Chev Wilkinson/Getty Images
Even 'mo strikin' wuz what wuz goin' on beneath those deceptively youthful surfaces, man. When da scientists examined white blood cells from each of they subjects, they found dat da cells in both da active 'n slothful young adults had similar-size telomeres n' shit. Telomeres be tiny caps on da end of DNA strands — da discovery of they function won several scientists da 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine, man. When cells divide 'n replicate these long strands of DNA, da telomere cap be snipped, a process dat be believed to protect da rest of da DNA but leaves an increasingly abbreviated telomere, man. Eventually, if a cell’s telomeres become 'n all short, da cell ‘‘eitha dies or enters a kind of suspended state,’’ says Stephen Roth, an associate professor of kinesiology at da University of Maryland who be studyin' exercise 'n telomeres n' shit. Most researchers now accept telomere length as a reliable marka of cell age, man. In general, da shorta da telomere, da functionally olda 'n 'mo tired da cell, know what I'm sayin'?
It’s not surprising, then, dat da young subjects’ telomeres wuz about da same length, whetha they ran exhaustively or sat around all day, know what I'm sayin'? None of 'em had been on earth long enough fo multiple cell divisions to has snipped away at they telomeres, man. Da young neva appreciate robust telomere length until they’ve lost it, know what I'm sayin'?
When da researchers measured telomeres in da middle-aged subjects, however, da situation wuz quite different, know what I'm sayin'? Da sedentary olda subjects had telomeres dat wuz on average 40 percent shorta than in da sedentary young subjects, suggestin' dat da olda subjects’ cells were, like them, aging, man. Da runners, on da otha hand, had remarkably youthful telomeres, a bit shorta than those in da young runners, but only by about 10 percent, man. In general, telomere loss wuz reduced by approximately 75 percent in da agin' runners n' shit. Or, to put dat shit 'mo succinctly, exercise, Dr, know what I'm sayin'? Werna says, ‘‘at da molecular level has an anti-agin' effect.’’
There be plenty of reasons to exercise — in dis column, I’ve pointed out 'mo than a few — but da effect dat regular activity may has on cellular agin' could turn out to be da most profound n' shit. ‘‘It’s pretty excitin' stuff,’’ says Thomas LaRocca, a Ph.D, man. candidate in da department of integrative physiology at da University of Colorado in Boulder, who has just completed a new study echoin' Werner’s findings, know what I'm sayin'? In There be countless unanswered questions about how 'n why activity affects da DNA, know what I'm sayin'? For instance, Dr, know what I'm sayin'? Werna found dat tha dude's olda runners had 'mo activity in they telomerase, a cellular enzyme thought to aid in lengthenin' 'n protectin' telomeres, know what I'm sayin'? Exercise may be affectin' telomerase activity 'n not telomeres directly n' shit. In addition, Stephen Roth has been measurin' telomeres 'n telomerase activity in a wide variety of tissues in mice 'n has found, tha dude says, da protective effects from exercise only in some tissues, know what I'm sayin'?
Anotha question be whetha we gots to run 50 miles a week to benefit n' shit. Da answa ‘‘can only be speculative at da moment,’’ Dr n' shit. Werna says, although since tha dude jogs much less than that, tha dude probably joins da rest of us in hopin' not, know what I'm sayin'? Given tha dude's 'n tha dude's colleagues’ data, ‘‘one could speculate,’’ tha dude concludes, ‘‘that any form of intense exercise dat be regularly performed ova a long period of time’’ gots to improve ‘‘telomere biology,’’ meanin' dat wid enough activity, each of us could outpace da passin' years.
An earlia version of dis article stated incorrectly dat da Saarland University Clinic be located in Hamburg.
Celery
');
Last week a study appeared in JAMA about how omega-3s increased da length of telomeres.
“ Da main result of our study be dat patients wid high levels of Omega-3 fish oil in da blood appear to has a slowin' of da biological agin' process ova five years as measured by da change in telomere length.
