Exercise is the Fountain of Youth

We all want to live longer.

Correction – We all want to live longer, better, healthier, sexier, etc.

And because we want those things, some of us are willing to starve ourselves or swallow just about any drug or supplement that promises to halt or slow down the aging process.

Well, according to researchers at McMaster University, we are wasting their time and money.

The Science

As published in PNAS, scientists took a group of mice that had been genetically engineered to age prematurely (due to a defect in a gene for polymerase gamma (POLG1) that alters the repair system of their mitochondria) and by simply exposing them to 5 months of cardio training (45 minutes 3 x per week), they were able to put the brakes on their premature old age.

Even more science

Up until now, it has been thought that it is our lifelong accumulation of mitochondrial DNA mutations that leads to a cellular energy crisis which results in a progressive decline in tissue and organ function, ultimately resulting in aging.

Previous studies “have tried to treat these animals with ‘exercise pill’ drugs and caloric restriction, a strategy felt to be the most effective for slowing aging, and

These studies have been met with limited success,

But the mice in this “exercise as fountain of youth” study looked as young as healthy mice while their sedentary siblings were balding, graying, physically inactive, socially isolated and less fertile.

The Conclusion

Get off the couch and go for a run.

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Reference

• PNAS
• McMaster University

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