Regular exercise does keep you healthier as you get older, and some new research gives us the reason why at the cellular level.
Elite runners who took part in the research had cells that looked very much younger when examined under the microscope. Exercising every day not only helps with maintaining your weight, but also tones your body, improves your skin, strengthens your bones and muscles while promoting better sleep and mood, a stronger immune system and helping you feel more relaxed.
The team measured the length of telomeres, the DNA at either end of the chromosome – you might think of it like that piece on the ends of shoelaces that keeps them from unraveling, only in this case the telomeres are protecting the chromosomes that bear genes when cells divide.
At each cell division, telomeres get shorter and when they get too short a cell stops dividing and dies off.
Experts now suspect that telomere shortening is an important part of the aging process, and may also put us at risk of diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
In the animal phase of the research mice who ran on a running wheel for as little as three weeks demonstrated evidence of telomere-stabilizing proteins that protect against cell death.
In the human phase of the study, middle aged pro athletes who ran almost 50 miles a week, and had been doing so for many years, were seen to have longer telomeres than healthy, age matched controls who didn’t exercise regularly.
It’s no surprise then that the athletes had slow resting heart rates, lower blood pressure and less body fat along with those longer telomeres. “This is the first time it has been shown at the molecular level that exercising has an antiaging effect on the cardiovascular system,” explains lead researcher Ulrich Laufs MD, a professor of clinical and experimental medicine at Homburg’s Saarland University.
A spokesman for the American Heart Association, Barry Franklin, Ph.D. calls the study “phenomenal” going on to say that, “In many respects, I think this is a blockbuster study that complements research in twins published last year.”
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Exercise Benefits At A Molecular Level Continued…
That work suggested that exercise, rather than genetics, might be more important to keeping people young.
In fact, telomere length was related to activity level. When one twin was inactive, and the other active, the active twin usually had longer telomeres. Those who did the most exercise had telomeres of just about the same length as people who were inactive, but up to ten years younger.
“In both studies, active people had cells that were measurably younger than inactive people,” Franklin says. “This striking finding may explain how exercise helps prevent heart attacks, diabetes and other degenerative diseases.”
What’s truly encouraging is that the research isn’t calling for grueling physical workouts, but rather a few hours of moderate to vigorous activity each week should be enough. You don’t need to run marathons, or do 50-mile distances weekly to get the benefits of exercise – especially the antiaging ones.
Both studies appear in the December 15, 2009 issue of the journal Circulation from the American Heart Association.
Daily Health Bulletin
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