exercise to boost hormones
Exercise is a simple testosterone booster, and it’s one of the most powerful health promoting treatments around. Both men and women experience a sharp increase in testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH) after strength training sessions.1 But high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which involves pushing yourself to your edge with intense exercise followed by a brief rest, is even more effective at increasing testosterone and HGH levels in both men and women.2 It’s also a great option if you’re short on time.
William J. Kraemer et al., “Endogenous Anabolic Hormonal and Growth Factor Responses to Heavy Resistance Exercises in Males and Females,” International Journal of Sports Medicine 12, no. 2 (May 1991): 228–35, https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2007-1024673.
Patrick Wahl, “Hormonal and Metabolic Responses to High Intensity Interval Training,” Journal of Sports Medicine & Doping Studies 3)
exercise to live long
Research shows that adults who regularly engage in intense exercise have significantly longer telomeres, those protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. As a result, people who exercise regularly are a full decade younger than their peers on a cellular level.
Larry A. Tucker, “Physical Activity and Telomere Length in U.S. Men and Women: An NHANES Investigation,” Preventive Medicine 100 (July 2017): 145–51, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.04.027.)
shorten telomeres with exercise
Exercise is another important way of preventing early telomere shortening. Researchers in Germany looked at telomere length in four groups of people: those who were young and sedentary, those who were young and active, those who were middle-aged and sedentary, and those who were middle-aged and active. There wasn’t much of a difference between the two groups of young people, but when the participants were middle-aged, the change in telomere lengths was striking. The sedentary middle-aged folks had telomeres that were 40% shorter than the young people, while the active middle-aged folks had telomeres that were only 10 percent shorter than the young people. In other words, the active group reduced their telomere shortening by 75 percent.1 Exercise significantly reduces perceived stress levels and inflammation,2 which may help to explain these results.
1. Gretchen Reynolds, “Phys Ed: How Exercising Keeps Your Cells Young,” New York Times Well, January 27, 2010, https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/phys-ed-how-exercising-keeps-your-cells-young/?scp=1&sq=how%20exercising%20keeps%20your%20cells%20young&st=cse.
2. Angela R. Starkweather, “The Effects of Exercise on Perceived Stress and IL-6 Levels Among Older Adults,” Biological Research for Nursing 8, no. 3 (January 2007): 186–94, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17172317.