AJW2W11E

I'm grateful for the benefits Bicycling has given me. The elevator died in our 20 floor office building. Even young fit people pooped out after 10 floors. Like all of us bike riders, I was just getting warmed up at that level.
On the other hand, there are things that are genetically lying in wait for us. They are programmed into our cells. The ugly things we all have seen our friends or parents endure that start with the letters....
I sure wish bicycling could change my hand in those matters. Or can it?

50PlusCycling

We are genetically programmed with lots of different genes, but many require that something press a button to make them run. That button is bigger and easier to push if we are sedentary, take part in certain chemical pleasures, or are otherwise unhealthy. And should you hit that button anyway, being physically fit will help you get through treatment and increase your odds of recovery.

My family has a history of health issues which I have somehow managed to avoid so far (knocks on wood), and I give cycling a lot of credit for my good health and lack of problems.

john m flores 

My family has a history of high cholesterol that many choose to manage with a pill. I'll manage it with a pedal.

Jughed

Yes.

Effects of exercise on cellular and tissue aging - PMC (nih.gov)

Wildwood 

It's just too much fun to not cycle.
That is what my brain cells tell me.
When my time is up, I hope to go gently in the night.
Until then = ride on! With vigor.
And celebrate the day.

PeteHski

Lifestyle certainly affects how our genes are controlled, which in turn greatly affects our potential healthy lifespan. Science is now showing that genetics only play a relatively small part in determining how quickly we age. I think something like 15-20%. The rest is down to our lifestyle choices. Good news for those less fortunate in the genetic lottery who are able to make good lifestyle decisions. For example smoking alone knocks 15 years off the average lifespan along with all the associated ill-health along the way. Regular exercise on the other hand slows down the aging process.

John E

The Fountain of Youth is genuine and well-known for those willing to listen: exercise and eat right.

plumberroy

Years of working construction and industrial maintenance makes my feet and knees from doing steps easily. But riding keep those things and my back working enough to keep working at all

SpedFast

Cycling has definitely changed my cell. I used to have an Iphone but with all the apps and sensors I run now I needed something with better battery life. Hence, a larger cell. Instead of 3 hours, I can now ride 10 hours non-stop. Cycling has definitely kept me young, or at least it's fooling this old body

Wildwood 

Agreed 100%. But,....and unless,...
One gets some cancers, or tumors, or a bad surgery, or Parkinson's or severe memory loss, or dementia, or all of the above, or....(fill in the blank)
The USA food supply & distribution system is massive and seeks efficiency. Citizens have been GMO'd and hormoned extensively for decades now, maybe science will someday discern the effects.

Then there are those who lived near crop dusted fields. Downwind from nuclear test sites. Downstream from nuclear, industrial, or agricultural discharge sources. Close to airports. Military exposures (agent Orange thru mid-east oil fires & burn pits)

you ain't gettin out of this life alive.

PeteHski

The environment we live in is what ultimately causes us to age and eventually malfunction and die. Regular exercise and good nutrition helps to protect our bodies against the adverse ageing effects of our environment. Obviously it helps if we don’t live in a very polluted environment!

Jughed

Loose quote from Joe Friel:

You will die at some point, but live better, stay healthy and die quickly - or don't and die slowly.

I've shared here before that I'm T2, and that quote rings loud and clear in my mind. I could die slowly with kidney failure, loosing limbs, neuropathy, blindness, stroke...

Cycling, especially at Z2 levels, increases mitochondrial function, improves insulin resistance at cellular levels, lowers body fat - improves just about everything. All T2 indicators and symptoms are nonexistent...

My FIL is in his 70's, has cycling group friends and non active friends. The difference in their appearance, mobility, overall health between the groups is very evident. Active, vibrant old men vs guys just struggling to walk in some cases. Look at Joe Friel himself - I pegged the guy in his 60's, the man is 80.

You have to assume the benefits begin at the cellular level...

This is an 80 year old man... im guessing his cells are doing just fine.

MoAlpha

Uhh, how would fitness, or any other physiological process, occur without changing cells?

