New research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology revealed that regular exercise can have your muscles acting as if you are decades younger than your actual age.

According to researchers, older men and women who exercised regularly for decades had muscles that were indistinguishable in many ways from the muscles of healthy 25-year-olds. These older men and women also had much higher aerobic capacities than most individuals their age, making them biologically about 30 years younger than their chronological age, the study’s authors conclude.

Previous studies have found that older athletes have healthier muscles, brains and immune systems than individuals of the same age who are sedentary. However, those studies have concentrated on competitive athletes, not recreational exercisers. This study suggests that you don’t need to be a professional athlete to see many of the same benefits of regular exercise.

Exercise Study

For the study, researchers looked at the health of individuals who took up regular exercise during the fitness boom of the 1970’s. They were most interested in individuals who maintained that hobby through the next 40-50 years, with activities like running, cycling, jogging or swimming, even if they never competed in these activities.

28 men and women fit the bill, and they were compared to a second group of age-matched older individuals who had not exercised during adulthood, as well as compared to a third group of active young people in their 20s.

Each group was tested in a lab setting to measure their aerobic capacities, and tissue samples were also taken to look for the number of capillaries and levels of enzymes in muscles. The higher the numbers, the better the muscle health.

After looking at the findings, researchers were surprised to find that the muscles of the older exercisers resembled the muscles of the young group, and their aerobic capacities were about 40 percent higher than inactive individuals their age. They also concluded that the active older group had cardiovascular health similar to that of people about 30 years younger.

These findings are amazing, and they help us understand why regular exercise is so important. Exercise can literally roll back the clock and slow down the aging process, which can help prevent problems like pain or degeneration-related issues. So take care of your health while you’re young, and continue exercising as you get older. If you do this regularly, you can prove that age really is nothing more than a number, and we are in control of our health!