Tanaka H, Seals D R
Department of Kinesiology, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309, USA.
J Appl Physiol (1985). 1997 Mar;82(3):846-51. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1997.82.3.846.
One experimental approach to studying the effects of aging on physiological functional capacity in humans is to analyze the peak exercise performance of highly trained athletes with increasing age. To gain insight into the relationships among age, gender, and exercise task duration with use of this model, we performed a 5-yr (1991-1995) retrospective analysis of top freestyle performance times from the US Masters Swimming Championships. Regression analysis showed that in both men and women endurance swimming performance (i.e., 1,500 m) declined linearly from peak levels at age 35-40 yr until approximately 70 yr of age, whereupon performance declined exponentially thereafter. In both genders, the variability among the top 10 winning times in each 5-yr age interval increased markedly with advancing age. Compared with the 1,500-m freestyle, performance in the 50-m freestyle (short-duration task) showed only a modest decline until ages 75 and 80 yr in women and men, respectively. The rate and magnitude of the declines in both short- and long-duration swimming performance with age were significantly (P < 0.05) greater in women than in men. In the women, the percent decline in swimming performance over a 50-yr age period from the 19- to 24-yr to the 69- to 74-yr age groups became progressively greater from the shortest distance (50 m) to the two longest distances (800 and 1,500 m), whereas in men, no differences were observed in the magnitude of performance decline with age among the five longest distance events (i.e., 100-1,500 m). The percent gender difference in performance throughout the age range studied became progressively smaller (P < 0.05) with increasing distance from 50 m (19 +/- 1%) to 1,500 m (11 +/- 1%). The findings in this cross-sectional study indicate that from peak levels at age 35-40 yr, physiological functional capacity, as assessed by swimming performance, decreases linearly until approximately 70-80 yr of age, whereupon the decline becomes exponential. Moreover, the rate of decline with advancing age appears to be associated with event duration and gender.
一种研究衰老对人类生理功能能力影响的实验方法是分析训练有素的运动员随着年龄增长的运动表现峰值。为了通过该模型深入了解年龄、性别和运动任务持续时间之间的关系，我们对美国成人游泳锦标赛自由泳最佳成绩进行了为期5年（1991 - 1995年）的回顾性分析。回归分析表明，男性和女性的耐力游泳成绩（即1500米）在35 - 40岁达到峰值水平后呈线性下降，直至约70岁，此后成绩呈指数下降。在两个性别中，每个5年年龄区间内前10名获胜成绩的变异性随着年龄增长显著增加。与1500米自由泳相比，50米自由泳（短持续时间任务）的成绩在女性和男性分别到75岁和80岁之前仅略有下降。随着年龄增长，短距离和长距离游泳成绩下降的速率和幅度在女性中显著（P < 0.05）大于男性。在女性中，从19 - 24岁到69 - 74岁的50年年龄跨度内，游泳成绩下降的百分比从最短距离（50米）到两个最长距离（800米和1500米）逐渐增大，而在男性中，五个最长距离项目（即100 - 1500米）中成绩随年龄下降的幅度没有差异。在所研究的整个年龄范围内，随着距离从50米（19 ± 1%）增加到1500米（11 ± 1%），成绩的性别差异百分比逐渐减小（P < 0.05）。这项横断面研究的结果表明，从35 - 40岁的峰值水平开始，通过游泳成绩评估的生理功能能力呈线性下降，直至约70 - 80岁，此后下降变为指数形式。此外，随着年龄增长的下降速率似乎与项目持续时间和性别有关。
