Ponce Deleon spent harrowing years looking for the Fountain of Youth. He braved jungles, deserts, hostile aboriginals, disease, and more. But little did he know that he had it with him wherever he went, on all his journeys. And so do you.
You see, the secret to youth is in your DNA. At the end of each of your chromosomes is a DNA structure scientists call a telomere. Each time your cells divide, the chromosome replicates its DNA. However, your DNA pays a price each time it replicates itself for cell division. The telomere shortens. Some of that telomere DNA disappears. And when the telomere reaches a critical shortness, the cells DNA will no longer replicate. That is the end of that cells life span. To stay young, you need to keep your telomeres healthy.
And, according to a new study, theres only one way to do it. Investigators in England studied 2,401 twins. They evaluated their socioeconomic status, smoking, and physical activity levels. They compared these results to the length of telomeres in their white blood cells. There was only one factor that made a difference in the measurement. They found a striking difference between the most and least active twins (199 minutes of physical activity vs. 16 minutes of physical activity per week). The most active had 200 DNA sequences over the least active group. This correlates with DNA about 10 years younger on average for the most active.
This is serious business. You need dividing cells for health, youthfulness, and vigor. As cells wear, they divide to make a new one. But as the telomere shortens, this process slows and stops. Your body just cant rejuvenate itself at that point. The aging cells will eventually poop out — and so could you.
Action to take: I know exercise is not a sexy pill you take to make you live longer. And its not as adventurous as the Fountain of Youth. But this is one fountain you need to drink from regularly. Study after study confirms the health benefits. Heres one piece of very hard evidence that answers why its so good for you. It keeps your cells younger. The researchers used 199 minutes a week, which is just a little more than three hours. That amounts to 30 minutes a day. Even if you cant manage it daily, give yourself a power walk at least three times a week for an hour. Let your telomeres drink from the Fountain of Youth.
Ref: Archives of Internal Medicine, February 2008.