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How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

bbc.com

21–30 of 68 posts

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#21

On a 5 hr bike ride your body is going to go into a similar state as intermittent fasting with all your glycogen being burned off. Similar to fasting this frees up energy and allows the garbage in your system to be burned off.

I do a ~24 hour fast weekly, and a LOT of sites go into this "burning off garbage" or "toxin cleaning" rhetoric which always puts me in "bullshit warning" mode. Is there actual science behind these claims?

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#22

On a 5 hr bike ride your body is going to go into a similar state as intermittent fasting with all your glycogen being burned off. Similar to fasting this frees up energy and allows the garbage in your system to be burned off.

> garbage in your system What precisely is this?

Garbage statement. Your body is not an incinerator. Kidneys and liver take care of the garbage.

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#23

On a 5 hr bike ride your body is going to go into a similar state as intermittent fasting with all your glycogen being burned off. Similar to fasting this frees up energy and allows the garbage in your system to be burned off.

I do a ~24 hour fast weekly, and a LOT of sites go into this "burning off garbage" or "toxin cleaning" rhetoric which always puts me in "bullshit warning" mode. Is there actual science behind these claims?

The only thing I've read that doesn't completely fire off my "bullshit warning mode" is something like "fasting can enable stem cells, and have immune system destroy old cells" like explained here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/fasting-for-t...

Still seems a little too "high level" to actually believe though. In any case, I still do IF by skipping breakfast, mostly because I'm lazy, and after fasting for so many years hunger doesn't really bother me that much.

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#24

Given that this study focuses on declining naive T cell production and thymic tissue loss, it is interesting to look at another recent study that suggests these losses are the dominant cause of increased cancer rates with age. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714478115 T cells develop from hematopoietic stem cells as part of the lymphoid lineage and have the ability to detect foreign antigens and neoantigens arising fro…

>"Given that this study focuses on declining naive T cell production and thymic tissue loss, it is interesting to look at another recent study that suggests these losses are the dominant cause of increased cancer rates with age.

[...]

Our model outperforms the power law model"

Interesting, since cancer "rates" (age-specific incidence) for many cancers peak at 60-90 years old. This paper looks like they cut off the data at 85 years, ignore the peaks during youth, and aggregate the data in such a way (eg colon and rectum grouped together) to force a power law fit.

EDIT:

Also, they just say "data from SEER". What years did they use, inclusion criteria, etc?

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#26
post #19
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great way to put it. I've been exercising so long that it is my normal. Not exercising for more than two days in a row and I start to feel weird/not healthy. This has led me to end up on the treadmill at 10pm or 5am. When it becomes your normal it is just like breathing or eating.

Same to me, but I was more active when I was living in a warm country. Now I am living in a mildly cold winter country, and struggling to go out out to walk/run because of the cold. 3 weeks and I already feeling less productive and healthy.

Running in the cold is great. I run outside until it gets below -20 deg C. Some thermal tights and a few layers on top is all you need. It took me quite a few years to finally just give it a try and now I actually prefer running in the winter vs summer.

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#27
post #12

Saying exercise prevents decline normalizes being sedentary. I prefer considering exercise normal and saying its lack accelerates decline. Anyone is free to call normal what they want, but I find my way leads me to live more healthy.

There's a saying: You don't stop running when you become old. You become old when you stop running.

Of course, "running" can be substituted with any other exercise

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#28

On a 5 hr bike ride your body is going to go into a similar state as intermittent fasting with all your glycogen being burned off. Similar to fasting this frees up energy and allows the garbage in your system to be burned off.

I do a ~24 hour fast weekly, and a LOT of sites go into this "burning off garbage" or "toxin cleaning" rhetoric which always puts me in "bullshit warning" mode. Is there actual science behind these claims?

Fat tissue is a collector of some kinds of toxins (don't remember exactly which now) and some heavy metals (heh). Going into fat burning actually releases these into your system (which should be bad, though)

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#29
post #26
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same to me, but I was more active when I was living in a warm country. Now I am living in a mildly cold winter country, and struggling to go out out to walk/run because of the cold. 3 weeks and I already feeling less productive and healthy.

Running in the cold is great. I run outside until it gets below -20 deg C. Some thermal tights and a few layers on top is all you need. It took me quite a few years to finally just give it a try and now I actually prefer running in the winter vs summer.

There are masks you can wear that makes it easier to breath the cold air for running when it's even colder. I guess it heats the air a bit. I like walking in the cold, just have to dress for it and not overdo it so you overheat in your nice warm clothes :-)

I haven't tried the breathing masks though I probably should since I have asthma and breathing in the cold makes it worse.

Re: How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

#30
post #12

Saying exercise prevents decline normalizes being sedentary. I prefer considering exercise normal and saying its lack accelerates decline. Anyone is free to call normal what they want, but I find my way leads me to live more healthy.

I always feel this way when i see 'anti-' something. For example anti-austerity. That noun makes it sound as if austerity was the norm and sane choice and anyone with better ideas was being negative.
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