Exercise intensity: the key to prevention of chronic disease?

Age-related inflammation and body composition changes occur independently of chronic disease, and are thought to be causative in the development and progression of chronic diseases with the highest morbidity and mortality implications. This includes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia. Aerobic exercise is able to reduce chronic concentrations of systemic inflammatory biomarkers, and improve health-related body composition in older adults.

However, it is presently unknown whether higher intensity exercise is able to elicit greater improvement in chronic inflammation and body composition among healthy older adults. Our investigation aims to establish whether high-intensity interval training (HIIT) evokes greater improvement in chronic inflammation and body composition over current moderate-intensity physical activity guidelines in healthy older adults. This study will be the first to investigate the effect of exercise intensity on chronic inflammation in healthy older adults.

Funding Body: This research project is a collaboration between The School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences (CRExPAH) and the Queensland Brain Institute within the University of Queensland (Professor Perry Bartlett, Emeritus Professor)

This research is funded by the Stafford Fox Medical Research Foundation and Sports Medicine Australia.