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Physical activity keeps you young while sedentary lifestyle shortens your life. This is the result of a UK-based study on aging. Basically, they compared the lengths of telomeres in active and sedentary individuals. Telomeres are found at the ends of a person’s chromosomes and they help protect the DNA from wearing down. They become shorter as we age so that older people have shorter telomeres than younger people.

Researchers at Twin Research Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London found that individuals who are inactive, obese, and who smoke tend to have shorter telomeres than active, non-smoking individuals. The difference in biological age between couch potatoes and physically active people can be as high as 10 years.

This, once again, is another proof that exercise is good for our health.

Source:

Live slow die young. Nature News 28 Jan 2008.

Tags: aging, physical activity, telomeres