What Are the Anti-Aging Effects of Exercise?

Endurance training and HIIT workouts may reduce signs of aging at the cellular level, but strength training has benefits too.

People may use moisturizers and eye creams as anti-aging methods. One potential anti-aging option is being physically active. Exercise can help fight aging by allowing your body to adjust better to the aging process or make changes at the cellular level.

Aging is a normal process in life, and individuals can experience changes in their bodies and minds as they age. Still, sometimes people want to slow the aging process down when they can. Learn more about how physical activity might slow down how quickly a person ages.

The Anti-Aging Effects of Exercise

Exercise is known to be helpful for healthy aging as it helps people reduce their risk of chronic health conditions. Physical activity also has anti-aging effects on body parts and processes, such as:

  • Brain: Increased formation of neurons and reduced cognitive changes
  • Cardiovascular system: Decreased levels of blood pressure and improved heart functions
  • Metabolism: Better metabolism
  • Muscles: Increased muscle-building leading to benefits such as better strength, balance, and joint mobility
  • Respiratory system: Improved breathing and lung ventilation

Why Anti-Aging Effects of Exercise May Happen

Physical activity can have anti-aging effects because of how the body reacts to exercise and body changes at cell levels.

Exercise and Aging Stresses Are Similar

In a 2022 article, researchers suggested that stressing the body with physical activity could be protective against aging and age-related health conditions.

This is because the reactions to the stress of exercise—such as increased cortisol levels and inflammation—are much like what happens to the body when it ages. As a result, a person's body may adapt to exercise stress and be better prepared to handle physiological stress from aging.

The researchers additionally hypothesized that the more intense the exercise, the more likely potential protection from aging could occur. They also indicated that possible protective benefits would require regular exercise over time rather than exercise only later in life.

Bodily Changes Happen Within Cells

In a European Heart Journal study, researchers noted two important changes in cells from runners and people doing high-intensity interval training (HIIT): Their telomeres lengthened and telomerase increased.

Telomeres are the caps at the ends of chromosomes. Telomerase is an enzyme involved in maintaining those caps.

These effects "are both important for cellular aging, regenerative capacity, and thus, healthy aging," study author Ulrich Laufs, MD, of Leipzig University in Germany, said in a statement.

Telomeres naturally shrink over time; as they do, cells die instead of continuing to divide. Cell death plays a role in the following:

  • Formation of wrinkles
  • Growth of gray hair
  • Risk of age-related health concerns like heart disease, cognitive decline, and even early death

The researchers hypothesized that those types of exercise affected nitric oxide levels in the blood. Nitric oxide increases blood flow. As a result, it could have affected the cell changes in these two participant groups.

Strength Training and Anti-Aging Workouts

The European Heart Journal study found that cardio is beneficial regarding the anti-aging effects of exercise. Endurance exercise–like running, swimming, or bicycling–and HIIT both slowed signs of aging compared to lifting weights—at least on the cellular level.

However, according to an accompanying editorial published alongside the European Heart Journal study, this research didn't necessarily mean one workout or the other is better for physical fitness.

Benefits of Strength Training

In other words, you don't need to give up your strength sessions. Especially for older adults, strength training helps improve the ability to move around and increases how long a person remains healthy.

Strength training is vital for treating osteoporosis, a condition of decreased bone strength, mineral density, and mass. As people age, their risk of developing osteoporosis increases—though age is not the only risk factor for this condition.

This type of training has been shown to increase bone mineral density. Also, doing strength training alongside balance and weight-bearing exercises can help prevent fractures due to falls.

This type of exercise also does wonders for muscle aging and health. Doing strength training can benefit:

  • Muscle mass maintenance
  • Strength and power of muscles
  • Muscle cells' adaptations to resistance exercises

Strength Training and Physical Activity Guidelines

Also, the European Heart Journal study results align nicely with common exercise recommendations.

"Our data support the European Society of Cardiology's current guideline recommendations that resistance exercise should be complementary to endurance training rather than a substitute," study co-author Christian Werner, MD, of Saarland University in Germany, said in a statement.

The same goes for recently updated exercise guidelines for Americans. The guidelines suggest getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week and at least two sessions of muscle-strengthening activity.

Whatever exercises you decide to do, talk with a healthcare provider. They can provide more information about the types and amounts of physical activity that may be appropriate for you.

A Quick Review

Research has shown that being physically active can have anti-aging effects. These effects can happen in different body systems, such as the respiratory or cellular systems. It also doesn't matter if you do cardio or strength training: You can do either to get potential anti-aging benefits.

Was this page helpful?
15 Sources
Health.com uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. MedlinePlus. Healthy aging.

  2. De Sousa Lages A, Lopes V, Horta J, Espregueira-Mendes J, Andrade R, Rebelo-Marques A. Therapeutics that can potentially replicate or augment the anti-aging effects of physical exerciseIJMS. 2022;23(17):9957. doi:10.3390/ijms23179957

  3. Lefferts WK, Davis MM, Valentine RJ. Exercise as an aging mimetic: a new perspective on the mechanisms behind exercise as preventive medicine against age-related chronic diseaseFront Physiol. 2022;13:866792. doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.866792

  4. Werner CM, Hecksteden A, Morsch A, et al. Differential effects of endurance, interval, and resistance training on telomerase activity and telomere length in a randomized, controlled studyEur Heart J. 2019;40(1):34-46. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehy585

  5. Lee J, Pellegrini MV. Biochemistry, telomere and telomerase. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022.

  6. European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Endurance but not resistance training has anti-aging effects.

  7. Aguilar B, Ghaffarizadeh A, Johnson CD, Podgorski GJ, Shmulevich I, Flann NS. Cell death as a trigger for morphogenesis. Burrage K, ed. PLoS ONE. 2018;13(3):e0191089. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0191089

  8. Csekes E, Račková L. Skin aging, cellular senescence and natural polyphenolsIJMS. 2021;22(23):12641. doi:10.3390/ijms222312641

  9. Amarya S, Singh K, Sabharwal M. Ageing process and physiological changes. In: D’Onofrio G, Greco A, Sancarlo D, eds. Gerontology. InTech; 2018. doi:10.5772/intechopen.76249

  10. Zhao Y, Wang X, Noviana M, Hou M. Nitric oxide in red blood cell adaptation to hypoxiaABBS. 2018;50(7):621-634. doi:10.1093/abbs/gmy055

  11. National Institute on Aging. How can strength training build healthier bodies as we age?

  12. NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center. Osteoporosis overview.

  13. Holubiac I Ștefan, Leuciuc FV, Crăciun DM, Dobrescu T. Effect of strength training protocol on bone mineral density for postmenopausal women with osteopenia/osteoporosis assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry(DEXA)Sensors. 2022;22(5):1904. doi:10.3390/s22051904

  14. Lavin KM, Roberts BM, Fry CS, Moro T, Rasmussen BB, Bamman MM. The importance of resistance exercise training to combat neuromuscular agingPhysiology. 2019;34(2):112-122. doi:10.1152/physiol.00044.2018

  15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How much physical activity do adults need?

Related Articles