A new study has revealed that the popular form of exercise, HIIT– or high intensity interval training – may be the key to reversing the ageing process.
Published in the journal Cell Metabolism, scientists from the Mayo Clinic recruited a number of men and women to participate in the study and split them into two separate groups: 18-30 years and 65-80 years. The participants were then all divided into smaller groups and undertook a 12-week exercise program.
One group participated in HIIT which involves three days of cycling (high intensity bursts fused with slower-paced intervals) and two days of treadmill walking each week. Another group focused on resistance training (such as specific lower and upper body exercises) and the final group did a combination of the two.
By the end of the 12 weeks, all participants had improved fitness but those who undertook HIIT training experienced the most benefits. The young HIIT participants saw an increase in their mitochondrial capacity (which helps the body create energy) of 49 per cent whole the older volunteers saw a 69 per cent increase. The HIIT group also saw there insulin sensitivity improve which means they may have helped to lower their diabetes risk. They also had an increase in ribosome activity which helps proteins that create muscle cells.
The Mayo Clinic's senior study author Dr. Sreekumaran Nair told CNN that, "Exercise training, especially high-intensity interval training, enhanced the machinery (ribosomes) to produce proteins, increased the production of proteins and enhanced protein abundance in muscle.”
He also said that HIIT is "highly efficient" in reversing age-related cll changes since it encourages the cells to make more proteins that help with energy production.
