Is the relationship between exercise and telomere length dose-dependent? | Elissa Epel
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Small, moderate healthy behaviors can add up to reduce inflammation, increase longevity, and lengthen our cells' telomeres – factors that are critical to healthy aging. One healthy behavior is exercise, especially endurance exercise, such as running, swimming, cycling, or even vigorous walking. In this clip, Dr. Elissa Epel describes how the beneficial effects of exercise on telomere length are dose-dependent, but in a non-linear fashion. In other words, the extreme athlete won't necessarily see greater benefits in terms of telomere length than the average person who consistently engages in physical activity.
Rhonda: Is there research that indicates that there is a dose-dependent effect on exercise intensity and telomere length, though?
Elissa: Yes, there is. But it's not linear. So when you get up to extreme sports and marathon runners, yeah, they're a little bit longer in their telomeres but not much longer than someone who's like running three times a week. So we don't think...you know, these extreme things they also have some costs and we don't think that they're necessary in terms of some of the aging biomarkers that we've been studying.
A measurable substance in an organism that is indicative of some phenomenon such as disease, infection, or environmental exposure.
Important for the endocrine enhancing properties of exercise. Exerkines are exercise-induced hormonal-like factors which mediate the systemic benefits of exercise through autocrine, paracrine, and/or endocrine properties.[1]
- ^ Helge, Jørn Wulff; Moritz, Thomas; Morville, Thomas; Clemmensen, Christoffer; Dela, Flemming (2020). Plasma Metabolome Profiling Of Resistance Exercise And Endurance Exercise In Humans Cell Reports 33, 13.
A critical element of the body’s immune response. Inflammation occurs when the body is exposed to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. It is a protective response that involves immune cells, cell-signaling proteins, and pro-inflammatory factors. Acute inflammation occurs after minor injuries or infections and is characterized by local redness, swelling, or fever. Chronic inflammation occurs on the cellular level in response to toxins or other stressors and is often “invisible.” It plays a key role in the development of many chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Distinctive structures comprised of short, repetitive sequences of DNA located on the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres form a protective “cap” – a sort of disposable buffer that gradually shortens with age – that prevents chromosomes from losing genes or sticking to other chromosomes during cell division. When the telomeres on a cell’s chromosomes get too short, the chromosome reaches a “critical length,” and the cell stops dividing (senescence) or dies (apoptosis). Telomeres are replenished by the enzyme telomerase, a reverse transcriptase.
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Telomeres News
- Aerobic exercise (120 minutes per week) significantly lengthened telomeres, a biomarker for healthy aging, in white blood cells after 24 weeks.
- Coal plant emissions may be damaging infant DNA. Babies born during a coal plant’s operation in China had shorter telomeres.
- High physical activity levels were associated with delayed biological aging by 9 years as measured by telomere length.
- Air pollution linked to shorter telomeres, a marker for health & aging, in adolescents in a dose-dependent manner.
- High levels of exercise, equal to 30-40 minutes of jogging per day 5 days per week, linked to nine years of less aging at the cellular level.
