Mark Sisson's Blog, page 189

The Emerging Science of Electrostimulation

As a Primal lifer, I recognize that purity has a certain allure, just as I know it has its decided limitations. I frequently find myself wondering, “Would my paleolithic forebears have done/said/eaten that?” and choosing my course of action based on this line of educated assumption. It’s the WWGD lens on modern living. In a Primal-perfect world, that would be sufficient to ensure continued health and happiness. But things don’t always work out as planned…

Let’s say you hurt your back in an unfortunate turn of events. Primal dictates can certainly help with healing you over the long term, but if you want to get out of bed in the morning you’re likely stuck with the doc’s prescriptions. Similar situation if you’ve suffered physical damage to your eyesight, hearing, brain, or any number of your less robust anatomical sectors. Sometimes to get life done, you’ve just got to suck it up and take your meds.

It’s possible, however, that this may soon change. In my recent post on the vagus nerve, I touched upon an emerging curiosity in the medical world: electroceuticals. While still in comparative infancy, electroceuticals may end up revolutionizing a health care model currently dominated by the drug industry.

Electroceuticals, Bioelectronic Therapy, and All Things High-Tech

Simply put, bioelectronics is the field of developing “medicines” that use electrical impulses to modulate the body’s neural circuits. Electroceuticals are the devices which generate these electrical impulses to achieve therapeutic effects. Over the course of the article I may chop and change between the two terms for the sake of simplicity.

To understand how these nifty little devices work, we’ll need to take a short 20-year detour to 1997. Back then, neurosurgeon extraordinaire Kevin Tracy was studying whether an experimental molecule called CNI-1493 could limit damage to the brain after a stroke. Tracy and his team were injecting this molecule into rat brains mid-stroke to determine the extent to which it prevented swelling. To their surprise, they discovered that it not only reduced local swelling in the brain, but shut down the immune response throughout the entire body.

It seemed that none other than the vagus nerve was being stimulated by the drug, which in turn was switching immune system mediators – and hence inflammation – to the “off” position. It was at this point that Tracy abandoned his drug ambitions and began turning his eye to the brand new field of bioelectronics. He understood that by applying precise doses of bioelectric currents to certain neural pathways within the body, he could target specific areas and provide instantaneous, effective relief from pain, inflammation, and more.

The beauty of electroceuticals is their ability to target specific problem areas within the body while avoiding the wide range of side-effects often experienced with conventional drugs. Provided researchers can accurately map the neural signatures of certain diseases and inflammatory pathways, there exists the potential to stimulate or inhibit the malfunctioning pathways with tiny electrical pulses. In this way, electroceuticals can restore the health of the patient without having to flood their body with medicines that can interact negatively with otherwise healthy organs and systems. Add to this the prospect for electroceuticals (in some cases at least) to be more affordable than conventional prescription drugs, and you’ve got yourself a viable contender to the multi-billion dollar drug industry.

The Technology behind Electroceuticals

At this stage, bioelectronic research is all about mapping the neural networks associated with certain diseases. This means developing ludicrously small devices that can transmit information from within the body regarding neural feedbacks and responses to electrical treatments.

Unlike other areas of the medical research sector, bioelectronics requires a close collaboration between engineers, computer scientists and biologists. While bottling up three very diverse disciplines in the same lab for days at a time must have its moments, it’s so far made for very interesting developments. Examples of these outcomes include optogenics, which allows for cellular-level control; cochlear and retinal implants, which have seen large improvements in neural signal processing; and fine-tuning of prosthetic limb control, which has meant that specialists can now interact with individual neurons to allow complex motor skills. Something out of Star Wars, and it’s actually pretty darn cool.

The field has so far also produced the very promising creation of tiny nanoscale devices called memristors. These little guys can be implanted in the body with minimal invasiveness to provide compressed, real-time information on neural spikes. This, in turn, will enable scientists to develop more precise electroceutical treatments and expand their use to new areas of the body and brain.

Next, Berkeley engineers have built the first dust-sized, wireless sensors that can be implanted in the body and used to monitor internal nerves, muscles and organs. The sensors can also be used to stimulate nerves and muscles, making them a valuable device for all the budding electroceutical researchers out there. Even cooler, they’re both powered and controlled by ultrasound, a technology that is already in hospitals.

It gets weirder. DNA is now being investigated as a means of conducting electrical charges, thereby allowing for its use as an electromechanical switch for nanocomputing. Josh Hihath, author of “Gate-controlled conductance switching in DNA,” explains: “As electronics get smaller they are becoming more difficult and expensive to manufacture, but DNA-based devices could be designed from the bottom-up using directed self-assembly techniques such as ‘DNA origami’.” You heard right: DNA origami.

And if you’re completely opposed to surgical implants, how about swallowing one instead? Researchers are also in the process of developing novel ways to get electroceuticals into the body without an invasive procedure. One such means is to create “digestible electronic devices” that are non-toxic, self-powered, and even biodegradable…all while telling your doc valuable information about anything from gastrointestinal infections to diabetes.

The future is here, folks. And it’s edible.

The Forecast Is in, and It Looks Good for Electroceuticals

So good, in fact, that UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has teamed up with Google subsidiary Verily in an effort to take this technology to the next level. They’ve invested a whopping $715 million into funding research and development into bioelectronic treatments over the next seven years. Yes, they may have billions to play around with, but it’s not a sum to scoff at either.

There’s plenty of other big players in this emerging field. The US National Institute of Health announced late last year that it would provide over $20 million for research into its Stimulating Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) received a casual $80 million from the US government to develop bioelectronic treatments for chronic diseases and mental health conditions for active military and veterans.

At the “smaller” end of the spectrum, start-up NeuSpera Medical of San Jose, California, received $8 million to fund an injectable electroceutical project designed to eliminate the need for surgery.

So what’s the lion’s share of this money getting spent on? An electroceutical market worth report published last year has a few key insights. Here’s a quick rundown of where all the magic is projected to happen:

While implantable cardioverter defibrillators (used for arrhythmia) were the hot topic for 2016, the retinal implants segment is expected to experience the most growth over the next 4 years.

With regards to implantable vs. non-invasive electroceuticals, it was all about the implants last year. But with advancements in nanotechnology driving smaller and smaller bioelectronics, non-invasive devices are set to take center-stage by 2021. It makes sense—few people want to be sliced open and have an electrical device stuck into their flesh. Morphius would agree.

Unsurprisingly, hospitals and research institutes will be the first in line to receive any electroceuticals that make it past the testing phase. While there’ll be plenty of growth in the individual use sector as well, it’s probably a good thing that these devices will remain predominantly targeted at emergency applications and under the supervision of trained professionals while we’re learning more about their potential—and potential impacts.

