Aging effects of pain - Answers needed!

[Lily]

Oh! Oops. Did Jesus really say that? Indulge me, I really am asking seriously.

[Su Lin]

Su!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Thanks for the advice, I guess I want to make sure my insides are in good shape because then the rest falls into place.

? - thanks for that. You seem to be in good shape on the outside but you're young. The effects of what you're doing now (eating poorly, working out too much etc.) are going to show. Don't you want to take control of that? Who told you masturbating is bad?

Hey ! :D I'll let you know what my new regime does to me in terms of ageing ! If I go downhill quickly then you know to avoid heavy training once you hit 30. :shock:

[HappyOldGuy]

Oh! Oops. Did Jesus really say that? Indulge me, I really am asking seriously.

Only about boys, you can pet the kitty all you want.

[Lily]

Right, time to bring this back on track.

I was reading about the decline of production of DHEA (Dehydroepiadrosterone) by the adrenal glands as we age. It seems this could be one of the keys to how we age and when the process starts accelerating in our bodies. Will see if I can find any credible articles on this.

[tyciol]

While you can have positive adaptations to training and some microtrauma (muscle growth, bone remodeling) I do think overall training and injuries do age you in some minor ways. There is confusing research as to whether higher metabolisms from exercise/recovery are beneficial or not. On one hand it can eat up damaged molecules, on the other it does create more free radicals, so there seem to be pros and cons.

With injuries, you're creating scar tissue and stuff so it causes some trouble there, which is why so many due fascial work to try and remove some of that stuff. I'm not familiar with how the nervous system/organs respond to this kind of stress unfortunately.

Statements like 'exercise makes you younger' are not true though, it's too generic. It depends on what you're doing (intensity) relative to your current level of health. There's probably some sort of bell curve as to how much is beneficial.

[SentWest]

Does pain, from the various injuries we incur during training, place stress on the nervous sytem and thus accelerate the process of ageing (of internal organs, skin, joints etc.)?

Under the caveat that you’re not mistreating injuries, I’d say that the health benefits vastly outweigh any potential undue pain causes, especially for us females trying to prevent osteoporosis.

You were concerned about the stress on the nervous system. Interestingly enough exercise is suggested to assist treatment for a number of neurological as well as psychological conditions. (But I preach to the choir.)

Anyhow, I have a somewhat off-topic but interesting theory that some chronic pain conditions, like fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, are the result of a nervous system that is oversensitive to “normal” levels of musculoskeletal pain due to being underexposed to the increased discomfort we undergo when training regularly. So more exposure to “healthy” pain should actually raise the pain threshold.

I have no particular evidence for this besides my theory and my own experience going from completely sedentary to extremely active. Research grants gladly accepted.