It’s also da first study dat shows dat a dietary factor may be able to slow down telomere shortening.”
Athletes take note: high concentrations of omega-3s in muscle cells lead to improved athletic performance n' shit.
A 2008 twin study published in da Archives of Internal Medicine compared da telomere length of exercisin' twins versus couch-potato twins, man.
Afta only 12 months, da telomere’s of da exercisin' showed da equivalent of bein' 10 years younga than they couch-potato siblings.
Dr n' shit. Dean Ornish also demonstrated a telomere boost from exercise, a low fat diet high in fruits & vegetables, 'n participation in yoga or meditation.
Ah just summarized dis research last week in:
“A New Role fo Omega-3? Lengthenin' Our Telomeres–A Key Marka fo Aging, Longa Life, 'n Health, man. From JAMA & UCSF.”
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/happy_healthy_long_life/telomeres/For a summary of 7 articles in da latest Archives of Internal Medicine on da benefits of exercise on aging, read:
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/happy_healthy_long_life/2010/01/exercise.html— Da Healthy Librarian
Gonna lift some weights tonight! Gotta help out ma telomeres! :D
— Emily – LI
Did longa telomeres allow olda muthas to be so active, or did da activity preserve telomere length?
— jack
— Anthony Baccaro
— Tad Marshall
Look at da twin study Ah mentioned, man. Da exercise lengthened da telomeres—and they also lengthened wid omega-3’s 'n a healthy diet.
— Da Healthy Librarian
— David
— Mark
What dis research suggests be dat da white bllood cells of long-term runners has divided less often than those of sedentary people: in otha words, they has been healthier, wid relatively few infectious illnesses.
Da next question be whetha exercise protects one from infections or if a life relatively free of infectious disease merely makes dat shit easia to maintain an vigorous exercise regimen.
— Amy
— Liliana
— Victor Troll
http://foodfitnessfreshair.wordpress.com— FoodFitnessFreshair
Calculate how much time wuz spent runnin' there 50-mile stretches, know what I'm sayin'? Then, in a few decades, see how much longa da longa telomerase/fit group lived, 'n how much less healthcare they needed to survive n' shit. If da time spent runnin' be longer, da argument can be made dat da time wuz “wasted,” seein' as da time in life doin' otha things besides runnin' wuz not lengthened.
Ah run 3 times a week fo 20 minutes a week, simply because it’s 'n all borin' fo me to do so any longer, man. If dat amount yields da same benefit as da 50 miles, dat gots to be an important findin' due to da fact dat not as much of yo' life gots to be used up while running.
— John-Robert La Porta
— Rich Poley
Unfortunately there’s naw money in wellness, so da health care mess continues pourin' money into medicines which create side effects which require 'mo medicines etc, but which do make money fo health care companies 'n drug companies.
Unless 'n until we has at least one health care option built around wellness (profits 'mo from wellness than from sickness), we’ll all be left flounderin' to apply da phat data from articles like da ones above to our personal lives.
Nancy
— nancy
— exercisin' through living
My own anecdotal evidence be yes, know what I'm sayin'? I’ve seen muthas go from slothful coach potatoes to triathletes in middle age and, if they keep dat shit up, they times tend to improve.
— Sean
Ah looked at da studies yo' ass posted, know what I'm sayin'? They be observational, man. People who had higha levels of omega-3 ova da five years probably did otha healthy things as well, so yo' ass can’t say dat shit wuz da omega-3 dat lengthened telomeres 'n prevented aging.
We’ve been burned 'n all many times before by these sorts of studies to change our lifestyles based on they results, man. An example:
We made a huge mistake when we thought dat muthas takin' estrogen/progesterone had healthia hearts 'n lowa breast canca rates, but when da prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled studies wuz done, we found dat these hormones actually CAUSED heart attack, stroke, 'n breast cancer.