Electroceutical Applications

When I wrote about the vagus earlier this year, I explained how the birth of bioelectric treatments actually began with vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). VNS was being employed as early as 1997 to provide an effective alternative to anti-epileptic seizure drugs. Even with the technology in its infancy, these surgically implanted devices were (and still are) able to reduce seizures by up to half in many patients. These patients also reported significant improvements in depression and weight gain from being zapped, by which point it was hard to deny its potential.

Of all the non-emergency electroceutical applications, finding ways to treat inflammation via stimulation of the peripheral nervous system is one of the hottest trends in the bioelectronic world. As we explored a few weeks back, scientists are increasingly finding linkages between vagal dynamics and inflammation throughout the body. In this way, VNS via electroceuticals shows potential for treating anything from inflammatory bowel disease to arthritis.

From a basic standpoint, the vagus nerve can be seen as a continuous feedback loop that both activates and inhibits inflammation in the body. In this study, for example, scientists were able to directly stimulate the peripheral vagus nerve in rats to prevent the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the liver. This electrical stimulation also prevented the development of shock, which can be fatal.

From a more practical perspective, this know-how can be applied to treating common inflammatory disorders. Once again playing around with rats, researchers were able to alleviate colonic inflammation and reduce weight loss associated with inflammatory bowel disease. It only takes a small assumptive leap to see how stimulating the vagus nerve in humans could help those suffering from all manner of GI inflammatory disorders.

The same mechanism by which gastrointestinal inflammation is inhibited by VNS also applies to rheumatoid arthritis. This multi-national study found that electrical VNS of up to four times daily significantly inhibited the inflammatory cytokines associated with RA. They also found that, over the course of 84 days, patients’ RA severity scores dropped markedly. We’re still in the early days, but it shows serious promise.

These developments in VNS and immune-inhibiting bioelectric therapies have driven plenty of other medical advancements. There’s now electromagnetic patches available for purchase that you can stick on any area experiencing chronic pain, which then overstimulates the brain’s pain receptors and dulls the ache. Much the same as good old cayenne pepper, as it happens.

There’s also plenty of interesting stuff going on in the acute pain department. Rather than sticking a conventional band-aid on that cut, scratch or graze, why not upgrade to an electrical bandage? Recent findings from a University of Manchester study indicates that this might just be the next big breakthrough in wound healing. As part of the study, two half-centimeter wounds were created on the arms of each brave participant, with one wound left to heal normally and the other treated with small electrical pulses over two weeks. Those pulses were found to stimulate the process by which new blood vessels are formed, meaning the wounds being zapped closed faster, had greater blood flow, and showed improved healing markers compared to the “she’ll be all right” wounds.

Electroceuticals have also expanded to encompass central nervous system disorders like MS. Researchers from Osaka University were studying the mouse equivalent of multiple sclerosis, which is induced by certain white blood (T) cells attacking the central nervous system. They found that by the simple act of hanging the mice upside down by their tails, they were able to prevent the spread of the T cells and hence stall the development of MS. This signifies that by tapping into particular neural circuits via electroceuticals, practitioners may be able to halt the progression of MS beyond the initial stages. Interesting stuff.

Short of hanging humans upside down and hoping for the best, researchers are busy developing electroceuticals to treat many of the symptoms associated with MS. One study gave 25 MS patients a headband equipped with moistened sponges attached to an electronic stimulator and got them to play computer games designed to boost cognition. After 10 sessions, the stimulator group had greater improvements and were more relaxed than the control group. In another experiment, this same treatment was shown to improve mood and reduce fatigue associated with MS.

Foot drop, a form of gait dysfunction commonly found in MS patients or those who have suffered from a stroke, may also be treatable by employing electroceuticals. Research indicates that the pre-tibial muscles can be stimulated electrically to “correct” the foot drop and adapt walking patterns for individuals. Kind of a “customize your gait” sort of scenario. Pretty neat, huh?

Some Final Primal Thoughts…

It’s a lot to take in—imagining health largely as energy to be stimulated or inhibited electronically, but it’s a new frontier for acting on age-old biological principles.

Part of looking at life from a Primal lens is recognizing the opportunities as well as challenges that modern living offers. I won’t be letting go of my Primal lifestyle anytime soon—or my preference for choices that stave off ill health as much as reason and science can predict. That said, it’s good to know medical innovation continues to advance. Regardless of our efforts, sometimes we find ourselves in need of medical intervention, and I won’t be someone who says no on stubborn principle.

In this way, electroceuticals can be seen as a promising field that may help some of us in decades to come (or in this one). They offer novel potential for the treatment of life-threatening conditions and show plenty of promise in improving the quality of life for millions worldwide. To boot, with careful neurological mapping and strictly-regimented testing, they should be able to do so without all the side-effects associated with conventional drugs. As for me, I’ll be keeping an eye on this sector in the years to come.

Thanks for reading, folks. Have you or those you know used any kind of electroceutical therapy? Have you done your own reading/thinking on the matter? Share your thoughts, and have a great end to the week.

The post The Emerging Science of Electrostimulation appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Sugar’s Day Is Done? A Review of Gary Taubes’ Latest Treatise, The Case Against Sugar

In 2002, Gary Taubes penned a New York Times piece that questioned the legitimacy of the presiding low-fat dogma. His article made a persuasive case for the safety—and metabolic urgency—of eating more animal fat and fewer carbs. It shifted the national conversation on healthy eating and paved the way for the rise of the ancestral health community. If the experts were that wrong about a healthy diet, what else were they getting wrong?

He expounded the arguments in the Times piece in his next two books, Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat. The first, which utterly demolished the conventional wisdom about saturated fat, was deeply influential for me.

In this latest book, The Case Against Sugar, Taubes lays out a convincing case for sugar as the primary cause of obesity, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases “of civilization.”

Many Taubes critics make a mistake. They take him too literally, quibbling on details while missing the big picture: The way he recommends people eat helps them lose weight. It just works.

When he blames the governmental push against saturated fat and cholesterol for their purported crimes against the heart and waistline, he’s not saying the USDA literally said sugar was fantastic to eat (although bureaucrats did recommend “hard candy, gum drops, sugar, syrup, honey, jam, jelly, marmalade” and other high-sugar foods as good low-fat snack options). He’s saying that the full-throated demonization of fat overshadowed everything else they were saying, and that their advice against eating too much sugar was tepid and ineffectual. The result was that average people focused on avoiding fat and cholesterol. What’s left over after fat and cholesterol and all the wonderful foods that contain both nutrients have been removed from the diet? Carbs. Protein is mostly out because it often comes attached with fat. Even eggs have that little poisonous nucleus lurking inside.

And to make low-fat foods palatable, what do you add? Sugar.

The Case Against Sugar will leave you white-knuckled in frustration at the egregious mistakes (honest or not) the powers-that-be made along the way.

