Lack of Exercise Accelerates Aging
Study Shows Cells Age Faster with a Sedentary Lifestyle
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that elderly women who sit for more than ten hours a day with low physical activity possess cells that are biologically eight years older compared to women who are less sedentary.
The study, published Wednesday in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that elderly women with less than 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day and who remain sedentary for 10 hours a day have shorter telomeres — tiny caps that sit at the ends of DNA strands. such as the plastic tips of shoelaces, protecting chromosomes from deterioration—and they progressively shorten with age.
As the cell ages, its telomeres naturally shorten and fray, but health and lifestyle factors, such as obesity and smoking, can speed up that process. Shortened telomeres are associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and major cancers.
“Our study found that cells age faster with a sedentary lifestyle. Chronological age does not always match biological age,” said study senior author Aladdin Shadyab, M.D., of the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Shadyab and his team believe they are the first to objectively measure how the combination of sedentary time and exercise can affect the biomarker of aging.
Nearly 1,500 women, ages 64 to 95, who were part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a national, longitudinal study investigating the determinants of chronic disease in postmenopausal women, participated in their analysis. The participants completed questionnaires and wore an accelerometer on their right hip for seven consecutive days during waking and sleeping hours to record their movements.
“We found that women who sat longer did not have a shorter telomere length if they exercised for at least 30 minutes a day, a national recommendation,” Shadyab said–. Messages about the benefits of exercise should start when we’re young and physical activity should remain part of our everyday lives as we age, even in our 80s.”
Source: La Opinión de Málaga
