Women who fight premature aging and want to preserve their beauty as long as possible tend to fall for cosmetics and food supplements rather than try out other methods. Cosmetics may be effective, however, its action is local (face, neck, breasts). To maintain overall youth and health, people have to mind proper nutrition and physical activity.
Numerous studies held in this area as well as the Nobel Prize given for the achievements in anti-aging biology prove that our biological age depends on genetic material. DNA chromosomes have protective caps on their ends, telomeres, which tend to ‘melt’ with years thus causing people to grow old. The results of recent studies proved the fact that physical exercises slow the process of aging considerably. Thus, sportsmen maintaining regular physical activity feature slower telomere length shortening.
Cells in the process of their ‘life’ tend to replicate. However, when they are divided into new cells, the spring-offs have shorter telomeres thus they are more likely to die soon. Imagine a shoelace with a plastic tip on its end. When out of one shoelace you make two, the plastic tip is divided and each of the new laces gets a tip two times smaller. To prevent too soon death of cells our body produces telomerase. These enzymes tend to reproduce and repair the telomere which was shortened in the process of cell division. When the production of these telomeres is activated this has a positive influence on blood quality and the concentration of leukocytes in it.
This discovery also showed telomere influence on the human’s life span and premature aging process. Thus there were studies conducted on athletes who maintain regular sports but are in different age groups: a group of 20-year-olds and a group of middle-aged runners. The latter were maintaining sports regularly for several decades so far.
It turned out that in both groups telomerase production activated due to physical exercises. The effect was most evident in the group of middle-aged athletes.
However, most scientists agree that you do not have to be a sportsman and undertake heavy physical loads in order to activate telomere production in your bodies. Moderate exercises are as well capable of retarding and perhaps reversing the aging process.
Earlier studies proved that regular physical activity averts premature aging, keep blood pressure on the right level and decrease cholesterol levels in blood. Thus, people engaging in regular sports can prevent age-related diseases, such as stroke, cancer, and diabetes.
Moreover, physical exercise tend to increase intelligent levels and boost learning capability. This suggestion was proved to be truth after a group of military men was inspected. They showed considerably higher IQ indices and better learning abilities. This notion is explained by the fact that higher blood flows to brain are caused by exercises and that helps to stimulate nerve system, remove the toxins from the organism and improve our health in general.
Work outs are not about beautiful body only.
