Researchers have long discovered that a physical inactivity is bad for your health, and the best anti-aging recipe is to stay up as often as possible. Back pain, muscle degeneration, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and even premature death are the various risks due to being too sedentary. To the point that some researchers suggest that we work standing to reduce risk.
But other researchers, arguably even more curious, have sought to find out why standing has beneficial effects on our health. They discovered that when we spend a lot of time sitting, the telomeres (the part located at the end of the chromosomes and which plays a protective role) shorten. When they are too short, it causes premature aging, even disease and premature death: they unravel, clump together and “scramble” the genetic code of chromosomes. While long telomeres protect DNA from aging by keeping the genetic code safe from wear and tear.
In contrast, oddly enough, exercise does not seem to have an impact on telomere length if you continue to spend a lot of time sitting. Prof. Mai-Lis Hellenius, of the University Hospital of Stockolm, thus recommends “to strive to spend less time sitting rather than forcing oneself to find the time to do physical exercise. ‘strives to stay up as often as possible during the day, so this will have a real positive effect on our health as we age.
The doctor compares the function of telomeres to that of the plastic tips that protect the ends of the laces and lengthen their lifespan.