The collusion between the sugar industry and scientists to bury the research indicting sugar and push the now-discredited attacks on animal fat.
How when high-fructose corn syrup was shown to cause lower blood glucose spikes than pure glucose, scientists approved its use for diabetics—ignoring that it was only because the fructose goes straight to the liver for processing that it evades the rise in blood sugar.
The widespread implication on the part of the food industry that high fructose corn syrup wasn’t even sugar. After all, it was made of corn, it had more of that diabetic-friendly molecule known as fructose. Hell, it was practically a vegetable! It’s hard to remember since these days HFCS is rightly vilified. Back then, people really didn’t know better, and the industry capitalized on this ignorance.

I’m sympathetic to the argument that Taubes has overlooked some other factors. I’d argue that sugar isn’t the only issue, but I’d agree that it’s one of the primary ones. He isn’t setting out to write an MDA post that considers such arcane influences on health as blue light at night, PUFA-laden vegetable oils, and job-related stress. But not everyone needs that. If your grandma reads it on a whim and stops drinking those two Dr. Peppers each day, she’ll probably extend her life. If your dad reads it and becomes an anti-sugar zealot, he’ll probably drop a few notches on the belt and impress his doctor. Maybe they’re losing weight and improving their health for additional reasons other than Taubes lays out in his book. But does it matter if it works?

Taubes even acknowledges the shortcomings of the book and his argument. He relies mainly on animal trials and observational studies of humans because, well, those are all that’s available. The kind of randomized controlled trial on sugar intake he’d like to see performed in humans doesn’t really exist. It arguably can’t exist.

As Dr. Eades explains, it’d take a truly revolutionary team of researchers with a ton of money at their disposal to do the “definitive” (if such a thing exists) study on sugar and obesity/diabetes/etc:

To truly nail this down, scientists would have to randomize people into two groups, the subjects in one of which would be expected to eat 100 pounds of sugar per year, while the subjects in the other group would eat almost no sugar (or a significantly lesser amount). The study would have to last for years to realize a significant outcome. Ethical issues aside, a study like this would be enormously expensive and would be impossible to accurately monitor. It’s one thing to randomize people into a study and have them not eat sugar for a month or six weeks – it’s entirely another to get them to forsake it or gorge on it for six years (or however long it would take for meaningful data to emerge).

Maybe when we hit the Singularity and possess the capability to generate virtual universes indistinguishable from the real thing, we’ll be able to run one of these studies to completion. Probably from an iPhone app.

So when a critic points out that obesity rates have progressed despite average sugar intake dropping, it might be that enough folks are still eating over a hundred pounds. But that’s the average. Some people, like you or me, eat less than a pound of sugar in a year. To hit the national average, that means other people are eating well over a hundred pounds each—and they’re probably the ones getting sick, fat, and diabetic.

As Taubes himself concludes, we don’t know whether sugar is the primary cause of metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, and all the other trappings of civilization. We can’t know for sure. But sugar is a strong candidate. It performs no essential physiological role, and when people do give it up good things happen to their health.

This case against sugar is a strong one, with lots of circumstantial evidence pointing toward it as a major culprit. A jury might not convict. But this isn’t a courtroom. Luckily for the individual, we don’t have to give sugar the benefit of the doubt. We’re allowed to presume guilt.

Go out and grab a copy of the book. It’s a good one that will only improve public health.

Did anyone else read The Case Against Sugar? What did you think?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care!

The post Sugar’s Day Is Done? A Review of Gary Taubes’ Latest Treatise, The Case Against Sugar appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Are Infrared Saunas Beneficial?

Last month, I installed an infrared sauna in my house. A company offered it to me to try out, and I was willing to give it a go, knowing a little about them already. It also inspired me to dig into the research—to test it personally but also to see what studies had demonstrated in terms of benefits. I’ll say I’ve been pleased with what I’ve found from both angles.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been following a new bedtime ritual: a half hour in the sauna, a cold plunge in the pool, bed. The reasoning is that after warming up my tissues in the sauna, I drop them back down to prepare for sleep. So far, it’s working. I wasn’t exactly starting from a deficit—my sleep has been consistently good ever since I changed how I consume alcohol—but I’m really happy with the new setup.

Why infrared?

A traditional sauna heats the air around you. An infrared sauna uses infrared light to penetrate your skin and warm you directly without affecting the ambient temperature. This makes them great for home use.

Okay, but do they actually work? What good is heating your skin with infrared light?

I’ve covered the benefits of traditional saunas before—they’re great and many of them apply to infrared saunas—but today I’ll discuss the unique advantages of infrared saunas.

Heart Health

Perhaps the most robust evidence for the benefits of infrared saunas concern their effects on various measures and determinants of heart health. For decades, the Japanese have used an infrared sauna protocol called Waon therapy to treat heart disease and heart failure patients.

In patients with an elevated risk for heart disease, Waon therapy (spending 15 minutes a day for two weeks in the infrared sauna) reduced urinary levels of a prostaglandin linked to oxidative stress. It also reduced blood pressure.

In another group of men with an elevated risk for heart disease, the same protocol also improved endothelial function—how well the arteries hold against stress.

In men recovering from heart failure, the same protocol boosted their endothelial function and improved how well the heart performed its duties.

In people with heart failure, Waon therapy also increased exercise tolerance by improving endothelial function.

Infrared sauna therapy has also:

Reduced subsequent cardiac events and deaths in heart failure patients.
Reduced sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) activity and increased parasympathetic nervous system (refeed and relax) activity in heart failure patients.
Increased blood levels of nitrate, a compound used to cure hot dogs and produce nitric oxide, which we use to improve endothelial function and blood flow (to many tissues). The subjects, who had peripheral arterial disease, also improved their walking ability.

Pain

Proponents make big claims about the ability of infrared saunas to reduce pain of all kinds—chronic, arthritic, (as you’ll see later) fibromyalgic, post-workout. Any truth?

For people with chronic pain, adding infrared sauna therapy to a grab-bag of exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, and rehab was better at reducing pain than the grab-bag alone.

In another study of both rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis suffers, infrared sauna therapy reduced stiffness, pain, and other clinical symptoms of the respective diseases.

Later on, you’ll see that infrared saunas can improve fibromyalgia symptoms.

Kidney Disease

Clinicians aren’t sending kidney disease patients down to the local infrared sauna spot, but they are using localized infrared radiation.

In hemodialysis patients, infrared therapy improved blood flow and reduced the incidence of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) malfunctions (AVFs are artificial connections between arteries and veins often surgically created in dialysis patients).

Another study in hemodialysis patients found that infrared therapy accelerated maturation of AVFs after surgical creation.

Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia

Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia are terrible to experience. What’s worse, the two—crushing, unending fatigue and constant, unjustified pain—often go together. Luckily, it seems that infrared saunas might be able to help.

In one study, researchers placed CF patients on Waon therapy (15 minutes a day in the sauna) for five days a week, 4 weeks. They didn’t report many changes during the sessions, but after four weeks they all showed improvements in depression, mood, fatigue, anxiety, and performance. An earlier study had similar results, with some patients even able to discontinue medication.

