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Exercising to stay young
Has a team of German researchers discovered the secret of eternal youth? What they have in fact demonstrated is that intensive exercise helps to keep the extremities of our chromosomes in “good condition” and thus slow down cellular ageing.
In their research they compared the length of the telomeres (a region of repetitive DNA at the end of the chromosome) of professional athletes with those of non-smokers in good health but who exercised relatively little. Unsurprisingly, the athletes were found to have a better level of fitness: slower heart rate, lower blood pressure and a lower body mass index.
“In professional athletes, exercise causes activation of the enzyme telomerase and stabilises the telomeres, keeping the cells in better condition”, the author of the report explains. In other words, the more active the telomerase, the less our cells deteriorate.
It had already been shown that in people who smoke or who are overweight, the telomeres were shorter and the life span of cells reduced. So it would seem that intensive exercise can help to prevent ageing of the cardiovascular system and provides further evidence of the “anti-ageing” effect of sport.
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