Health Check Podcast: Fight ageing with exercise

Joyce Teo

Senior Health Correspondent

Updated

Published

Dec 15, 2021, 06:00 PM

Health Check Ep 74: Fight ageing with exercise

15:18 mins

Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

It's almost the end of the year, and nearly two years since the coronavirus emerged and changed the way we work, live and play. If you haven't been exercising, it's time to start. If you have been taking short walks now and then, it's time to walk a bit more on a regular basis. This is because every step that you take will help to keep you physically - and mentally - younger. Ageing is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases. An ageing body is just less able to fight diseases, but if you can do something about your ageing body and brain, you may be able to delay the onset of these diseases.

In this episode, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo speaks with Professor Andrea Maier, the Co-Director of the National University Health System's Centre for Healthy Longevity, who is passionate about researching functional ageing and healthy longevity. Prof Maier is also the Oon Chiew Seng Professor in Medicine and Functional Ageing at the National University of Singapore.

0:00 Highlights of conversation (click/tap above):

00:48 Reasons to exercise and how it can slow down ageing

03:15 Can exercise prevent memory loss and improve thinking skills? What exactly happens in the brain when we exercise?

07:44 Minimum exercise duration and/or the number of steps recommended in order to see its health benefits

10:01 Does the intensity of the exercise matter?

11:46 How can exercise help the aged immune system and help the elderly people clear up the Covid-19 virus if they're infected?

Produced by: Joyce Teo (joyceteo@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis and Fa'izah Sani

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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