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2 Years of Exercise Reversed 20 Years of Aging in the Heart: Longest-Ever Randomized Trial on Exercise (www.goodnewsnetwork.org)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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it effectively turned sedentary 55-year-olds into 30-year-olds when viewed through heart activity monitoring equipment.

Being that heart disease is the leading cause of death for most people in the United States, and cardiac strength is inversely correlated with heart disease, it’s probably one of the most significant studies on exercise ever carried out.

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[-] [email protected] 33 points 6 days ago

The study found middle-aged adults could reverse 20 years of age-related decline in their heart muscles through a 2 year exercise program, and that it effectively turned sedentary 55-year-olds into 30-year-olds when viewed through heart activity monitoring equipment

through a 2 year exercise program

Talking about return on investment wow

[-] [email protected] 32 points 5 days ago

All I'm hearing is that I can still be a sedentary lazybones for like another 10 years before I need to start exercising.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

And that's like 30 minutes a day!!! (~3-4 hours total per week at the peak iirc, and one of those is doing fun activities like canoeing, not on a boring treadmill)

[-] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago

5-6 hours a week to exercise seems like a dream to me. I have to fight tooth and nail for 2-3 hours or dedicated space.

And yes getting fit is hard but once you do it feels so much better to do literally anything. Slow and steady gets you there.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

It's wild.

I wish I started really lifting ages ago. But I didn't have the protein intake to make it worth it.

I have an autonomic dysfunction so I can't always lift like I want to without passing out. But my arms don't show the stretch marks from 100lbs ago as much anymore. I have some excess on my stomach still, but the general outline of abs.

And the amount of effort it takes to move? Gone. I need better fitting clothes though, because everything is way too big now.

I can't say I have more energy, but sleeping is easier. Things hurt less.

The biggest barrier to all of it? Food. Wegovy has fixed that so far for me, provided I stay with healthy eating it should be fine.

But then it was the barrier of "how the fuck do I get muscle." Turns out, you need protein to build muscle. I wasn't getting nearly enough protein in my diet. One to two protein shakes a day, throw in some serious squats, and simple dumbbell work outs? Way stronger, way easier to work out too. Sure. It's only half an hour every day. But it was 10 on average minutes 6 months ago.

I'm walking a lot more. I can mow the lawn without passing out. My friend got me to throw in some creatine into my morning shake and damn yo, you literally get swole. Is it because I can lift more? Is it because it keeps water in the muscles? Idk, I don't care. I feel great and think it will keep getting better.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

important to note that you can still get stronger and benefit from exercise without excess protein intake, just training the nerves does a lot.

also things like pasta and beans/lentils have very respectable amounts of protein, i've grown plenty of muscle without any particular diet or supplements.

[-] [email protected] -4 points 5 days ago

I recommend eating vegetarian then. It doesn't require extra time and it virtually eliminates the risk of heart disease

[+] [email protected] -25 points 6 days ago

Two years of repeated intervals of making yourself feel like shit to get more time you can only keep by keep making yourself feel like shit multiple times a week. Yeah no, I prefer not making things actively worse for even longer, thanks.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

it sounds like you've exercised wrong, it's like people who eat nothing but dry joyless salad for a week and then act like healthy food inherently sucks..

just fuckin walk around a room while lifting something heavy in various ways until you feel tired, perfectly decent exercise that i can't imagine a normal person finding anything worse than boring, which is remedied by putting on a podcast

[-] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Then your imagination is evidently limited.

just fuckin walk around a room while lifting something heavy in various ways until you feel tired

To feel tired you need your body to exhaust itself, which makes you feel like shit. To exaggerate my point a little bit here for better understanding: It's the very act of movement that causes it. It doesn't matter how you do it, the body immediately tells you it's shit once it has to ramp up everything to deal with the strain and will keep doing so making sure you only do things as much as necessary (like to catch a bus, ride a bicycle to your important destination etc).

Like I said before, the only way this makes any sense to me is that your brains, for some reason, react to this willful suffering with blasting out dopamin and stuff. Otherwise it doesn't make any sense to me why and how so many people deal seem to hurt themselves without going nuts.

The body is clearly stressed by exercise, I hope we can agree on that as smallest common denominator?

[-] [email protected] 34 points 6 days ago

as someone who was fat, then wasnt fat, then was again i can tell you that when you're fit exercising feels pretty great.

Getting fit sucks hard though

[-] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

As someone who’s been fat and unfit, thin and fit, and thin but not especially fit, I’m seconding that fitness is the key. Exercise feels better thin than fat, but it’s not nearly as fun when you’re out of shape as when you’re fit.

I don’t have the body type to be fat and fit, though, so no idea about that combo

[+] [email protected] -6 points 5 days ago

So the body just doesn't release dopamine for exercising unless you already do it for months? That's what I'm getting from this. 🤔

[-] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

If it sucks you're doing it wrong. You don't have to run a marathon on day one, do 5x3 push ups everyother day until it's too easy

[-] [email protected] -2 points 5 days ago

I don't get it, in my experience it sucks no matter how short or long you do it. Like, if I put my arm into a 100°C oven for longer and longer it doesn't suddenly start feeling good, it's the same uncomfortable-to-stressful experience every time (and at some point it causes physical damage). Obviously with exercise your body can build up muscles to make the experience less awful, but it doesn't prevent it from being a purely stressful one, both mentally and physically (and at some point all the constant stress causes mental damage). Even after weeks there's no difference, except that I was so stressed I lashed out against everything and everyone.

I do not understand (on a subjectice level) how this can be any different for others. I've read about dopamine being supposed to be released, and it truly has to be copious amounts to block all the stress signals and somehow turn it into something positive. Basically the only sane explanations there is to me why people would do this to themselves are either external necessities or the desire to get high on built-in drugs which only works for some people (who then believe it's that way for everyone).

[-] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

It sounds like you have a drastically different experience with exercise than others, to the point that you might want to talk to someone about it? Very few people get as mentally stressed when exercising as you seem to be describing.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

Speaking from experience, I would say being kind to yourself is the #1 top priority. So if it hurts... don't do it!

But I enjoy watching TV, or playing mobile games, and doing that while going super slow on a treadmill or better yet an elliptical works even after a surgery.

Or possibly just take the stairs instead of an elevator, if that's an option, like when leaving work. It is not always though, for all people. Opportunities are never equally distributed aka "fair".

Anything helps though. I breathe better, not the day of but the next day, so have come to really miss it when I can't do something. Much like eating healthy, it is a lifestyle change, which as this article suggests, has an even bigger pay-off for a significantly smaller investment than people previously realized. Maybe you can't due to your work schedule or heavy mental load (parents mess us up BAD, I get it), but at least now you / we know just how good exercise is, and how beneficial it is to make up for lost ground. Those are very helpful facts! 😄

[-] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

It was basically 1.5-2hrs at the gym twice a week, plus 1.5-2hrs doing some physical activity (hiking or the like) once a week for the first year, then what was probably light cardio a few times a week the next year for the benefits. Not too much effort for feeling the benefits of improved heart benefits, as well as probably lowered risk of heart attack.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I mean, different strokes for different folks I guess, so no judgement!

To anyone debating whether to get into exercise: This is anecdotal of course, but exercise has greatly improved my quality of life. Doing the exercising itself sucks, sure, but I am a firm believer that exercise not only builds up physical fitness, but also mental strength. I can move around easy, nothing hurts (except post-exercise muscle fatigue after a good lift- but even that is temporary and a different type of “hurt”), my body and mind feel fantastic almost 24/7, and I look younger than I am.

1000% worth the 3 hours of pain each week.

this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025

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