Dance to stay young (no leotards required)

Okay, first of all, I've given you a bit of a teaser headline. I was inspired by an interesting documentary I watched last week called "How to stay young".

Dancing has been proven to be better than the gym in strengthening muscles and improving flexibility and balance.

As I lover of dance, I'm excited by these results! Read the details below.

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Dancing vs Gym 

• A German study compared two groups of older adults over six months. One group danced and the second group exercised in the gym (ie exercise bikes). Each group exercised to the same music to keep the level of exertion roughly equal. Both groups completed 3 x 1 hour sessions per week.
• After six months, the gym group had a slight increase on average, however, the dance group showed a 15% improvement in muscle strength.
• This is because dance is a more comprehensive/holistic form of exercise - it uses your brain, your muscles, your tendons, your ligaments and your nervous system. Dancing facilitates the cross-talk between the muscle and the nerves, which is the key to stronger muscles. As well as being aerobic, dancing requires flexibility and balance.

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Strength, agility and balance are important factors in ageing well.

• An exercise you can use to test these factors is the "sitting and rising" test. That is, cross your legs and sit down on the ground, then rise up - without support (ie no hands, no arms, no knees, etc). 
• If you can sit and rise without support, you score 10 points (10/10). If you use your hand, forearm, knee or side of your leg, you lose a point for each. If you lose your balance or are wobbly, you lose half a point. 
• Your goal is to score 8-10 points to achieve the greatest life expectancy. You can improve your score through exercises that target strength, agility and balance (or just keep practising this sit-and-rise test). I found a YouTube video that shows this segment: click here.

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Lifestyle is a MAJOR determinant in how long you will live.

• Lifestyle accounts for 75% of your longevity. Genetics accounts for only 25%.
• After smoking, stress and weight have the biggest influence on how we age.

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​Eat pulses to reduce visceral fat.

• One of the presenters had an MRI which showed a high level of visceral fat (ie fat around your organs), which is a major concern. 
• To reduce visceral fat, you need to eat high resistant starch. You can find high resistant starch in pulses (ie lentils and chickpeas). However, you need to eat kilograms of pulses per week to achieve the desired result.
• A more concentrated form of high resistant starch is the food supplement powder, Inulin. 

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Vegans live longer than meat eaters.

• There's a town called Loma Linda, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, USA, which has been identified as one of five longevity spots, called Blue Zones, on the planet.
• Based on a study of 96,000 residents, the healthiest diet was found to be a vegan diet. For vegans, overall mortality reduced by a quarter compared to meat eaters and vegans were half as likely to get heart disease.
• Animal protein, when eaten, stimulates a hormone in our bodies that we all need for growth. But as we get older, this same hormone speeds up ageing. The more you replace meat protein with fruit and vegetables, the slower you age.
• The suggestion is to start small, try vegetarianism one day a time, for example, meatless Mondays.

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Eat nuts to protect against heart attacks.

• Studies of nut consumption and coronary heart disease show that those that consumed nuts had half the risk of heart attack compared to those who ate nuts infrequently.
• To get the benefits, you need to eat a handful of nuts 5 times a week.

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​We need to be more active as we get older.

• Exercise is another major way to stay young. 
• As you age, your body naturally becomes more frail. From your thirties, your muscles get smaller. When you are 80, your muscle mass is approximately 40% less than when you were 30.
• Exercise helps your body become stronger. So, as we get older, we should be MORE ACTIVE!

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Find your own way to reduce stress and live longer.

• When we are stressed, our adrenal glands release cortisol. Over time, an excess of cortisol weakens muscles, degrades bones and can shorten your life by up to five years.
• We should all try to reduce stress. You can try yoga or bring your dog to work (if permitted). Three ways doctors recommend to reduce stress are: exercise, meditation and “me” time.

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Be optimistic about getting older.

• Your mental attitude has a role in your longevity.
• Optimism can add up to 7 years to your life.
• A young person with a positive attitude about growing older can halve the risk of a heart attack.

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Have we found the fountain of youth?

• People with Laron’s syndrome never seem to get the major diseases of ageing such as cancer and diabetes. Their blood contains very little of a particular growth factor. The presence of this growth factor is what makes us age.
• Diseases of ageing have the same basic root causes, so scientists are now targeting ageing.
• Scientists have created a drug called rapamycin which mimics the anti-aging properties of Laron’s syndrome. In mice, rapmycin extends life by 15%. 
• Would you take this anti-ageing drug?

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To watch part 1 of "How to stay young", it's available on ABC iview until 9.30pm on 20th July by clicking here.

​The second part of the series is on Tuesday 12 July at 8.30pm on ABC. 

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What are your thoughts on how to stay young? Feel free to comment below.