A single session of Waon infrared therapy was enough reduce fibromyalgia-related pain by 11-70% in 13 female patients with fibromyalgia.

Pre-Gaming

By pre-gaming, I’m not talking about drinking cheap plastic bottle vodka with your friends before hitting the bars. I mean preparing your body for certain stressful situations. Evidence suggests that infrared saunas can improve your resilience and performance in the face of several different kinds of stressors.

Decompression stress: Pretreatment with infrared sauna can help free divers prepare for deep dives. Those who hung out in an infrared sauna for a half hour before diving were more resilient in the face of decompression stress.

UV stress: Pretreatment with infrared light can help sunbathers improve their resistance to the damaging effects of UV radiation. This is probably an evolutionary adaptation to ancestral sun exposure patterns—early morning sunlight, rich in infrared wavelengths, preparing us for the hotter, more UV-rich midday sun.

Training stress: Rugby players who exposed themselves to infrared lights (with prior consent, of course) before training showed enhanced performance and accelerated recovery. Infrared light applied before lifting weights may also reduce post-exercise strength loss. Applied during activity, it increases time to fatigue.

Nursing stress: Breastfeeding mothers who used infrared saunas enjoyed increased milk production. Many of the subjects were having trouble producing enough milk, and infrared application allowed about half to successfully nurse until weaning.

Speculative (But Plausible) Benefits

Folks make a lot of big claims online. Sometimes they cite literature, sometimes not. And many times the literature they do cite isn’t really relevant. But not always. I’ve sifted through them to pull out what look to be the most plausible yet speculative benefits.

Mitochondria: Near-infrared light—which penetrates human tissue— triggers mitochondria to produce more ATP.

Cancer: Near-infrared light may be able to target cancer cells.

Any way to replicate this without a device?

It won’t equal the power of a targeted infrared sauna, but the morning sun is rich in infrared light. Get up in time to bask in it.

The one I have comes from Clearlight. There are less expensive options, too, like the dome tents.

All in all, infrared saunas seem very promising. I certainly enjoy mine, and the scientific literature is quite persuasive and expansive—especially for an “alternative” therapy like infrared saunas. For those who have the means and the need for help with some of the conditions infrared may treat or a desire to see how it affects their recovery and resilience to stressors, I can heartily recommend either buying one or signing up for a few trips to the local infrared sauna spot.

Anyone else an infrared sauna devotee? I’d be interested in hearing from people who have been doing it for a long time—what benefits have you noticed?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.

The post Are Infrared Saunas Beneficial? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Dear Mark: Isometrics and Yoga for Seniors, Plus How Aging Affects Recovery

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering a few questions about exercising for seniors. Last week’s post drew a lot of comments, and a few questions about how seniors should train. First, I’ll explore isometrics as an alternative for building strength and power. Can you get away with only trying to move weight? Next, I show how yoga can be an effective strength-builder in older adults. Then, I discuss how aging affects recovery. Many people notice that their recovery time goes way up the older they get. I’ve noticed it myself. Why does it happen?

Let’s go:

I’m surprised you didn’t mention jump roping as part of “hopping”. How about isometrics?

You’re right. Jumping rope is perfect. People feel decidedly less ridiculous jumping over a rope than hopping in place. Isometrics are another great option for older people. Let’s explore.

Isometrics is resistance training where the joint is held in a fixed position. Instead of lifting or lowering the weight, in isometrics your effort takes one of two forms.

You’re either attempting to overcome an immovable force (pushing against a wall, pulling up on the chair you’re sitting on) or prevent a force from acting upon you (preventing a weight from lowering). Another way to think about these are concentric isometrics and eccentric isometrics.

Pause squats are one way to incorporate isometrics into normal resistance training. That’s where you “pause” at the bottom of a squat, holding for 3-5 seconds before rising back up. Finishing a deadlift by gripping the bar as long as you can is another way to incorporate isometrics.

If you want to make isometrics a major part of your exercise regimen, you should probably employ different angles. Isometrics training produces angle-specific strength; strength increases and tissue adaptations occur primarily in the trained joint-angle.

Oddly, there aren’t very many studies looking at isometric training in older adults. The only ones I could find dealt with isometric grip training, and they were impressive. Grip training exclusively was enough to improve blood pressure control in older adults. Maybe I’m going too far, but if isometric grip training can have those wide ranging effects, I’d imagine isometric training other parts of the body will be similarly beneficial.

After all, we’re all humans. We all respond to training. The key with undertrained, older adults is doing it safely. You want to get stronger. You don’t want to break or strain anything because that could really set you back. Isometrics are some of the safest, most controlled training methods around.

I suppose Yoga isn’t ‘uncommon’ but it sure feels good! Also, Katy Bowman’ s Nutritious Movement….whole body barefoot, move your DNA, etc….fabulous!

No, yoga is a good one. It’s not uncommon to hear how good yoga is for older adults’ balance, flexibility, and other similar measures, but most people don’t think of it as a strength-building tool. It can be. I should have mentioned it.

Among older adults, yoga is as good at building strength and balance as a typical strength training program.

Yoga can help older women with arthritis strengthen their lower bodies enough to prevent excessive knee adduction (caving in).

A 2012 research review in older adults concluded that yoga’s benefits “may exceed” those of conventional exercise for building strength.

I have been wondering about how age slows me down, though. I see these youngsters (20s and 30s) getting strong so fast. I feel like I’m being cautious because I don’t want to injure myself (long history of disc, joint injuries) but it also seems like it just takes longer. The last few days, my patellar tendon is sore and I’m doing everything I can to stretch and strengthen my legs so my knees are more stable. But is some of the pain age-related? I’m wondering how my body is responding to exercise differently from when I did triathlons in my 20s.

It likely is responding differently. That’s okay, that’s normal, but it’s a reality we must address and acknowledge.

Everyone just sorta “knows” that the younger you are, the quicker you recover. Sometimes it seems like an energetic toddler could regrow a finger if he lost it in a freak accident (don’t try this at home). And the older you are, the more slowly you recover. But why?

One factor are our muscle stem cells: These are the cells responsible for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue after injury and damage, and they respond differently to damage depending on the age of the organism. In one study, researchers took aged muscle stem cells and exposed them to a “young environment” and an “aged environment.” In the young environment, the stem cells quickly repaired damage. In the aged environment, the same stem cells were slow to repair the damage.

Another factor is the changing hormonal environment. As people age, hormones crucial for recovery and repair, like testosterone, tend to decline.

Testosterone matters for women’s recovery as well. In women experiencing declines in strength, muscle mass, and sexual desire along with low testosterone following a hysterectomy, testosterone replacement therapy restored sexual function and increased muscle mass, strength, and power.

