Has a fountain of youth been discovered in our modern age? With all the prescription pills and scientific leaps and bounds we have gained in our recent era, not a single magic pill can halt or reverse the slow, persistent march of age on our hearts and on our minds. But there is one guarantee that will reverse and accelerate aging and it is not in a sugar-coated little pill.
It is already known that a sedentary lifestyle increases the likelihood of scumming to age-related diseases and premature death like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. But a recent British study that examined 2401 Caucasian twins found that those engaged in an active lifestyle were biologically 9 years younger than those who were not.
The culprit appears to be the length of telomeres. Telomeres appear at the end of chromosomes and act like a lit fuse on a stick of dynamite. When the telomere shortens and eventually expires, the cell auto-destructs. the consequence of this is aging.
The study showed telomere length as being longer in those twins who where physically active (breaking a sweat) at least 3 hours per week. Similar results were found when comparing twins who were physically active to lesser degrees.
The conclusion is that a lifestyle which lacks physical exercise and activity prematurely shortens cellular lifespans, and thus leads to poor health, premature death and age-related diseases. In order to delay the aging process, I recommend breaking a sweat for 30 minutes each day as a result of moderately intense physical activity. Not only will you live a longer, healthier life, your psychological stress will be reduced. This is something we can all use a little less of in our lives.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine.
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