— jack
While science catches up, I use my common sense to guide my lifestyle/diet/exercise choices and the recommendations that I give to my patients; I use my common sense and medical education to filter the alternative medicine recommendations, I factor in my observations of my patient’s health and my own as it relates to these lifestyle choices, and I follow the western scientific literature-again using my common sense. I’ve started blogging on what I’ve learned in doing this for the 35 years that I’ve been keenly interested in the topic.
— cynthia bailey mdhttp://www.otbskincare.com/blog/category/diet-nutrition/
Cynthia Bailey MD
All I know is that, after a couple of years of slothful living, I recently went back to exercising aerobically, and I feel much better. I’ve also lost weight without changing my diet much. It’s amazing how much can change after even a few sessions. I do my exercising indoors, on my treadmill, however, to avoid allergens and pollutants, as well as for convenience, and I am careful not to overdo it or to put too much stress on my joints.
I wonder how much money could be saved, in terms of health care costs, if larger businesses were to provide their employees with some means of exercising during the day, as well as a free half-hour to use only for that purpose.
— Another ViewMark #8: Why live to 100 if I have to spend 40 of those years pounding the pavement?
Considering the alternative, pounding the pavement above ground is better than pushing up daisies 40 years sooner.
— Brooklyn GuyInteresting article! and yet another reason to add to my long list of why running/exercise is so great.
In response to comment #3, I don’t believe this is a chicken-or-egg debate, or that longer telomeres “allow you to be active.” I believe you make a decision to be active or not. In high school, I played soccer, but did not go out of my way to exercise and I really disliked running. In college, I used the elliptical machine at the gym to avoid the “freshman fifteen” but did not particularly enjoy it. Over the past 2 years I have started running and now, in my late 20s, I really enjoy it. I’m at a point where I am running about 15 miles a week, because I want to. I look forward to the time I can spend by myself, and can clear my head. I do not consider my time spent running to be wasted time.
Re: #9, My opinion is that exercise helps protect you from infections. I know I am only one incidence of this, but I definitely do not live a life relatively free of infectious disease – I work in elementary schools where I am exposed to all kinds of germs for 8 hours a day. But I exercise regularly and eat relatively healthily and have yet to catch something (flu or cold) from my germ-infested work.
— Nicole B.Given his and his colleagues’ data, ‘‘one could speculate,’’ he concludes, ‘‘that any form of intense exercise that is regularly performed over a long period of time’’ will improve ‘‘telomere biology,’’ meaning that with enough activity, each of us could outpace the passing years.”
I think that the key phrase here is “any form of intense exercise that is regularly performed over a long period of time…”
- This critical element implies that we all must construct a workout regime that:
- helps prevent injuries that would sideline us from intense workouts
- is complex and involves groups of muscles in the lower and upper body so as not to provoke overuse injuries to one set of joints such as simply running.
- is structured in such as way that it captivates the mind and challenges us progressively to be better, day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year.
- ultimately is synergistic with what we love most: Playing with our physical and mental capacities and experiencing ourselves performing at a peak level: Flow.
So, my advice is this: – Learn how your body works, – work on developing a sophisticated and complete exercise routine that progressively gets you working out intensely without undue risk of injury(risk is inherent in anything and cannot be completely eliminated) and finally find something that you absolutely love to do physically that is intense, mentally and physically, and keeps you honest and training hard all year long.
For me this is surfing. But I also like climbing, skateboarding and Soccer + ultimately have come to truly love to workout in a intense and variable way that keeps me on point and my body guessing.
good luck.
Tomas Anthony
founder
everyday athlete®
http://www.everydayathlete.com
— tomas C. AnthonyGretchen
If you get a chance, pull this article up. TITLE – “What accounts for the wide variation in life span of genetically identical organisms reared in a constant environment?” by TB Kirkwood (Mechanisms of Aging & Development, 2005).
— GeRMIt challenges our notions of what “aging” is or isn’t. Enjoy!!
Well it sounds to me like runners are slightly immunocompromised. Or is it that sedentary people have hyperacitve immune systems?
— Will