There’s also—and this might be the most significant of all—the general trend toward inflammation increasing with age. Exercise is a stressor. Acutely, it increases inflammation, which triggers the recovery/repair response. That’s how we get stronger, fitter, faster—by bouncing back from inflammation better than before. But when baseline inflammation is high due to aging, recovering from those acute spikes becomes harder. We’re already dealing with chronic levels of inflammation

Can you improve this? Age really is just a number. Biological age is the real issue here. But with the way most people live, that number and our biological age tend to line up. Leading a healthy, happy life will contribute to a youthful internal environment, which should help.

That’s it for this week, everyone. Thanks for reading and take care!

The post Dear Mark: Isometrics and Yoga for Seniors, Plus How Aging Affects Recovery appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Weekend Link Love – Edition 443

RESEARCH OF THE WEEK

Drinking blueberry concentrate boosts cognitive function in older folks.

Americans are having less sex.

“Surprisingly, plasma Lp(a) concentrations increased in a stepwise fashion as SFA was reduced.”

Prebiotics help overweight and obese kids control appetite.

Social eating—especially at night—facilitates social bonding.

Rainfall spreads soil bacteria.

Elephants are weird sleepers.

NEW PRIMAL BLUEPRINT PODCASTS

Episode 159: Christine Hassler: Because the last time was so awesome, I sat down to chat with Christine Hassler again. Christine is a former Hollywood agent who gave up her career to start one she truly loved—motivational speaker, life coach, and leader of retreats designed to help people get out of their own way en route to the life of their dreams. 

INTERESTING BLOG POSTS

How does weight loss affect your drive to eat?

People who get the “chills” listening to certain songs have heightened connectivity between the brain’s auditory cortex and emotional processing areas.

Why health and science journalists should start covering negative studies, not just positive ones.

Like everyone else, I’ve seen literally thousands of octopus fossils in my life, and I must agree that this is the single best one.

What’s worse: trans-fats or linoleic acid?

MEDIA, SCHMEDIA

A real El Dorado lurking within in the Amazon?

In this prison, mackerel is currency.

Take that, sickle cell.

New Englanders: watch out for ticks this year.

Michigan stargazers are fighting to reduce light pollution.

EVERYTHING ELSE

The national decline in sexual frequency hasn’t hit the people living in this nursing home.

Cyprus issues limits on wifi in kindergarten and elementary school classrooms.

Orcas are such jerks.

How faces form.

THINGS I’M UP TO AND INTERESTED IN

Restaurant I’d love to try: This Italian one in Staten Island. Each night, a different grandma takes over half the menu and cooks her native cuisine.

Study that I liked: The more paleo (or Mediterranean diet) you are, the lower your chance of dying prematurely from a disease.

Blog post that got me thinking: Greg Lehman on the relationship between tissue changes and pain.

Concept I’m pondering: Alcohol and coffee may have created civilization.

Question to ask yourself: Should you be running?

RECIPE CORNER

No-nightshade yuca pizza (not yucka).
Slow cooker pot roast with gravy that leaves the lips all sticky.

TIME CAPSULE

One year ago (Mar 12– Mar 18)

Can Exposure to Non-Primal Foods Actually Help? – Should you dose yourself with gluten for any reason?
10 Interesting Predictors of Longevity – What the very old have in common.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

” Good reminder: I can juggle 3 balls

I can do decent slacklining.

Next to do: slackline while juggling!”

– Now there’s a new Workout of the Week. Thanks for the idea, wildgrok.

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Thai Larb

Larb can be a delicious low-carb choice from the menu of a Thai restaurant. It can also be a quick and easy meal to make at home. In this Primal larb recipe, fish sauce brings salty umami flavor and slightly sweet coconut aminos stand in for sugar. A squeeze of lime, a chopped hot chile (or dash of Sriracha sauce), and loads of fresh herbs make this “meat salad” an addictive meal.

Lucikly, larb addiction is nothing to worry about. High in protein from the ground meat and high in antioxidants from the herbs and hot chile, larb has plenty going for it. Spoon the meat into lettuce leaves, or just throw it into a bowl with baby greens. Either way, it’s a quick, easy, hugely flavorful meal.

Time in the Kitchen: 20 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon avocado oil (15 ml)
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pound ground pork, chicken or turkey (450 g)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon coconut aminos (30 ml)
1 Thai chile, or other hot chile, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon lime juice, plus lime wedges for garnish (15 ml)
½ cup torn Thai basil leaves (or, regular basil) (120 ml)
¼ cup mint leaves (60 ml)
¼ cup cilantro leaves (60 ml)

Instructions

Heat oil over medium heat and add shallot. Cook 3 minutes, then add garlic. Cook 1 minute more.

Turn heat up to medium high. Add ground meat. Break the meat up into tiny pieces as it cooks. When the meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes, add the fish sauce and coconut aminos. Cook 2 minutes more, or until meat is fully cooked.

In a large bowl, toss meat with Thai chile, lime juice and herbs. Serve with lime wedges and large lettuce leaves. Scoop the meat into lettuce leaves before eating, or serve in a bowl with salad greens.

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I Am Living Proof—Change Your Diet, Change Your Life!

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. In fact, I have a contest going right now. So if you have a story to share, no matter how big or how small, you’ll be in the running to win a big prize. Read more here.

MOST of my life I was fairly fit, few ups and downs, but overall I was pretty fit. Then somehow it started to change….nothing crazy at first but a few pounds here and there. But hey we all age and you can always find someone more out of shape than you to compare to. At one physical a doc said I was obese, what the hell, no way, not me, not even close…..obese is the people on my 600lb life, I laughed it off…..fast forward a few years and still adding pounds on. Still very active, snowboarding, mountain bikes. Didn’t really notice.

Well, one night after a few beers, I was getting in the shower and looked at my naked body…..for once I saw what I REALLY looked like. I stared long and hard, almost crying. I got mad/sad/disgusted. This was the moment I started to wake up.

Nothing happened right away, but I now knew honestly that I was fat and out of shape. No more sugar coating it, or fuzzy bunny slippers “hey its ok.” I was STILL not making a change, but the seed was planted and growing that I was going to need to change. What was going to be the breaking point? When would I say enough is enough?

Health issuses with me and my wife were growing. Wife was having severe migrains all the time. My knees and back were always in pain, due to years of extreme sports and activities.

February 2, 2016 was it…….while working nights I was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast, and he had on Mark Sisson……holy s@#$% Batman, the light bulb went off….like fireworks in my brain. This was the spark that was going to light the fire in my soul!

When he compared a bowl of pasta to a bowl of Skittles…..it was like magic….omg, what had I been doing to my body?

That morning I called the wife and was all excited, telling her I was going paleo…. She did not share my excitement…maybe because it was 6a.m….. I was hyped and she was just waking up.

Where the lines of fate crossed was she had just had a blood test done, looking for allergies and signs that would point her to possible causes of her severe migraines. Well, a few days later her results came back, and they aligned with a paleo approach as well.

BOOM…..paleo family here we go…..head first!

