Aging Backwards_10 Years Lighter and 10 Years Younger in 30 Minutes a Day

by Miranda Esmonde-White

The smallest movements will start the fountain of youth flowing throughout our veins!

  Life is programmed to live.

  Life is created to live.

  Life does not surrender easily.

  We can be strong

  If we choose to be strong.

  We can be energetic

  If we choose to be energetic.

  We can be pain-free

  If we choose to be pain-free.

  We can be independent

  If we choose to be independent.

  But if we choose all that, we must choose to move.

  We must choose to exercise!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Although the actual writing of a book is very solitary, the truth is that it impossible to write a book of this nature without a great deal of assistance. Some authors do all the work and rightfully should receive all the credit. However, in the case of Aging Backwards, there are many people who deserve acknowledgment and thanks for their valuable contributions.

  There have been many editors for this manuscript but the first brave soul to clean up the book was Philip Clark, who gets special credit for taking a sharp scalpel to my rambling text and turning it into beautiful prose.

  A book of this nature requires hours of research and acquisition of legal rights for the different scientific studies and charts that we have quoted and used throughout the book. Lynda Whyte, Melissa Tran, and Annabel Tory, all very talented and remarkable women, have worked side by side over many months to acquire the needed material.

  I’d also like to mention that Annabel’s impressive organizational skills made a very complex photo shoot seem simple and easy. I would be remiss not to thank Annabel for taking over the official editing scalpel for cutting more repeated thoughts and overlong sentences. And I also want to thank Sydney Pierce at HarperWave for her hard work making sure every photo and everything else was sewn up tight and ready for publication.

  Finding models for photography can be easy—but finding the right model is not so easy. We were very lucky that James Gadon agreed to model for the photos in the book. James is a former hockey player and recent Classical Stretch/ESSENTRICS instructor. I think he did an outstanding job in clearly demonstrating the exercises in this book.

  Writing a book, even a very good book, is one thing, but actually being able to introduce it to major publishers is a whole other obstacle. I have noticed that authors tend to gush about their agents and now I know why. A good agent is indeed worth gushing about, and Ryan Fisher is tops in his field. I would like to thank my lucky stars that I met Ryan, who had faith in Aging Backwards and the ability to introduce it to the correct people. I am very grateful for his patience and encouragement and mostly for his hard work and intelligence in guiding Aging Backwards into the hands of HarperWave, the American and worldwide publisher, and Random House, its Canadian publisher.

  Now I am tempted to start an embarrassing amount of thanks and gushing. What would a book do without publishers who understand the needs and tastes of their readers? I am so grateful to both my publishers: Julie Will, executive editor at HarperWave, the worldwide publisher of Aging Backwards; and Anne Collins at Random House, the Canadian publisher. Julie believed in the book so strongly that she recruited the ghostwriting talents of Mariska van Aalst. Between the two of them, they took on the role of book doctor and rewrote the book so that you, the reader, could easily enjoy and access the knowledge on its pages. Thanks to Mariska and Julie, it is a pleasure to read. Again, I must gush, thanking Anne Collins, vice president of Random House Canada, not only for publishing Aging Backwards in Canada but for also actually doing the workouts on a daily basis and seeing firsthand how these exercises have helped her age backwards. There is no greater honor for me than to have these three amazing women in my corner.

  Finally, I’d like to thank my daughter, Sahra, and my mother for their love, encouragement, and support throughout the long years of developing ESSENTRICS. Being able to share its success with them has made the experience so much more enjoyable. ESSENTRICS really is the child of three generations of Esmonde-White women. I am so grateful that Sahra finally persuaded me to write this book. Over these years, she has witnessed how inspired both friends and strangers were after hearing me lecture on Aging Backwards. It took her a long time to convince me, but now I am extremely grateful that she never stopped pushing. Sahra has always been my greatest cheerleader, believing that this was a story that would help and inspire many people to live healthier and happier lives.

  NOTES

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  3.R. E. Van Pelt, F. A. Dinneno, D. R. Seals, and P. P. Jones. “Age-related decline in RMR in physically active men: relation to exercise volume and energy intake,” Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, September 2001: 281(3):E633–39. PubMed PMID: 11500320.

  4.M. A. Tarnopolsky. “ACSM Exchange Lecture: Exercise as a countermeasure for aging—from mice to humans,” American Medical Society for Sports Medicine 23rd annual meeting, April 6, 2014, New Orleans, http://www.amssm.org/Content/pdf%20files/2014_AM-Brochure.pdf; http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/younger-skin-through-exercise/.

