In women, the practice of team sports such as football or handball would have a real effect against aging, by improving the mitochondrial function of their cells, reveals a new study.
- Whether among young or old players, the regular practice of a team sport such as handball or football helps to slow down biological aging.
- In particular, sport has a positive effect on the mitochondrial health of cells, as well as on the length of telomeres, that is to say the length of the chromosomes, which tend to shorten as we age.
Handball and football, the key to longevity among women? This is according to a new study published in Scientific Reports and led by the University of Southern Denmark and the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden). In it, they examined the effects of regular exercise throughout life on two of the key features of combined aging. They concluded that team football and handball have a positive effect on telomere length, ie the end of chromosomes, and mitochondrial function in women.
Extend your biological age through sport
Why do these two characteristics affect aging? As lead author Muhammad Asghar explains, DNA is contained in chromosomes, which are themselves present in every cell of the body. When cells divide, this heritage is copied, but with each cell division, the ends of the DNA threads, the “telomeres” get shorter, which contributes to aging. Practice sports like football and handball “helps women maintain longer telomeres and healthy mitochondria. This can potentially increase their life expectancy and ultimately their lifespan, as shorter telomeres and mitochondrial dysfunction are both associated with a number of age-related diseases and mortality”explains the researcher.
To study the link between these two central characteristics of aging and sports activity, the researchers followed 129 healthy, non-smoking women, including young elite soccer players and young untrained controls aged 18 to 30, as well as female team handball players aged 60–80 and untrained elderly controls.
The results showed that lifelong elite football and handball training are associated with beneficial anti-aging cellular effects in women. Specifically, young female elite soccer players had higher telomere length and mtDNA copy number than young untrained controls, while older female handball players had healthy mitochondria compared to older untrained controls.
Team sports are good for aging
Recently, the same research team had shown that male soccer players between the ages of 65 and 80 are in excellent physical shape compared to untrained people of the same age. “Resulting in significantly greater aerobic fitness, muscle mass, and bone strength, as well as younger cell biological age as assessed by telomere lengthsays Professor Peter Krustrup, co-lead author of the study. Interestingly, the present study shows the same pattern, including a positive effect on mitochondrial health, in female handball players aged 60-80, supporting evidence of the anti-aging potential of team sports.”
However, the researchers point out that this is a cross-sectional study, and that these results must now be confirmed by randomized controlled trials.
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