My life is very different than the average person…I work in the Arctic Circle oil field. I fly up to the middle of nowhere for 3 weeks at a time. I work 12-15 hours a day for 21 days straight. All our food is provided for us. So the only choices I have are what is put out in front of me. Since I could not know everything in each dish, I just stayed on the paleo basics. It was not easy in the beginning, choosing paleo foods was easy, but I have a sweet tooth and to walk past the dessert bar day in and day out was a challenge. Some days I won, some days it won.

I dove deep into reading, listening, soaking up as much knowledge as one could absorb on this lifestyle change. I want to know not just the rules, but why, how. First month was rough in swimming through it all. Energy levels up and down….endless hunger..

As the months rolled on, the weight melted away. I was seeing results pretty quick. Few pounds here and there. Energy levels started to max out. Sleep was great. I started to dabble in working out. My wife and I signed up for a spartan race, then the day after that was complete we signed up for an ultra half marathon mountain run….. Omg, who the hell have we become….lol. We were now running and training for fun.

My wife’s migraines had all but gone away. My pains were less and less. We were becoming the people we were meant to be.

Fast foward to today. I am now sitting here writing my 1 year story. I have lost 70 + pounds. I train jiujitsu 3-4 time a week while I am home. I still don’t do crazy workouts…. I personally don’t feel it’s needed. I plan on doing more running events once the snow melts. I am paleo/Primal for life. I believe in this lifestyle 100%….

I am living proof.

CHANGE YOUR DIET….CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Matteo

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A Primal Look at Skin Care

By next year, Americans are expected to spend nearly 11 billion dollars on skin care annually. By some estimates anyway, the biggest share of this market goes to “anti-aging” products. Anti-aging… As I noted in an offhand way a few years back, there’s a certain enjoyment in looking good naked (or just looking good), and there’s nothing wrong with that. Looking “good” is largely a reflection of optimum inner health—nothing un-Primal about that. Great health is what we’re all here for. The “extra” rewards that come with it aren’t anything to shake a stick at—or to be sheepish about.

But the health ambition isn’t really what’s behind the statistics above. At their best, anti-aging products boost the body’s natural processes (or at least don’t undermine them with toxins). At their worst, these products promise a way to cheat effort as well as time. While taking care of your skin is part of basic hygiene, too often the claims have more in common with a hat trick than genuine wellness. But which is which?

Let’s discuss….

As our largest organ, and one which is constantly on display to the outside world, our skin is critical to this healthy outward appearance. Conventional wisdom dictates that, as we age, our skin declines, and to a certain degree it’s true. Were we intended to be immortal beings, the Primal strive towards nutritional and lifestyle perfection might be sufficient to maintain your skin’s vibrant status. But…reality is different.

The basic Primal prescription will take your skin’s health far beyond any cream will. (And for today’s purposes, I’ll keep the focus on aging and clarity rather than specific skin conditions.) How far you go beyond that Primal prescription for the sake of your skin’s appearance is up to you, but let’s look at what the basics can accomplish.

Sleep and Skin Aging: You Know There’s a Connection!

Let’s begin with the most obvious. Sleep—it’s when all the cell-healing, hormone-regulating, skin-rejuvenating magic happens, and it might be what people skimp on the most.

Part of that magic involves the production of collagen. Sleep deprivation has a direct impact on the integrity of the skin, including the production of collagen…and the result is saggier, more wrinkle-prone skin. Skimping a few hours on sleep every night can accentuate the number or severity of fine lines on your face. Not only that, your body dials up blood flow to your skin while you sleep. Inadequate sleep sets you up for an ashen, vampire-esque complexion. Probably not what you were going for.

The beauty here is that small changes can make a huge difference to your sleep regime, and hence your skin. Improving your sleep hygiene may just upgrade your appearance. In fact, you can bet on it.

The More Superficial Benefits of Good Nutrition

A couple of years ago, researchers embarked upon a curious quest to determine the effect that skin color has on our perception of attractiveness in the opposite sex. Using a bunch of caucasian men and women, the study designers played around with varying degrees of facial coloration using carotenoids and melanin as precursors. They found that those faces which had increased carotenoid coloration were more attractive than those that had increased melanin coloration. Faces with increased coloration in general were also found to be more desirable than those with less pigmentation. The takeaway is this: nutrition may be an even bigger factor in skin health and attractiveness than the sun. A tan is still nice, but the effects of a carotenoid-rich diet comes out on top.

And that doesn’t even take into account the major boon to skin health (and appearance) that comes with avoiding the chronic systemic inflammation of a high-carb diet…

Obviously, good overall nutrition itself is a key for maintaining healthy skin through the years. The continuing media frenzy over antioxidant-rich superfoods may be old news, but it’s good news at that. Nutrient-dense foods do indeed protect your skin from time-induced degradation by slowing the oxidative forces behind aging of the skin (and everything else). For example, upping your vitamin C intake can enhance collagen production and lowers the incidence of wrinkles and “senile dryness.” The polyphenols in your green tea may have a photoprotective effect against excessive sun exposure. Increasing essential fatty acid consumption from the likes of wild-caught salmon or walnuts reduces skin atrophy and wrinkling, as does eating more healthy fats. Many antioxidants and fish oil can reduce inflammation associated with acne and other skin conditions.

Being Primal, this shouldn’t be much of an issue for you. But if you’re not seeing an improvement in your skin after adopting a more Grokish way of life, try playing around with some of these nutritional focal points and add supplementation in the form of a potent, comprehensive multi and a quality fish oil. And you know how I feel about collagen….

Speaking of supplementation, products known as nutricosmetics are more recent arrivals on the scene. These “beauty pills” derive their claims from doses of anti-aging, free-radical-fighting nutrients like collagen and antioxidants such carotenoids and polyphenols. There you go, right? Well…

I can’t speak to the quality of any of these products, but maybe some of you have had good experiences, and I’m all ears. In cases of specific deficiencies, they might have a role to play. Biotin, a common ingredient in these pills for example, can improve skin’s moisture retention and smoothness and can strengthen brittle hair and nails. For most people, however, a nutrient-rich diet and a good quality multi and fish oil offer more overall benefit and the same result for skin appearance.

Topical applications of nutrients are more complicated still. Many nutrients won’t retain potency in cream or serum form (especially coupled with other ingredients), but science is gaining on those limitations. If there’s sufficient interest, I’ll do a follow-up piece on promising topical formulations.

Alcohol’s Effects?

While we’re on the subject of nutrition… If you’re a regular to MDA, you’ll know that I’m not an alcohol hater. I’ll be the first to admit that alcohol has its uses and enjoyments, but overindulgence takes a considerable toll on the skin (among many other aspects of health…and life). Alcohol abuse has long been associated with various conditions of the skin, including jaundice, hyper-pigmentation, flushing and psoriasis. While I doubt that you take your alcohol consumption to abusive proportions, these extreme cases indicate that alcohol isn’t particularly skin-enhancing. A booze break may end up being a boon to your appearance.