  5.A. P. Wroblewski, F. Amati, M. A. Smiley, B. Goodpaster, and V. Wright, “Chronic exercise preserves lean muscle mass in masters athletes,” Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, The Physician and Sportsmedicine, April 25, 2011: 171(8), web.

  6.E. Weiderpass. “Lifestyle and cancer risk,” J Prev Med Public Health, November 2010: 43(6):459–71. doi: 10.3961/jpmph.2010.43.6.459. PubMed PMID: 21139406.

  7.R. F. Hamman, R. R. Wing, S. L. Edelstein, J. M. Lachin, G. A. Bray, L. Delahanty, M. Hoskin, A. M. Kriska, E. J. Mayer-Davis, X. Pi-Sunyer, J. Regensteiner, B. Venditti, and J. Wylie-Rosett. “Effect of weight loss with lifestyle intervention on risk of diabetes,” Diabetes Care, September 2006: 29(9):2102–7. PubMed PMID: 16936160; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1762038.

  8.M. J. Stampfer, F. B. Hu, J. E. Manson, E. B. Rimm, and W. C. Willett. “Primary prevention of coronary heart disease in women through diet and lifestyle,” N Engl J Med, July 6, 2000: 343(1):16–22. PubMed PMID: 10882764.

  9.A. Wroblewski, F. Amati, M. Smiley, B. Goodpaster, and V. Wright. “Chronic exercise preserves lean muscle mass in masters athletes,” The Physician and Sports Medicine, 2011: 39(3), 172–78.

  10.See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16677099.

  11.See http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2013/03/minutes-exercise-longer-life; S. C. Moore, A. V. Patel, C. E. Matthews, A. Berrington de Gonzalez, Y. Park, H. A. Katki, M. S. Linet, E. Weiderpass, K. Visvanathan, K. J. Helzlsouer, M. Thun, S. M. Gapstur, P. Hartge, and I. M. Lee. “Leisure time physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity and mortality: a large pooled cohort analysis,” PLoS Med, 2012: 9(11):e1001335. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001335. Epub November 6, 2012. PubMed PMID: 23139642; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3491006.

  12.A. R. Brooks-Wilson. “Genetics of healthy aging and longevity,” Human Genetics, December 2013: 132, Issue 12, pp. 1323-38.

  13.NIH. “Mitochondria: cellular power plants. Chapter 1: An owner’s guide to the cell: inside the cell,” http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/insidethecell/chapter1.html#6.

  14.“Tocris bioscience.” Apoptosis. http://www.tocris.com/pharmacologicalBrowser.php?ItemId=187886#.U2eGRyhr204

  15.A. G. Renehan, C. Booth, and C. S. Potten. “What is apoptosis, and why is it important?” BMJ, June 23, 2001: 322(7301):1536-38. Review. PubMed PMID: 11420279; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1120576.

  16.T. Finkel. “Telomeres and mitochondrial function.” Circ
Res, April 15, 2011: 108(8):903–4. doi: 10.1161/RES.0b013e31821bc2d8. PubMed PMID: 21493920; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3747515.

  17.J. C. Kovacic, P. Moreno, V. Hachinski, E. G. Nabel, and V. Fuster. “Cellular senescence, vascular disease, and aging: part 1 of a 2-part review,” Circulation, April 19, 2011: 123(15):1650–60. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.110.007021. Review. PubMed PMID: 21502583.

  18.Renehan et al. “What is apoptosis, and why is it important?”

  19.NIH, “The last chapter: cell aging and death. Chapter 5: Inside the cell.” http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/insidethecell/chapter5.html

  20.D. F. Dai, P. S. Rabinovitch, and Z. Ungvari. “Mitochondria and cardiovascular aging,” Circ Res, April 13, 2012: 110(8):1109-24. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.111.246140. Review. PubMed PMID: 22499901; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3867977.

  21.T. Finkel. “Telomeres and mitochondrial function,” Circ Res, April 15, 2011: 108(8):903–4. doi: 10.1161/RES.0b013e31821bc2d8. PubMed PMID: 21493920; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3747515.

  22.NIH, “The last chapter: cell aging and death.”

  23.A. M. Molnar, S. Servais, M. Guichardant, M. Lagarde, D. Macedo, L. Pereira-Da-Silva, B. Sibille, and R. Favier. “Mitochondrial H2O2 production is reduced with acute and chronic eccentric exercise in rat skeletal muscle,” Antioxid Redox Signal, March–April 2006: 8(3–4):548-58. PubMed PMID: 16677099.