Wildwood 

‘Atomic veterans’ overwhelmingly denied benefits for illnesses related to radiation exposure during service (nbcnews.com)

Live long and healthy to US veterans. Yeah, right.

Bald Paul

GhostRider62

According to David SInclair, longevity is 80-90% epigenetic. A bit deeper than cells, but I guess the answer is "yes"

delbiker1 

First of all, the original post is a bit of a mis-statement. Nothing actually makes one younger, better health and feeling younger, or better, for sure. I think the two biggest factors in how one ages are; first, the genes inherited when born, the second being environmental factors. Everything else kind of follows along with those.

I-Like-To-Bike

It also helps to be healthy enough and have the freedom to live a lifestyle that allows the individual to devote the time, energy and resources required to live a lifetime of "exercise and eat right."

Some posters seem to believe that everyone starts out with the same state of good physical/mental health and the same living conditions, and those that ate and exercised "right" stayed healthy or even improved, while those that did not follow the guidance of nutritional and exercise "experts" all became unhealthy if not physical wrecks as a result.

wolfchild

Exercise and diet can help a person to enjoy a better quality of life as we age, but it won't reverse ageing. I don't care how many internet experts claim to have a secret to longevity, it's biologically impossible to reverse ageing no matter how you exercise or what you eat... As far as "eating right ", there are way too many variables and interpretations of what a proper diet is, some people eat what is considered unhealthy by the " experts " and they still manage to live to be 90 or 100 years old. Nutrition is so simple and yet so many people make it way too complicated

rsbob 

As stated above, being physically active will not ensure longevity but from what I have read, your flame will burn brighter and then extinguish more rapidly than the sedentary beset by prolonged illness and a slow death.

I-Like-To-Bike

Physically active people's flame (or "active" lifestyle) may become dimmed sooner than expected by illness, accident/injury or financial or environmental circumstances despite their best intentions and/or compliance with an "expert" or author's recommended exercise or diet regimen.

Bicycling is fun and healthy; don't believe in tall tales about it's magical prophylactic powers to ward off disease/illness, or as an ersatz Fountain of Youth.

Jughed

Not a fountain of youth...

But

Not only can cycling (exercise in general) help ward off disease, but it can absolutely reverse some diseases. Heart disease, T2 Beetus, hypertension...

Take insulin resistance/T2 for example. T2 can be caused by a disfunction of mitochondrial cells.

Role of Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Insulin Resistance | Circulation Research (ahajournals.org)

Z2 exercise can prevent and fix mitochondrial disfunction... and that condition can cascade into all sorts of complications/diseases.

PeteHski

This is a good readable book by an “actual expert” on the aging process and how we may be able to slow it down or even reverse it to some degree. These are real scientists doing actual peer reviewed science. Big Pharma is already starting to worry about future profits.

https://www.amazon.com/Lifespan-Why-.../dp/1501191977

Exercise and nutrition are apparently very important factors in determining how quickly we will age and eventually die of age related illness. You can certainly stack the odds either in your favour or against with some fairly simple lifestyle choices and they are not always completely intuitive.

rsbob 

I was just reading in Faster After 50 that athletes tend to have longer telomeres which typically get shorter in non-active people after each cell replication.

Wikipedia defines a telomere as “A telomere (/ˈtɛləmɪər, ˈtiːlə-/; from Ancient Greekτέλος(télos) 'end', and μέρος (méros) 'part') is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Telomeres are a widespread genetic feature most commonly found in eukaryotes. In most, if not all species possessing them, they protect the terminal regions of chromosomal DNA from progressive degradation and ensure the integrity of linear chromosomes by preventing DNA repair systems from mistaking the very ends of the DNA strand for a double-strand break.”

So yes, dear reader and OP, cycling can change your cells.

79pmooney

Several here have pointed out illness, injury, etc/ as factors beyond our control that can drastically affect the aging. But - this from experience (and no, I have not done the double blind study or documented this in any useful way) - bicycling radically affects how prepared my body is to deal with those issues.