And Then There’s Gut Health….

Yup, here it is again. The state of your gut biome is central to basically every aspect of your health…so why not your skin?

At the more extreme end of the spectrum, there’s plenty of well-documented links between skin disorders and gut dysbiosis. A 2008 study showed that SIBO is 10 times more prevalent in folks with acne rosacea, and that this skin condition showed marked improvements after treating the SIBO. Moreover, a Japanese study found that patients with atopic dermatitis had lower counts of (friendly) Bifidobacterium and higher counts of (less friendly) Staphylococcus in their gut. Probably not a coincidence. Other GI disorders, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and celiac disease, have all been linked to negative skin conditions.

From an everyday perspective, it’s all about permeability. I’ve posted about leaky gut plenty of times in the past, and it’s relevant here, too. The condition contributes to less-than-ideal skin conditions by increasing the level of inflammation in your body. A classic example was provided in one study, whereby patients suffering from acne problems showed positive reactivity to E. coli in the blood while those with no acne showed no reaction at all. Whatever contributes to leaky gut (e.g. sugar, gluten, anti-nutrients, stress, conventional dairy) may also be undermining your skin health.

Leaky gut is a self-sustaining condition that worsens over time, meaning you need to get your gut under control in order to allow your skin to age gracefully. Avoid the aforementioned culprits, and invest in some good probiotics. I can help with that, by the way.

On Sun and Sunscreen

As it happens, both. I’ve talked at long length about how vitamin D is one vitamin that we simply can’t do without. Not only that, there’s plenty of evidence to show that living in areas with more sunshine hours can have a protective effect against many types of cancers. Yes, there may be a relationship between sun exposure and skin cancer, but from an evolutionary perspective it doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. And there’s research that speaks to this logical mismatch. With the exception of a select few, most living organisms are designed to thrive in direct sunshine – so why would our skin treat it as public enemy number 1? Not only that, the vitamin D3 that we process from none other than the sun has actually been shown to kill melanoma cells. That’s quite the paradox.

And then there’s the evidence that ample vitamin D can actually inhibit the hallmarks of skin aging.

As with everything, moderation is key. Everyone’s skin is different. And atmospheric filters today aren’t what they were in Grok’s day. It doesn’t make sense to burn or sit in front of a glass window day after day without some kind of shield for your skin.

But before you reach for your pump-action bottle of SPF 50+, take a moment to really think about what you’re slathering on your skin. For starters, that same aluminum that you’ve been taught to avoid in deodorants is often present in conventional sunscreens. Studies show that a slathering of your run-of-the-mill sunscreen can provide up to 200 mg of aluminum. Your average sunscreen also contains both organic and inorganic UV filters, such as benzophenone, which can cause oxidative damage. The jury is still out on zinc oxide nanoparticles, but I’m inclined to use these products very sparingly.

A Bit about Skin Products

As a rule of thumb, unless it specifically states otherwise, your average skin cream, toner, makeup or face wash will degrade your epidermis over time…despite claims of anti-aging grandeur. A few years ago, I provided five reasons why. Those reasons include parabens, pthalates, fragrances, triclosan, and our old friends the UV-filtering chemicals. Cosmetic companies love these ingredients. Your skin (and your health in general) doesn’t.

To really do as Grok did, sure, we’d abandon all soaps, shampoos, toners, cleansers and lotions. Most of us have at least a few things we’d prefer to use, however, which means the next logical step is to seek out products that do what we want them to do while minimizing toxin exposure and disruption of the skin’s own balance. To that end, a few years ago I put together an extensive list of “safer” alternatives to common cosmetics. Since then, the market for these has skyrocketed, and I’ll leave it to sharing on the comment board for updated options. I’ll only note that I choose to sell a particular line of skin and hair products that cleanse and nurture without stripping the skin of its natural oils or beneficial organisms (quite the opposite if you’re interested in reading more on them). I don’t often sell other companies’ goods, but this one was a personal preference for me.

But back to the big picture…

Research is continuing to highlight the importance of the skin microbiome in ensuring its continued good health and protective functioning. In an excellent article published in Nature Reviews Microbiology, the authors note that the skin is an “interface with the outside environment and, as such, is colonized by a diverse collection of microorganisms — including bacteria, fungi and viruses…many of these microorganisms are harmless and in some cases provide vital functions that the human genome has not evolved. Symbiotic microorganisms occupy a wide range of skin niches and protect against invasion by more pathogenic or harmful organisms. These microorganisms may also have a role in educating the billions of T cells that are found in the skin, priming them to respond to similarly marked pathogenic cousins.”

Most products, whether washes or creams, end up stripping the skin’s critical microbiome in addition to the natural secretions that support it. Less is definitely more here.

To Shower or Not to Shower

Water…the most basic element of hygiene. How could we possibly go wrong there? Grok for his part had access to mineral-rich, relatively pristine lakes, rivers and spring. Not so much for moderns. We know that professional swimmers can suffer from a wide range of skin conditions as a result of the chlorine they regularly immerse themselves in. Sure, your shower water isn’t quite as intensely chlorinated, but it’s still got a reasonable amount, and your skin has a way of absorbing far more contaminants than you might think. If your skin is particularly sensitive, you may see effects from exposure to regular tap water.

If your water is chlorinated to the point where you can smell it or if you have chronic skin conditions of any kind, consider fitting a filter to your shower head. And ease up on the soap lathering. Your skin was designed to produce it’s own oils to provide natural protection against the elements, and a good lather is going to reverse all that hard work.

Thanks for stopping by, folks. What changes have you seen to your skin since going Primal? What kinds of practices and products do you use for good skin health? Also, what have you stopped doing or buying that made a positive difference?

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Join Me and Melissa Hartwig This Saturday

Are you headed to the Expo West this weekend? Join me this Saturday, March 11th, from 12:00-1:00 P.M. PST when I’m teaming up with my friend, Melissa Hartwig of Whole30®, for a full hour of Meet and Greet (booth H1013). And just to add to the fun, the first 50 people who show up will walk away with a free Primal Kitchen® Whole30® Approved item.

And no worries if you can’t make it to the Expo. Join Melissa and I on the Primal Kitchen Facebook page for a Facebook Live chat at 11:45 A.M. PST this Saturday, when we’ll talk about the show and my brand new Whole30® Approved products—Egg-Free Mayo as well as Green Goddess and Caesar Dressings.  You won’t want to miss it.

I’ll look forward to meeting the Primal crowd this Saturday. Grok on, everybody!

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10 Uncommon Exercises For Maintaining Strength, Agility, and Power With Age

The older you get, the more important strength, agility, power, and lean mass become. This isn’t how most people approach old age. They expect strength and all the other trappings of physical capacity to degenerate, and so they do. It’s what happens all around us, every day. Seniors are feeble, right?

