Case in point: whole-body vibration.
We’ve reported on this fascinating alternative treatment before. When you stand on a whole-body vibrating plate, what you are doing may not look like exercise. After all, to undergo this treatment you don’t have to move, you don’t have to go to a gym – all you have to do is stand still on a small platform while it shakes you from head to toe.
But while it seems effortless, research shows that this simple activity can strengthen your body and fight the effects of aging.
As described, whole-body vibration merely consists of standing on a vibrating platform that sends vibrations through your entire body.
When your body vibrates on one of these platforms, the energy of the vibrations moves through your tissues and causes your muscles to contract and then relax multiple times per second. As this occurs, people on the platform can feel that they are exerting themselves.
Growing research demonstrates that these vibrations yield significant health benefits. By using a vibrating plate, you can experience a dramatic improvement in the way your body feels and functions as you age.Relief for digestive distress and constipation One of the main difficulties that may plague you as you age is the faltering function of your digestive tract. Ailments like bloating, indigestion, constipation, and stomach upsets can arise more frequently as you get older.
But the science shows that whole body vibration can help how your digestive tract behaves.
For example, a two-week study in Asia on folks with chronic constipation shows that three sessions a week (15 minutes each session) of whole-body vibration is capable of “reducing symptom severity in patients with chronic functional constipation.”1 One of the possible ways that the vibrations may accomplish a reduction in this “symptom severity” is by improving the types of probiotics – beneficial bacteria – that live in the intestines. A study that looked at these bacteria in both animals and humans found that using the vibrating platform increases the type of good micro-organisms that both support better immunity and can support better intestinal health.2 The researchers involved in this study report that using the platform increased types of good bacteria that are often depleted in folks suffering irritable bowel syndrome. Plus, it helps improve the function of the body’s immune cells as well.Protects against dangerous falls These types of vibrations are also used to help folks recover more quickly from ankle injuries. Tests show that it stimulates muscle spindles (cells in muscles that signal the brain about what muscles are doing) and “improves muscle strength, power, joint proprioception, balance, and flexibility.” Those benefits reduce the chances of suffering life-threatening falls and help keep you better able to get around as you age.3 And this is just the beginning of how these vibrations can help you dodge some of the aches and complaints that can lie in wait for you with the passing years. Other benefits of whole-body vibration include:
- Keeping your memory and thinking abilities going strong: Research in the Netherlands indicates that vibrating can significantly improve your attention span.4 Another study shows it increases your brain’s speed at processing information.5 And other research demonstrates that it improves spatial memory.6
- Improving heart health: A study in the Middle East shows that doing vibration therapy after weight-lifting lowers blood pressure.7 Research in Japan indicates that vibrating makes arteries more flexible and decreases unhealthy vessel stiffness.8
- Helping you recover from a stroke: Research at the University of Miami demonstrates that these vibrations accelerate cognitive recovery after a stroke, can reduce brain inflammation and increase blood levels of irisin, a hormone secreted by the muscles that can improve brain metabolism.
- Relieving lower back pain: Research in the Middle East found that using a whole-body vibrating platform is effective for easing back pain, increasing core muscle strength, and improving the ability to do physical labor.
- Helping you lose weight: If you are already dieting and exercising to lose weight, adding whole-body vibration can help you lose pounds along with body fat, and keep it off. A study in Belgium shows that combining the vibrations with aerobic exercise is more effective at eliminating visceral fat (fat around your organs) than aerobic exercise alone.9
- Supporting better health in people who are extremely overweight: A study in Asia that involved 40 obese women demonstrates that a 12-week program of using a vibrating plate five times a week for 30 minutes at a time improved heart health and made body fat less inflammatory – and therefore less of a threat to health.
While not a replacement for exercise, the science shows that adding brief vibration sessions to your regular physical activity is worth it. What’s more, vibrating platforms have become far more affordable over the last five years. You can buy a vibrating platform for between $100 and $250. The health benefits could turn out to be priceless.
Best Regards,
The Aging Defeated Team
1 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22966839 2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6895539/ 3 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37685802/ 4 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24949870/ 5 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30574028/ 6 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35126091/ 7 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33991471/ 8 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18462269/ 9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20484941/
