Researchers have found that endurance sport activates the formation of telomeres, suggesting that physical activity is a good way to slow aging.
Physical activity takes care of our telomeres, according to a study published in the journal Advances Sciences. This work has indeed shown that endurance exercises activate their training.
Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes that protect the DNA sequence. Their length is a reflection of the biological age. They degrade naturally over time. But this process can be precipitated by stress, a poor diet, smoking or physical inactivity. Previous work has shown in particular the benefits of sport on these parts of chromosomes: people who practice regular physical activity have longer telomeres than others at the same age. By acting on these external factors, it would therefore be possible to slow down their shortening, and thus block the premature aging of cells. This would prevent the onset of certain diseases such as cancer.
Longer telomeres 2 hours after sport
Researchers from the Catholic University of Louvain (Beligique) wanted to understand how physical exercise could have positive effects on telomeres. To determine the underlying mechanisms, they asked 10 healthy young men to ride an exercise bike for 45 minutes at different intensities.
Before and after their cycling session, the scientists took biopsies of their muscles and took blood samples to analyze their chromosomes. They then observed that telomeres were larger in all participants two and a half hours after pedaling. However, intense physical activity seems to have a greater impact on their development.
This observation suggests that physical activity stimulates the formation of telomeres by activating a regulatory molecule. By taking a closer look, the researchers identified the protein playing this key role called NRF1. This would be fixed in a region activating the formation of telomeres.
A way to counter aging
In addition, scientists have discovered that the NRF1 molecule interacts with another protein called PGC-1α. The production of the latter would be increased during muscular effort or calorie restriction. A hypothesis confirmed in the 10 volunteers: the amount of PGC-1α increases after cycling. An increase correlated with the lengthening of telomeres.
For researchers, this finding seems to confirm that a healthy low-calorie diet, and physical activity, are promising ways to delay or reduce the effects of aging on telomeres, and therefore on the whole organism.
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