Micah True is a renowned ultramarathoner who was found dead out on a running trail last month. He was 58 years old. It is well recognized that regular aerobic exercise is beneficial to health. There is ample evidence that running in particular may extend lifespan. However some data suggests excess exercise may increase mortality. Ultramarathon running involves distances greater than 26 miles, sometimes [...]

There is a large and growing body of scientific evidence that exercise increases lifespan.  This is true for all species of mammal tested including humans. There are an array of biochemical effects of exercise on cells which tend to promote transcription of genes that protect the cells against oxidative stress. Regular exercise reduces the likelihood of all the major leading casue of death including [...]

As organisms live, breath oxygen and metabolize food, they age.  The two are inextricably linked. Metabolic and respiratory processes generates free radicals and reactive oxygen species which damage cells and their contents.  Cells have a large army of proteins that function to reduce this damage and repair damage that occurs.  It is these protein pathways slow aging. It is known that proteins [...]

A recent article published in Nature and reviewed in the New York Times demonstrates for the first time an important benefit of exercise. It is well understood that regular strenuous aerobic exercise has myriad benefits on the mammalian (including human) body, reducing disease and slows the aging process. The new trial illustrates an important mechanism by which that takes place. As cells age they [...]

Time and time again scientific research consistently bears out a simple truth – exercise increases lifespan. The latest study to look at this relationship also asked the question whether people who live longer through exercise have higher overall medical expenses. The trial took place in Japan and analyzed the life expectancy of  27,738 participants aged 40 to 79 who were followed an average [...]

Fauja Singh, a pleasant unassuming Sikh farmer from India has crossed a threshold over which no man before him has ever stepped.  He ran a  26.2 mile marathon at age 100 years and 6 months. On Sunday October 16, 2011 Fauja Singh ran the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 8 hours 11 minutes and 5.9 seconds. Though at a distance of 35 k it looked like he would be forced to stop, like [...]

The word is just in that 100 year-old  Fauja Singh is planning to run the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Oct. 16.. If he is successful he will break the world’s record set by 98 year old Dimitrion Yordanidis when he ran the Athens marathon in 1976. Singh began running marathons at age 89 and has completed seven of the 26 milers. We recently reported he has signed up to run the Edinburgh [...]

It is well understood that aerobic fitness is associated with increased lifespan in people. In middle aged and older adults, those who have the least capacity to exercise on a treadmill are the most likely to die in the following years. Researchers decided to take this idea one step further and intentionally breed lab rats to create high aerobic and low aerobic capacity species.   In what they call [...]

Dementia is a scourge against longevity, severely reducing the quality of life of the most elderly.  It is also very common.  One is four persons aged 80 has Alzheimer’s disease, with one in two having the condition at age 90. Any intervention that may reduce the likelihood of the disease is of tremendous importance. A new meta analysis performed by researchers at the Mayo Clinic has turned [...]

Fauhja Singh turned 100 years old in April 2011, and has since taken the world record for a 10k run (6 miles ) over 80 years old, completing it in 83 minutes. Singh isn’t stopping there though.  He registered last week to run the 2012 Edinburgh marathon which is to take place in May. Author Khushwant Singh who wrote a just-published biography about Fauja called Turbaned Tornado, confirms this [...]