The pain relieving expert is asked: “Is there anything I can do to minimise the phases of illness or prevent them from occurring in the first place and even delay the time of death? Is there a dietary supplement?
“You can ask questions. 
Oh my gosh. Something you can use to increase your own resistance, optimise your body’s internal processes and thus live a longer carefree life. Something like that?”
Exactly.
“Yes. There is. One of the best preventive ‘medicines’ is physical activity.”
“It’s able to improve or even reverse a whole host of common diseases, including mental health problems, diabetes and heart disease.”
Sport?? Really? There are thousands of things I can do. How much exercise is enough? And which sport is the most effective when it comes to toughening up?
“There are no binding rules here, but studies offer some valuable hints and guidelines in this case. Here it is shown that mini-workouts are just as effective for prolonging your life as longer, more specific fitness programmes. That means the life-extending benefits of physical activity are just as effective whether you do them in one concentrated session or with short bursts throughout the day.”
Exciting.
“Studies have also shown that 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week (22 minutes per day), reduced the risk of death by 31% during the 14-year study period – compared to those who did not exercise. Equally exciting, this study did not distinguish between intentional exercise such as brisk walking and unintentional activities such as vacuuming or climbing stairs. Every activity counts. In other words – move your butt. “
So the activity doesn’t matter. I see. Is it still possible to increase it?
“You can. Sure. If instead of moderate activity I just throw a few extra shovels of coal on the fire 2 – 3 times a week. And 2-3 times a week I really go into high frequency and high intensity for 10 minutes, the so-called HIIT training.”
Why?
“The body has three different types of muscle fibres: slow, fast and super fast. Only the super-fast muscle fibres influence the production of HGH, also known as “the fitness hormone”, which is crucial for strength, health and longevity. And HIIT training, or high impact, high frequency training, even for a relatively short period of time, effectively activates these super fast fibres.”
Wouldn’t have thought so. Thank you very much.
