Can a Exercise Bike Cut 16 Years off Your Age?

September 28, 2009 By Mark

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21334212_20379b552e[1] Is cycling or using an exercise bike that good for you? Doing any exercise is better than none at all, some women in their 50’s were part of a group. Who were monitored when they did a certain type of exercise, this took place at the University of California.

The tests from the research found that when they exercised for one hour a week, their blood pressure stabilised and their heart rates were better. And their rate of fat burning skyrocketed to an extra 10 percent. The report found that post menopausal women can have the same benefits from endurance exercising that younger women do.
One of the researchers said;

“There is some good news here for older women in the population, in that they respond much like younger women do to training,” said study leader and exercise physiologist George Brooks, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology. “The results are very encouraging for exercise without weight loss as an effective means for increasing vigor and controlling risk factors for chronic diseases in older women.”

There have been one or two other studies looking at post menopausal women, the problem may tend to have is low levels of estrogen, as well as other factors such as body mass and decreased metabolic rate. But despite these factors which are to do with ageing and hormone’s.

They can still reap the benefits of doing regular intense endurance exercise. The study, which revolved around being on a exercise bike for an hour at 65 percent more capacity.

The researchers thought that even other exercise done at a lesser rate would still be beneficial. Most people ordinarily probably wouldn’t exercise at this particular rate but having some exercise is better than having none whatsoever.

As women start to age they produce certain hormone’s that slow their metabolism down this may be one of the reasons why they too can get middle age spread. The reason this for study was to find out what effect exercise would have on somebody in the menopause, before and afterwards.

In a paper called Metabolism they found that people’s oxygen intake went up a lot higher during this process up to 16 percent and there resting heart rate was four beats per minute lower than previously.

So in effect their bodies were performing the same as someone who would be 16 years younger than them selves. Although men do burn quite a few carbohydrates during the first instances of exercise women are far better at it.

Here is what is one of the participants said after finishing the study.

She said, “I pushed myself very hard to see how much I could do, thinking, ‘Wow this could be dangerous, you’re way out there somewhere.’” Yet, two weeks after the study ended, her acupuncturist told her she had the pulse of an athlete.

“I was really proud of my accomplishment and the fact that a lot of joint pain and malaise that I had been seeing the acupuncturist for was GONE two weeks after starting the study!” she wrote in an e-mail.

So now all I need is a exercise bike and a sex change operation and I shall be fine as far as keeping in shape is concerned and losing weight.

Sources and references

http://www.sciencedaily.com

http://www.thesun.co.uk