We already knew that to eat well, play sportsand living less stressed lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and helps to live longer. A new study published in the scientific journal The Lancet Oncology provides a new reason to watch your lifestyle: it would also rejuvenate the cells.
So far the observations have been made on a panel of 35 men with a non-aggressive form of prostate cancer and are still too thin to be generalized. But they are worth reporting.
Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco asked 10 of the patients to make a lifestyle change. This upheaval involved limiting oneself to 30 minutes of exercise per day, following a relaxation technique such as yoga, meditation or breathing exercises. The handful of volunteers also had to modify their diet by eating more fruits, vegetables, grains and fewer carbohydrates. They also participated in a support group for one hour per week.
Professor Omish’s team compared the length of telomeres, that is to say the length of the ends of chromosomes at the start of the experiment and then five years later.
A healthy lifestyle lengthens telomeres
Telomeres prevent DNA in our chromosomes from being damaged. But with old age these telomeres shorten, which is accompanied by aging cells that die more quickly.
Previous studies have linked the shrinkage of these telomeres to decreased life expectancy and an increased risk of age-related diseases such as heart disease, dementia, heart attacks, diabetes and many cancers.
But this new study found that in the group that changed their lifestyle habits for 5 years, telomeres lengthened by 10% on average. Another interesting finding to note is that the more men have radically changed their lifestyle, the more their telomeres have lengthened.
Conversely, the group which did not change anything in its daily life suffered a shortening of telomeres of 3% on average.
Morality, to preserve its DNA longer, do not overdo it.
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