A recent study showed that exercise just might be your ticket to anti-aging! While this news is exciting, remember these results need to be replicated several times before we can really call exercise an “anti-aging fix”.
Two groups of runners were studied, one group being an average age of 20.4 years and the other being 51.1 years. The older group had about 35 years of training history and averaged about 50 miles of running each week. The younger group averaged about 45 miles of running weekly. Two more groups containing inactive, age-matched individuals were also examined.
Because much is already known about changes in cells as we age researchers were able to identify ant-aging markers. More specifically, we know that telomere length is shortened, as we grow older. However, this study found that the active middle-aged group had only a slight, and insignificant, shortening of telomeres when compared to the younger groups. Of course, both active and inactive subjects in the younger groups had no significant difference in their telomere lengths, as they have not aged. The inactive, middle-aged group had significant shortening of their telomeres, signifying aging.
What does this mean for you and me? Well, we don’t really know yet. I am a very active person, but I do not average 45 or 50 miles of running each week! While running is my main mode of exercise, I enjoy biking and other types of exercise. Is the anti-aging effect the same with all activities? What is the minimum weekly exercise needed to achieve this effect? What is the minimum intensity? These are all questions that stem from this research, and I am sure that researchers will be jumping on these questions quickly! Let’s also keep in mind that this research did not include a large number of subjects. I can’t wait to see where this study leads us!
Motivational Monday:
Whether or not exercise will keep me from aging, I do it because I want to be stronger and more energetic as I age.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYes That's true It's plays a important role in slowing the aging process.in order to reap the anti-aging benefits of exercise, one does not have to be a fanatic.
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It seems the study has raised lots of questions to find answers for, but regardless..I need to get busy and make sure my telomeres stop getting shorter!
ReplyDeleteAgreed that it would be interesting to know if there's a linear association between "amount of exercise" (convert running, biking, etc. to some kind of equivalent unit, like Mets) and anti-aging effects. It's also worth noting that while you can't always guarantee the quality of an article based on where it's published, the fact that it's in Circulation, which is a very high quality journal with a high impact factor, bodes well.
ReplyDeleteExcersie is important but one must remember their gene pool. We might never know our greatgrandmother, but she might be the person who determines how old we look when we are 50.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I am assuming some of those confounders (family history) were accounted for in the analysis. Exercise is a huge anti-anxiety "medication" for me. I can't live without it!
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