I understand the benefit in regards to healthy weight and avoiding atrophy, but in general, the more something (inanimate) is used, the faster it will wear out. Why is this different for humans? Does it have to do with cell regeneration or turnover that is increased the more active we are?
In: Biology
Working out improves the strength of your muscles by tearing them down and rebuilding them. Being active helps with this for your entire body, replacing old cells with new, stronger ones.
Stronger cells around your body have obvious effects in combating the effects of old age. A stronger heart helps to mitigate heart disease. Stronger muscles and bones prevent muscular atrophy and osteoporosis to a certain degree. Having something to do improves your brain also which in turn makes negative changes to the brain less meaningful. e.g. the cognitive reserve hypothesis for alzheimers
Yes.
Inanimates objects don’t self-repair themselves when they get wear down, humans do. When you’re active you do make the wear down faster, but it’s still within acceptable range so all it does is pushing a bit to prioritize self-healing functions. And since the human body can adapt to changes to living conditions to a certain extent, over time your body adapt to sustain that enhanced level of self-heaing. The wear down itself also help with mitigate aging, since what got wear down first is old cells. By being active, you get rid of older cells and boost the creation of newer cells, therefore mitigate aging.
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