Powerful RX for Aging and Mental Decline: Exercise!

Researchers have provided yet more evidence for the benefits of exercise with two new studies that suggest regular physical activity boosts resistance to aging and mental decline. One study, published Jan. 10, 2017 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, found that among 1,600 adults aged 65 and older, those who were the least sedentary experienced the lowest risk for dementia. The researchers found that the toll taken by physical inactivity was comparable to that of having the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene mutation, which dramatically increases risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Yet another study linked a sedentary lifestyle with faster aging.

In research involving nearly 1,500 older women, scientists found a strong association between too little exercise and more rapid biological aging of the body’s cells. The scientists looked at the length of telomeres, caps on the end of participants’ DNA strands that protect chromosomes from deterioration. Telomeres become shorter with age, but other factors linked to lifestyle, including lack of exercise, can also wear away at the caps. In a report published online Jan. 18, 2017 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the researchers reported that the most sedentary participants they followed—those who spent more than 10 hours a day sitting around and engaged in less than 40 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise—had cells that were biologically eight years older than the participants’ actual age. In contrast, participants who exercised daily did not have shorter telomeres.

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