselves. It’s always about taking baby steps. Small jog a day and a light walk in the park for 15 minutes. It will all become easier and healthier for you.

 Bicycling

People in Sardinia like to ride their bicycles as a mode of transportation. According to the famous DO, Robert Agnello, he believes that riding a bicycle can help prevent heart issues in the long run.

Cycling is a very simple form of exercise, unlike other complicated activities. Cycling keeps the body active and healthy. it has mental and physical benefits that do not require any form of fuel and is completely eco-friendly. it is also suitable for all age groups and that can be easily varied. There are many benefits to cycling.

1. Boosts brain power: Cycling helps to improve blood flow to the brain healthy blood flow to the brain. A healthy blood flow means all the necessary nutrients reach our brain and help it function properly. In 2013, a study found that during cycling, blow flow in the brain of cyclists rose as much as 28%. The study also said that after cycling the increased blood flow continues even after the exercises.
2. Strengthening leg muscles: Cycling is a low-intensity workout. Pedaling helps in building muscles in your knees, thighs, hips, hamstrings, and calves.
3. Improves sleep: A study by the University of Georgia discovered that if a person is not active and fit, then it can lead to sleeping issues. Cycling daily will ensure the body is tired and will give you a good night’s sleep.
4. Lower risk of heart disease: Cycling raises your heart rate and gets the blood pumping through your body. This is a very good way of protecting the body from major illnesses including heart diseases. Researchers at the University of Glasgow studied more than 260,000 individuals for five years. They studied that those who used the cycles to reach the workplace and those that do not use the cycle. They found that cycling to work can cut the risk of developing heart disease by half. Hene, cycling is better.
5. Improves immunity: A study in North Carolina found that individuals who cycle 30 minutes for five days a week took about half as many sick leaves as compared to others.

Similar to walking and running, add cycling to your list of movements as well. Adding it to your regular life will potentially increase your lifeline as well, helping you biohack your way to longevity.

Dancing

Using machine and like any machine, it needs to run and closer performs better it is well-maintained sensing is great for our machines we know that there are plenty of scientific studies to prove it so what is the body gets its energy why does heart rate increase when we tell us why do we breathe heavier why do we feel great after a good night of dancing let’s find out what happens to your body when we dance.  How many years involving model function start in the primary motor cortex one of the brains is to tell the muscles to start moving by generating neural impulses.

Dancing is just not a fun hobby or passion, it’s a lifestyle that is good for us in so many ways. Dancing can be better than going to gym and comes at a cost of nothing. It only gives you a good time and exercise for your body to keep it healthy.  Dancing gets the heart pumping. A study found out that people with cardiac conditions who danced for just 20 minutes three times a week saw their heart improve significantly more than those who stuck to traditional cardio workouts.

Dancing gives you a better social life. Which is more active, the element of interaction can be wonderful starting to release your stress or blow off the steam. Synchronizing with people while dancing can give you a feeling of belonging and a happy event to live by. Relieving stress and having a connection with other people will give you a sense of belonging and happiness. Also a very famous recipe for staying alive for a long time.

Tai chi

Many people perform Tai chi, which has slow and focused movements. This type of exercise requires deep breathing and focused energy. In short, this is the best way to meditate. Tai chi was introduced in China for mind-body practice. Just like dancing, Tai chi can bring some health benefits to your life as well.

Tai chi is beneficial because of how it releases stress and keeps you in a healthy shape. This type of exercise depicts that not all exercises can be hardcore, but can also be gentle and just as beneficial. The first benefit that comes out of Tai chi is relaxation.

Gardening

Gardening is the most unique type of exercise. I  bet half of you did know what it was an exercise. But like we already applied that movement of muscles means exercising and hence gardening takes a lot of movement. Yard work or labor work is basic strength training. This kind of exercise is known best for longevity and how to biohack your mind and body to live longer.

Just like riding a bike, going for a jog, gardening can also help boost up your mind and mood. It is relaxing and a great way to move around. You will not only be looking at new vegetables to grow but also look forward to living long enough to have all the benefits needed.

How to make the most out of your exercise?

Work regularly for at least an hour. You do not necessarily have to take time out for walking in particular. This part of your exercise plan can be fairly easy to incorporate. The one hour for walking can include anything like taking a trip to get yourself some coffee or lunch during your break. It can be taking time out on the weekend to walk when you’d usually drive.

Run, swim, or ride a bicycle for at least half an hour every other day, in addition to doing these for at least 2 hours over the weekend.

It can be helpful to have an exercise bike and a bike for riding on the road. Whenever possible go outside and ride your bicycle and when you can not do that, use your exercise bike. It will be preferable if the stationary bike has a mode where you can pedal against high magnetic resistance, which would be a lot like you were riding a bike uphill. In as little as 10 minutes, you will find yourself sweating. If you’re riding a road bike try to include a route that allows you to bike uphill for at least 10 to 20 minutes out of your total half-hour trip. Make it a routine practice to be repeated every other day and for at least 2 hours over the weekend.

Bicycling can prove to be a healthy practice for minimizing joint stress. However, as shown by a long-term study, injuries caused by running long-distance may be less common than expected, since long-distance running was not found to be related to osteoarthritis in healthy older adults. Another study following 74,752 runners for 7 years showed that running proved as a positive factor in weight loss and decreasing risks of osteoarthritis.

Dr. Longo’s Five Pillars of Longevity can be used to determine how well a certain thing works relative to its ability to contribute to a long life. These five pillars include Epidemiology, Clinical Studies, Juventology Research, Centenarian Studies, and Studies of Complex Systems. For example, certain practices such as a diet plan, etc. may not work for, or may only partially be useful for a long life because they rely on fewer than five pillars.

According to the pillar of longevity that is the Studies of Complex Systems, it appears as if bicycling is much more beneficial than running. However, running appears to be equally beneficial if we follow another pillar of Epidemiology. Health conditions, such as joint damage and injuries can have varying effects on the benefits of running if the individual continues to run in these circumstances. So, it is recommended to choose cycling to be the primary preference, but running too is alright if done within certain limits. Swimming can prove to be a great choice, even though its usefulness for a longer life is less studied than that for running.

How Much Exercise Is Enough?

As you reach your 40s and 50s, you think it’s too late to start exercising. What you are really thinking is how you’re afraid to hurt yourself over a hardcore routine or by joining or working out weight lifting exercises. That can be harmful but that mostly explains that you have no clue about what kind of exercises are made for you.

The point is not about exercising, it’s just about moving. Move your arms, legs, and muscles and let them gradually get used to the things you do.

Adults who do not have any chronic disease can do exercise for 150 minutes. This way your heart will pump up more blood and have better blood flow and health benefits. It is significant to keep your muscles active and have them work up twice a week. You can also go for some flexible exercises and extend the period from 2 to 3 days.

You will feel a change in just a few weeks of exercising. Then you can take it a step forward and join a gym or community where they can be your partner for these exercises. This way you will not only have a social life but a healthy body and a long time to live.

Conclusion

We already established that through exercise, we can biohack our body into longevity. Exercises can bring mental relaxation, which is one factor that should be considered for living a quality and long life. As for other health benefits, they have proved to be just as effective.

Exercise can help get you strong bones to boost up your mood and also can help in preventing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Studies dated back to the 1980s show that fitness and training have been a big contributor to people’s health and have helped them extend their lifespan, vitality, and life quality.

With fresh researches on the dock, we have found out that it doesn’t matter if you were not active in your life before. This research encourages us to start exercising no matter how old we are. This will not only make you more active and healthy but also contribute a few more years to your lifespan.

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