  24.R. David. “Ageing: mitochondria and telomeres come together,” Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, April 2011: 12(4):204. doi: 10.1038/nrm3082. Epub March 16, 2011. PubMed PMID: 21407239.

  25.I. R. Lanza and K. S. Nair. “Mitochondrial function as a determinant of life span,” Pflugers Arch, January 2010: 459(2):277-89. doi: 10.1007/s00424-009-0724-5. Epub September 11, 2009. Review. PubMed PMID: 19756719; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2801852.

  26.A. T. Ludlow, J. B. Zimmerman, S. Witkowski, J. W. Hearn, B. D. Hatfield, and S. M. Roth. “Relationship between physical activity level, telomere length, and telomerase activity,” Med Sci Sports Exerc, October 2008: 40(10):1764–71. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e31817c92aa. PubMed PMID: 18799986; PubMed Central PMCID:PMC2581416.

  27.S. A. Wolf, A. Melnik, and G. Kempermann. “Physical exercise increases adult neurogenesis and telomerase activity, and improves behavioral deficits in a mouse model of schizophrenia,” Brain Behav Immun, July 2011: 25(5):971–80. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2010.10.014. Epub October 21, 2010. PubMed PMID: 20970493.

  28.Lanza and Nair. “Mitochondrial function as a determinant of life span.”

  29.C. Werner, T. Fürster, T. Widmann, J. Pöss, C. Roggia, M. Hanhoun, J. Scharhag, N. Büchner, T. Meyer, W. Kindermann, J. Haendeler, M. Böhm, and U. Laufs. “Physical exercise prevents cellular senescence in circulating leukocytes and in the vessel wall,” Circulation, December 15, 2009: 120(24):2438–47. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.861005. Epub. PubMed PMID: 19948976.

  30.Wroblewski et al. “Chronic exercise preserves lean muscle mass in masters athletes.”

  31.K. Meyer, R. Steiner, P. Lastayo, K. Lippuner, Y. Allemann, F. Eberli, J. Schmid, H. Saner, and H. Hoppeler. “Eccentric exercise in coronary patients: central hemodynamic and metabolic responses,” Med Sci Sports Exerc, July 2003: 35(7):1076–82. PubMed PMID: 12840625.

  32.J. K. Nelson and K. Zeratsky. “Do you have sitting disease?” July 25, 2012: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-blog/sitting-disease/bgp-20056238.

  33.C. E. Matthews, K. Y. Chen, P. S. Freedson, M. S. Buchowski, B. M. Beech, R. R. Pate, and R. P. Troiano. “Amount of time spent in sedentary behaviors in the United States, 2003–2004,” Am J Epidemiol, April 1, 2008: 167(7):875–81. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwm390. Epub February 25, 2008. PubMed PMID: 18303006; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3527832.

  34.H. Langevin. “The effect of stretching on connective tissue: from tai chi to acupuncture,” National Institutes of Health (NIH), NIH Record, November 23, 2012: 64(24), web.

  35.M. A. Tarnopolsky. “Mitochondrial DNA shifting in older adults following resistance exercise training,” Appl Physiol Nutr Metab, June 2009: 34(3):348–54. doi: 10.1139/H09–022. Review. PubMed PMID: 19448697.

  36.M. Esmonde-White. The Principles of Essentrics Program, self-published, 2007.

  37.H. Bronnum-Hansen, K. Juel, M. Davidsen, and J. Sorensen. “Impact of selected risk factors on expected lifetime without long-standing, limiting illness in Denmark,” Prev. Med (2007): 45, 49–53.

  38.Tarnopolsky. “ACSM Exchange Lecture: Exercise as a countermeasure for aging—from mice to humans.”

  39.C. Robb-Nicholson, MD. “The health benefits of tai chi,” Harvard Medical School, Harvard Women’s Health Watch, May 2009: www.health.harvard.edu.

  40.G. Y. Yeh, MD, MPH; E. P. McCarthy, PhD; P. M. Wayne, PhD; L. W. Stevenson, MD; M. J. Wood, MD; D. Forman, MD; R. B. Davis, ScD; R. S. Phillips, MD. “Tai chi exercise in patients with chronic heart failure, a randomized clinical trial,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Arch Intern Med, April 25, 2011: 171(8): 750–57, web.

