CHASING YOUTH? AEROBIC WORKOUTS MAY HELP!

Is Aerobic Exercise the Key to Successful Aging?

Aerobic activities like jogging and interval training can make our cells biologically younger, according to a noteworthy new experiment. Weight training may not have the same effect, the study found, raising interesting questions about how exercise affects us at a microscopic level.

There is mounting evidence that being physically active affects how we age, with older people who exercise typically being healthier, more fit, better muscled and less likely to develop a variety of diseases and disabilities than their sedentary peers. But precisely how exercise might be keeping us youthful has not been altogether clear.

Some researchers have speculated that the most pervasive anti-aging effects of exercise may occur at the tips of our chromosomes, which are capped with tiny bits of matter known as telomeres. Many scientists believe that telomere length is a useful measure of a cell’s functional age.

But researchers have also found that telomeres are mutable. They can be lengthened or shortened by lifestyle, including exercise.The new study, in the European Heart Journal, aimed to directly test whether exercise w ould change telomeres.