Great physical activity adds 9 years of life to a person at the cellular level.

Hayflick's limit. An average cell divides about 50–70 times before dying.



Telomeres are the end sections of chromosomes, they consist of a certain number of repeated fragments, which are reduced by 1 unit during each cell division, thus effectively limiting the maximum number of divisions ( Hayflick limit ). This is one of the most important causes of biological aging of living beings. But there are some ways to “wind up the counter” and extend the life of the cells (see the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine of 2009 ). In all vertebrates, the “counters” of divisions in the telomere consist of TTAGGG nucleotides, in insects - TTAGG, and in most plants - TTTAGGG.



Professor Larry Tucker from Brigham Young University (USA) found that more exercise correlated with telomere length in human chromosomes , that is, correlated with its lifespan.



Tucker analyzed data from 5,283 adult Americans who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the United States. This is one of the few projects in which, among other parameters, test subjects also measure telomere length in leukocytes (LTL). At the same time, each research participant fills out a questionnaire about the various activities in which he has been engaged in the past 30 days. People report on the frequency, intensity, and duration of each of the 62 physical activities listed.

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On average, throughout the entire sample, the telomere length decreases with 15.6 base pairs every year.



It turned out that the shortest telomeres were in people leading a sedentary lifestyle. After normalization by age, at the ends of their chromosomes there were 140 base pairs of DNA less than in telomeres of people who subjected themselves to greater physical exertion (for women - at least 30 minutes of running five days a week, for men - 40 minutes five days a week or , 5 minutes daily).



140 base pairs correspond to about nine years of life ( $$$140 / 15.6 = $ 8.9$).



"Just because you are 40 years old does not mean that your biological age is 40 years old," said Professor Larry Tucker, one of the authors of the scientific work. “We all know people who look younger than their present age.” The more physically active we are, the slower the biological aging processes in our bodies. ”



Surprisingly, the study did not reveal a particularly large difference in telomere length in people of a sedentary lifestyle, with low physical exertion or with an average load, although there is still some difference: from people who expose themselves to large and regular loads, the difference is 140, 137 and 111 base pairs, respectively, that is, 9 years, 8.8 years and 7.1 years, respectively.



Despite the identified correlations, scientists are completely unaware of the specific mechanism, how high physical activity helps to preserve telomeres and increase the number of cell divisions. Larry Tucker suggests that this may be due to stress from oxidative processes during aerobic exercise in the body.



The table shows the characteristics of participants in the experiment (5823 people).







The following table shows physical activity in people who are classified as leading a different lifestyle. Under the sedentary means the absence of regular physical activity in the last 30 days. The classification for low, medium or high level of physical activity is determined by the number of minutes of physical activity per week - by relative MET-minutes.







MET means metabolic equivalent and corresponds to the level of human metabolism. This level rises from a minimum of 0.9 MET at bedtime or 1.0 MET at rest when watching TV, to a maximum of 5.8 MET (sex), 7.0 MET (jogging), 8.0 MET (interval running and physical training: push-ups, squats, pull-ups, barbells, etc.), 10.0 MET (rope jumping - dumping), according to the table in this journal (at least the author of the scientific work refers to it).



Thus, in order to prolong life for 9 years, a man needs to jog every day for 28.5 minutes or 34.5 minutes to actively have sex, to choose from. Or combine different activities with a high metabolic equivalent. A woman, respectively, jogging 21.3 minutes a day or having sex 25.9 minutes a day. The main thing that classes were daily, without days off. “To really slow down biological aging, it’s not enough just to exercise a little. We'll have to do it on a regular basis, ”says Professor Tucker.



The scientific work was published on April 24, 2017 in the journal Preventative Medicine (doi: 10.1016 / j.ypmed.2017.04.027).