American "body" A new study in sports and Exercise Medicine found that exercise is critical to preventing aging, especially in people aged 40~65.
telomere is a "small cap" at the end of DNA chain, which can protect DNA from damage during cell division and replication. In addition to natural aging of cells, telomeres will also accelerate, shorten and wear out due to unhealthy lifestyles such as obesity, smoking, insomnia and diabetes. According to research theory, telomere length is related to the longevity of human beings. Previous studies have found that athletes have longer telomeres than their peers.
this study was completed by University of Mississippi and University of Calif San Francisco. The researchers analyzed data on some 6500 people who participated in the national health and nutrition survey, aged 20 and ~84. Participants answered a series of health problems each year, completed a personal health test, and provided a blood sample to detect telomere length. The researchers divided them into four groups according to the participants' answers. The questions include whether the weight exercises have been carried out in the past month, whether there is a moderate exercise such as walking, or not, whether they are engaged in strenuous exercise such as running or not, whether to walk or ride to work or go to school. Each participant answers a question of "yes". The researchers compared the scores with their telomere length and found that the risk of telomere shortening decreased significantly as they scored one more point. Specifically, participants who participated in a sport had a less than 3% lower probability of a shorter telomeres than those who did not exercise; the probability of a shorter telomere was 24%, 29% and 59%, respectively, for two, three, and four sports.
Paul lope Lynch suggested that the study confirmed that exercise at the age of 40~65 was important because it was the key period to avoid telomere atrophy, while slowing down the wear rate of cell telomere could delay cell aging, and the more types of exercise, the better. Next, researchers will learn more about the optimal amount of telomere protection.