  41.K. Steib, I. Schäffner, R. Jagasia, B. Ebert, and D. C. Lie. “Mitochondria modify exercise-induced development of stem cell-derived neurons in the adult brain,” J Neurosci, May 7, 2014: 34(19):6624–33. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4972-13.2014. PubMed PMID: 24806687.

  42.J. C. Smith, K. A. Nielson, J. L. Woodard, M. Seidenberg, S. Durgerian, K. E. Hazlett, C. M. Figueroa, C. C. Kandah, C. D. Kay, M. A. Matthews, and S. M. Rao. “Physical activity reduces hippocampal atrophy in elders at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” Front Aging Neurosci, April 23, 2014: 6:61. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00061. eCollection 2014. PubMed PMID: 24795624; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4005962.

  43.J. A. Mortimer, D. Ding, A. R. Borenstein, C. DeCarli, Q. Guo, Y. Wu, Q. Zhao, and S. Chu. “Changes in brain volume and cognition in a randomized trial of exercise and social interaction in a community-based sample of non-demented Chinese elders,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, IOS Press, March 26, 2012: 30(4).

  44.Ibid.

  45.Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, June 19-22, 1946: signed on July 22, 1946 by the representatives of 61 states (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on April 7, 1948.

  46.Esmonde-White. The Principles of Essentrics Program.

  47.M. Roig, K. Skriver, et al. “A single bout of exercise improves motor memory,” PLoS One. 2012: 7(9): e44594. Published online September 4, 2012. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044594 PMCID: PMC3433433.

  INDEX

  The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.

  ABC Exercise, 96

  Aging, 32–33, 49, 78

  and bones, 111

  choice, 1

  and muscle mass, 35

  myth of, 1–10

  Alzheimer’s disease, 14, 93–94

  American Society for Sports Medicine, 89

  Ankles, 52–54, 65

  exercises, 172, 253

  Apoptosis, 30

  Arm exercises, 156–57, 177, 201–2, 234–35, 246, 257

  Arthritis, 65, 201

  healing, 109–10

  hip, exercises for, 182

  types, 109

  Athletes, 104

  recommendations for, 105

  Athletic support devices, 104–6

  Atrophy, 37–40, 49, 51, 73, 75, 123, 169, 225

  and broken bones, 38

  and cell death, 40

  pain, 43

  risk factors, 40

  and sedentary lifestyle, 38

  signs of, 39

  stages, 38

  symptoms, 40, 43

  Baby Stretch, 129

  Back muscles, 65

  disks, 114

  pain, healing, 114–15

  spasms, 114

  Back pain, 65, 73

  exercises for, 183, 200, 217–19

  Balance,
94–95

  balancing the body in exercise, 121

  exercises for, 221–23

  Balanced body, 65

  Ballet dancers vs. football players, 59

  Barre Footwork, 188–89

  Bissonnette, Anik, 63–64

  Blood

  flow, 101–2, 107

  pressure, 14

  sugar, 14

  Body awareness, 103

  Bones

  broken, 65

  exercises for protecting, 243–61

  make up of, 110

  relationship with muscles, 244

  Brain

  cells, 14

  growth, 2

  plasticity, 2

  Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), 93

  Breast cancer, 74

  Bruises, 65

  Calf and Soleus, 209

  Calf exercises, 188–89, 190, 191, 209

  Calf Stretch Sequence, 190

  Cancer, 14

  Cardiovascular health, 14, 88–91

  and muscles, 88–91

  Cartilage, 47, 48

  Ceiling Reaches, 126

  Cells, 21–27

  anatomy, 22

  apoptosis, 30

  cellular atrophy, 27

  cytoplasm, 22

  importance of, 21–22

  life span, 29–33

  mitochondria, 22–25, 31

  mitochondria, loss of, 146

  mitochondria and atrophy, 38

  nucleus, 22

  organelles, 22

  oxidation, 30–31

  repair and death, 33–37

  telomeres, 31–32

  Chair Stretch for the Psoas, 204–5

  Chair Triceps, 257

  Chair Work for Hips, 203

  Chest exercises, 131–35

  Choices, making, 19

  Cholesterol, 14

  Chores as exercise, 78–79

  Chronic diseases, 14

  Chronic pain, 17

  Circular movements, 121

  Circulation, 88–89

  Circulatory system, 88–89

  Classical Stretch, 6–9, 63–64, 73, 90, 169

  Cleveland Clinic, 93–94

  Clock, 228–29

  Cochrane Database Systemic Reviews, 90