Being Physically Active in Leisure Leads to Being Biologically Younger

Individuals who are physically active during their leisure time appear to be biologically younger than those with sedentary lifestyles, according to a report in the January 28th issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

It has been established that regular exercisers have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity and osteoporosis.

"A sedentary lifestyle increases the propensity to aging-related disease and premature death: the authors write.  "Inactivity may diminish life expectancy not only by predisposing to aging-related diseases but also because it may influence the aging process itself."

Lynn F. Cherkas, Ph.D., of King's College London, and colleagues studied 2,401 white twins, administering questionnaires on physical activity level, smoking habits and socioeconomic studies.

The participants also provided a blood sample from which DNA was extracted.  The researachers examined the length of telomeres-repeated sequences at the end of chromosomes-in the twins' white blood cells (leukocytes).  Leukocyte telomeres progressively shorten over time and may serve as a marker of biological age.  Telemere length decreased with age, with an average loss of 21 nucleotides (structural units) per year.

Men and women who were less physically in their leisure time had shorter leukocyte telomeres than those who were more active.

"The mean difference in leukoctye telomere length between the most active (who performed anaverage of 199 minutes of physical activity per week) subjects was 200 nucleotides, which means that the most active subjects had telomeres the same length as sedentary individuals up to 10 years younger, on average."

"The U.S. guidelines recommend that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity at least five days a week can have significant health benefits," the authors wrote.

"Our results underscore the vital importance of these guidelines.  They show that adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals.  This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-aging effect of regular exercies."