Tuesday, January 29, 2008

No More Excuses

Exercise makes you healthier at the cellular level. A British study of twins discovered that physically active people have younger looking cells, meaning exercise protects you against the effects of aging.

We've already heard that exercise helps reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other illnesses and the British study seems to confirm why. Telomeres get shorter each time a cell divides and scientists believe aging occurs as cells reach the end of their telomeres. Looking at the telomeres of 2,401 twins in a long-term study the length of the telomeres was directly related to their level of activity.

In other words, people who did 100 minutes of exercise a week had telomeres that looked five or six years younger than folks who did almost no exercise. There are no more excuses for not exercising!

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