Written by | Song grammar
The meaning of life lies in sports, and exercise and health are positively correlated. Exercise is one of the most important behaviors to improve and maintain our physical health.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a type of high-intensity aerobic interval exercise that performs quick, explosive workouts in a short period of time. It rapidly depletes muscle glycogen and increases the number and activity of mitochondria in muscles to meet the energy needs of exercise, thereby promoting health and metabolic function.
It has become popular because it saves time and promotes health. Early studies have shown that HIIT can improve heart function, lower blood pressure, help control blood sugar levels, etc., thereby achieving weight loss and preventing metabolic diseases.
On April 20, 2023, researchers from Loma Linda University in the United States published a research paper titled "High-Intensity interval training reduces transcriptomic age: A randomized controlled trial" in the journal "Aging Cell".
The study showed that after only one month of high-intensity interval training, the transcriptomics age was 3.59 years younger, compared to the 3.29 years higher transcriptomic age of the control participants. It is further confirmed that exercise can prolong life.
Transcriptomic age, a model of measuring biological age based on gene expression through high-throughput RNA sequencing, positive values indicate an accelerated rate of aging, while negative values indicate a slower rate of aging.
In this randomized controlled trial, the researchers recruited 30 participants, aged 40-65 years, who had no significant change in activity levels in the past month, and were randomly assigned to either HIIT or a control group on a 1:1 basis, with exercise training 3 times a week for 23 minutes per session for 4 weeks, for a total of 276 minutes in a 1-month exercise regimen.
At baseline and at the end of the exercise regimen, parameters such as transcriptomic age, body composition, stress, sleep, etc. of the participants were measured, respectively.
The study found that after the end of the exercise regimen, the transcriptomic age of participants in the HIIT group decreased by 3.59 years, while the transcriptomic age of participants in the control group increased by 3.29 years compared to baseline.
This suggests that exercise has an impact on age-related gene expression patterns, and that this effect may contribute to the positive health and longevity effects associated with exercise.
Effect of HIIT on parameters such as transcriptome age
In addition, participants in the HIIT group had improvements in depression index, sleep index, BMI, body fat mass, and visceral fat.
Nevertheless, due to study time limitations, it is unclear how durable the effect of high-intensity interval training on transcriptomic age is.
Previously, researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom published a research paper titled "Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality" in the journal Nature Medicine.
Studies have shown that 3-4 minutes of short vigorous exercise per day is associated with a 38%-40% reduction in the risk of all-cause and cancer death, and a 48%-49% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease death.
HIIT is an exercise that doesn't require much time investment to get healthy, which is important for people who don't exercise regularly for those who have busy lives and little time.
In summary, the study showed that high-intensity interval training had an effect on age-related gene expression patterns, with transcriptomics age 3.59 years younger than baseline for only one month of high-intensity interval training, and this study further confirmed that exercise can extend lifespan.
Paper Link:
https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13841