{"id":1303,"date":"2026-07-06T14:21:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T14:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/?p=1303"},"modified":"2026-07-06T14:21:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T14:21:50","slug":"surprising-truth-exercise-ageing-strength-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/2026\/07\/06\/surprising-truth-exercise-ageing-strength-training\/","title":{"rendered":"The only lesson about exercise you need to slow ageing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Health<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only lesson about exercise you need to slow ageing<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

What really keeps your body strong as you get older<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Andrew Steele<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Could the strength of your handshake be a better indicator of how long you\u2019re going to live than your blood pressure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the growing popularity of measuring biological age, it\u2019s often the sciencey-sounding tests that get the headlines. But a humble grip-strength measuring device (a dynamometer) gives the blood tests and epigenetic clocks a run for their money<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The principle is simple: you squeeze as hard as you can (much harder than I\u2019d actually recommend for a handshake) and the device gives you a reading in kilograms. If you perform well for your age, that bodes well for your future healthspan and lifespan generally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effectiveness of grip strength is one reason why strength training is having a moment. Traditionally seen as the preserve of iron-pumping gym bros, it\u2019s increasingly being emphasised for everyone from diabetes sufferers and patients undergoing cancer treatment, to people just trying to optimise their healthy longevity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding weight to the case for strength training are massive \u2018cohort studies\u2019, where scientists follow large groups of people for decades, watching what they do, what they eat and more, and then correlating that with what ails and eventually kills them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent study<\/a> of retired healthcare professionals in the US found that participants who exercised lived longer \u2013 and that the optimal combination was a mixture of cardio and strength training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that 1.5\u20132 hours a week of strength training was associated with a 13 per cent lower risk of death. That figure was even higher when looking at specific diseases: a 19-per-cent reduction in risk for death from heart disease, and 27 per cent for neurological diseases like dementia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even better, this stacks with cardio \u2013 unless you\u2019re already in the most active cardio group (people running about five hours a week, or walking for ten), adding some strength training can make you live longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You don’t need to go to the gym to lift weights. At-home workouts can be just as effective. Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What makes muscle so important<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So why might lifting heavy weights help increase your lifespan? Well, that\u2019s actually the first myth about strength training: the weights don\u2019t need to be heavy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They don\u2019t even need to be the plates and bars you find at a gym. Strength training is something you can do at home: bodyweight exercises such as planks, sit-ups and squats are a great way to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More on that later, but first, some biology. Skeletal muscle is usually the body\u2019s largest organ: it makes up around 30\u201340 per cent of body mass in a healthy adult. (It\u2019s called \u2018skeletal\u2019 because it\u2019s the muscle attached to our bones that exercise can affect.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looked at that way, it\u2019s not surprising that muscle can have such a big effect on our health and how we age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muscle is critical for gobbling up glucose \u2013 the sugar found in our blood after a meal. Indeed, around 80<\/a> per cent of post-meal glucose is locked away in your skeletal muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve seen the hype online about trying to avoid \u2018glucose spikes\u2019 after eating, one of the best hacks is to have more, and more efficient, glucose-absorbing muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s good evidence that exercise can help: if you have diabetes, which means your blood glucose tends to be higher, strength training can reduce it<\/a> \u2013 and, the stronger you get, the more it\u2019s reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One study<\/a> even found that strength training was better than cardio for blood sugar in diabetes though, in general, it seems both are important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For people with diabetes, building more muscle mass can help flatten blood sugar peaks. Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an open question whether people without diabetes should worry about glucose spikes, but building muscle is one of the better hacks out there and comes with a range of other benefits too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skeletal muscle also secretes a lot of signalling molecules known as \u2018myokines\u2019. Again, because it\u2019s our biggest organ, these secretions seem to matter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, exercised muscle secretes a molecule called interleukin 6 (IL-6), which is usually associated with inflammation, but, in this context, seems to be anti-inflammatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IL-6 also reduces the amount of visceral fat \u2013 the type associated with diabetes and accelerated ageing. There\u2019s even been a trial showing this<\/a>: exercise reduced visceral fat, but not if participants were given a drug that blocks the action of IL-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also myokines that influence the brain, liver, skin and bones, and this may be one of the ways that exercise can have positive effects on our biology beyond our muscles and cardiovascular system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n