Baby Boomers Turn Back the Clock by Running

Baby boomers are discovering running as a way to turn back the clock and extend their “golden years”. The generation with the highest median income in the United States wants to live long enough to spend some of their hard-earned assets while reducing their “fat assets”. The post WWII Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) has produced two presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both runners. Looking younger, feeling healthier and taking care of your body and brain are in. Smoking, eating fast food, and sitting around the house watching television are out.

U.S. 2005 Marathons

In 2005, more than 382,000 people completed a marathon. In a given year, around forty percent of participants are first timers and about forty percent are women. Gone are the days of male-only events and seeing the marathon as a fringe event for fanatics. Many boomers are saying hello to the challenge of training for and completing a half or full marathon. The sense of personal accomplishment and health benefits are boosted by the fun and excitement of lining up on race day somewhere in a pack of pulsing human endeavor.

Running clubs are “booming,” literally. Adding walk breaks into training and racing in order to produce results in previous non-athletes is a new trend that allows more people to participate. Planned walk breaks at increasing intervals also reduce recovery time and injuries. Gone are the days when a New Year's resolution to start running ended in three weeks with a flurry of Gatorade and ibuprofen. With the help of a running club or a group-training program, the support of peers can carry you over the three-week hump from resolution to success. Starting a new exercise regimen on your own is just not the same as training for an attainable goal with a group. A running group greatly enhances success and reduces dropout rates.

Running helps to fight disease and delay age related decline. The three top causes of death in people over age sixty-five are heart disease, cancer and stroke. Running reduces the risk of heart disease by decreasing blood pressure, strengthening heart muscle, lowering resting heart rate, and dropping total cholesterol. Aerobic exercise like running or walking also reduce the risk of stroke and cancer. Regular running or walking has become a treatment option for doctors to prescribe to patients who are overweight, in the early stages of osteoporosis, or who have diabetes or hypertension. Running also helps maintain and improve general health. Running regularly raises HDL (or "good") cholesterol and strengthens your lungs, delaying loss in “vital capacity”.

Self-confidence also gets a boost when running helps with weight loss and you see your “inner athlete”. Going from a couch potato to being a runner can help reduce age-related decline in function that many of us face after age forty. The positive effects of running outweigh the few weeks of pain and fatigue during the three months that it takes to make running a health habit.

Hypertension, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol are three important risk factors for the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Running attacks all three of these by reducing weight, increasing muscle mass, decreasing blood pressure and lowering artery clogging cholesterol. Reducing body fat and increasing muscle mass help to support blood sugar management and losing weight allows some to decrease the amount of medication they have to take for diabetes or high blood pressure.

The psychological benefits of running outpace the physical stress encountered when beginning a running program. Running helps reduce anxiety, improves energy levels, and helps fight insomnia. Some studies suggest that running and aerobic exercise in general can be an effective antidepressant for many people with mild depression. Several recent studies show that exercise can improve mental health by helping the brain to better cope with stress. The anxiety reducing benefits of running may have a protective effect on brain health by reducing high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which has been shown to damage brain and memory function. Maybe that's why the two most recent Presidents have been runners.

Some of the most exciting recent data available about exercise and brain health suggests that exercise stimulates protective brain chemicals that can help protect new brain cells. This protein called “brain derived neurotrophic factor” helps brain cells grow and make new connections. This is especially interesting to those of us working with patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The memory boosting effects of running have been shown to protect the hippocampus, the area of the brain affected earliest in patients afflicted with Alzheimer's.

Older adults who exercise have brains that are more densely packed with extra connections, and are more resistant to damage. The studies show, not only preserved function, but actual improvement. These new studies suggest that there may be something more we can do to delay the onset of this terrible disease. The link may have to do with reducing vascular damage in the brain related to poor oxygen delivery. By reducing this “clogged blood vessel” related damage, people will have symptoms at a later age and have more functional years in later life. The boomers may be on to something. Keep on running…