Exercise May be Fountain of Youth

Telomeres seen here and the end of DNA strands

From the moment a person is conceived, the cells in the body continue to divide and replicate. Researchers were awarded the Noble Prize in 2009 for their understanding of how a specific part of the DNA in each white blood cells is linked to the aging of individuals.

The component of the DNA is called a telomere, and is something like a cap on the end of each strand of DNA in the cells. Each time the cell replicates, the telomere gets a little shorter. As people reach middle age, the telomeres begin to get too short to keep the DNA in tact and the resulting cells can be damaged or die. This process is believed to be the reason our bodies and organs begin to appear run down and eventually fail. 

Results from researchers at the Saarland University Clinic in Homburg Germany show that exercise may be able to slow the aging process by slowing this shortening effect on the telomeres. In the study, four groups were compared consisting of two groups in their 20’s and two groups in their 40’s to 50’s. When researchers looked at the telomeres for the twenty-something groups, there was expectedly almost no difference in length between the avid runners and the sedentary group. However in the middle aged group, the individuals who ran and exercised regularly had 75 percent longer telomeres than their sedentary counterparts. In fact, the length of the telomeres in the in the group were only about 10 shorter than the younger groups.

Not only was the result visible at the genetic level, but the active middle aged group looked younger than the sedentary groups as well. The study was not conclusive, however, about just how much exercise was necessary for the results. It does appear clear, from the research, that exercise can keep our cells younger and healthier.