The weight room is scary for a lot of people. Hell, even able-bodied youngsters in the prime of their lives shy away from lifting heavy things. So, first things first: Seniors should definitely strength train. If you’re unsure of your form and capabilities, find a trainer who works with older folks and ensure your safety. Just get out there.

But it’s not the only way. If, for whatever reason, you can’t or won’t do traditional strength training, or you just want to diversify your training arsenal, I’ve come up with several uncommon exercises and activities to help you stay strong, agile, fit, and powerful as you age.

Let’s go:

Taking the Stairs

Stair climbing performance is a powerful predictor of resilience in the elderly—how well they bounce back from health incidents. In older adults undergoing abdominal surgery, stair climbing performance is the single best predictor of peri-operative complications. Same goes for postoperative cardiopulmonary complications, complications following lung cancer surgery, and many others.

Unlike some other, more isolated performance tests used to indicate health or mortality risk (like walking speed or handgrip strength) stair walking is a robust, compound movement that requires coordination, balance, and strong  glutes, quads, and hamstrings. Training the stairs will likely transfer over to the health conditions it associates with, whereas increasing grip strength or forcing yourself to walk faster probably doesn’t.

In chronic stroke patients, regular stair training (30 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks) improved postural control and balance.

You can start by taking the stairs whenever possible. Skip the elevator. And if you get overly tired with a few flights to go, you can hop over to the elevator and finish out your ascent.

Consider adding weight when regular stairs get too easy.

Dancing

Dancing isn’t just fun. It can be a potent training tool, too. And everything seems to work. Whether it’s Turkish folk, traditional Thai dance, Scottish country dance, or line dancing, dancing can really incease functional capacity and even strength in older adults.

It may even build muscle. An 8-week ballroom dancing regimen led to minor leg hypertrophy in older women.

There are tons of ways to incorporate dance. Take a class and learn to really dance. Put on your favorite playlist in the morning and rock out in your kitchen (that’s my favorite). Play one of the motion-sensing dancing video games with a grateful child.

Jumping

For most older people, jumping is a huge hurdle. Many have long ago accepted that they’ll no longer jump. Steps become looming obstacles. The prospect of jumping up onto, over, or—heaven forbid—down from objects is difficult to fathom when you’re worried about breaking or tearing something.

Turns out that facing those fears and engaging in jump training can actually improve strength and functional capacity (rising from a chair) in elderly women.

Hopping

It really doesn’t take very much, especially if your starting place is little to no exercise. Hopping in place, just enough to leave the ground, for 20-40 reps is enough to strengthen elderly bone and muscle while improving balance and general agility. I’m serious, by the way: not even an inch off the ground works. Just take a look at this video for a visual. Grandma/pa can absolutely handle that.

An 11-week bilateral hopping program with progressive intensity improved neuromuscular function in older men, allowing them to jump higher and absorb impact more efficiently.

Tai Chi

Go to a park at 6:30 A.M. in any city with a sizable Chinese population and you’ll probably see dozens of senior citizens doing tai chi. It’s beauitful to watch, and regular practitioners of tai chi have stronger legs and more muscle endurance than non-practitioners, but that doesn’t mean the tai chi is responsible. Can it build strength?

Yes. Tai chi has been shown to prevent age-related declines in lower limb strength in older men, improve bone density and muscle strength in older women, and increase muscle strength and torque in older men.

That said, tai chi is a subtle way to train. Improvements accumulate across months, not days or weeks. If you want to use tai chi to get stronger, you’d better be in it for the long haul.

Superslow Training

Superslow training actually began as a safe way to treat osteoporosis in elderly women, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: lifting and lowering weights at an extremely slow, deliberate pace. The concentric portion (lifting) should take around ten seconds, and the eccentric portion (lowering) should take four.

The definitive book on the subject is Dr. Doug McGuff’s Body By Science. Several years ago, he penned a guest post for the blog that serves as a great introduction to superslow training. Frankly, it’s probably enough to get most people started. I also came up with a quick (well, not too quick) bodyweight workout using superslow principles.

Superfast Training

If you feel comfortable with your lifts, superfast resistance training is another option for older people. It’s also what it sounds like: moving the weight as fast as you can while maintaining good form and crisp technique (don’t “throw” or heave the weight).

In one recent study of older women, both superfast and superslow resistance training improved functional capacity, muscle performance, and quality of life, but superfast resistance training produced greater improvements in muscle power and functional capacity.

Medicine Ball Slams and Throws

Medicine balls slams are fun to do. They’re hard, but because you’re slamming a sturdy sphere into the ground with all your might, you forget the work and focus on the sensation. Older folks don’t really get many opportunities to express the full brunt of their power like that. They should. It’s liberating (I’ve seen it happen), and just a single session of medicine ball training improves postural control, balance, and stability.

It’s a good strength-building workout for them. As part of a training regimen that including a little strength training and jumping, high speed medicine ball training (with a 1.5 kg ball) increased muscle strength and power in elderly women.

Head over to Amazon and pick up a basic medicine ball for under $30.

Hill Sprints

I know, I know. I sound crazy. Hear me out.

I’ve always recommended hill sprints over flat sprints for people with bad knees because hills are easier on the joints. When you run uphill, you hit the ground more softly and you don’t “fall” as far. I maintain that all else being equal, hill sprints are safer for older adults than flat sprints.

Sprinting is relative, remember. I’ve taken older folks out to hills, and their “sprints” might look like fast walks or quick jogs. The key is going as hard as you can as safely as you can.

Don’t do it very often. Sprints require a lot of recovery time. Once a week is enough to improve muscle power in older men.

Seniors who do manage to make sprinting work will probably enjoy stronger bones.

And although this isn’t “strength” or “fitness,” per se, sprinting seems to counteract the damaging effect of aging on glucose regulation.

Play Sports

Playing sports. Most sports are dynamic, meaning you’ll have to react, respond, and move through multiple spatiotemporal planes and domains. That makes sports somewhat risky, but it also means they can build general physical adeptness like few other activities.

Research supports the idea of older folks playing sports, particularly soccer. For example, soccer training improved basically every health and fitness biomarker they measured in middle-aged women. A year of soccer improved blood pressure, fat mass, bone density, sprint time, endurance, and blood lipids in mildly hypertensive middle-aged women.

I see no reason seniors wouldn’t be able to get similar benefits playing other sports. Raquetball, tennis, basketball, Ultimate frisbee all require—and train—quick movements, good hand-eye coordination, explosive power, and endurance.

After reading all this, if you’re still not sure how to get stronger as an older or aging person, I don’t know what to tell you. It all works. It’s all right there. Most of the exercises and activities I describe are downright fun, especially in the right company.

So, get out there and start doing them. Or tell someone you know and love who needs them to go do them.

What’d I miss, though? There’s always something. Older folks: how do you like to work out? Younger folks: have the older people in your life let themselves go, or do they model lifelong fitness (and maybe give you a run for your money)?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.

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