Research performed in London, UK, last year, linked psychical activity to the speed of aging by measuring the length of telomeres. Telomeres are the ‘DNA that bookends our chromosomes’ and ‘act as a timer counting down our biological age.’ This major study, performed by Tim Spector and his colleagues at St Thomas’ hospital, observed 2401 twins and discovered that the less physical activity they performed, the shorter the subject’s telomeres were. This shortening is integral to the study of telomeres, as every time a cell is divided, the telomeres shorten and consequently so does our biological age.Although the research group had already proven that ‘smoking and obesity can shorten telomere length to the equivalent of ten years’, this new study showed that exercise is connected with the length of telomeres, regardless of whether you smoked or were obese. Furthermore, factors such as psychological stress, which is linked with lack of physical activity, were shown to have affect on people’s biological age, rather than other factors like chronic disease. In summary, this major study concluded that an inactive lifestyle may not necessarily shorten your length of life, but it will negatively affect your biological age as a result of the shortening of telomeres and your “chromosomal clock.”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13238-couch-potato-lifestyle-may-speed-up-ageing.html
Journal reference: Archives of Internal Medecine 2008 (vol 168[2],p154)
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