Exercise: The Modern-Day Fountain of Youth Part 3

Two thirds of my kiddos enjoying these weeks off before wrestling takes over our lives.

​H​ello, my friends! I hope y’all have had just an amazing week! The weather has been out of the 90’s and 100’s, so I am BEYOND happy about that! I know for many of you runners *cough*cough* Angie, Jack* this is terrible news. I’m sorry but I’m ready for sweater weather, as I’m sure many of you are. 
 
My family and I have had a very relaxing few weeks, we are preparing for the storm that is wrestling season. Only 6 weeks left of freedom before we have to fully commit our lives once again to God’s favorite sport.
 
Hopefully by now, you are seeing the benefits of exercise while we age, if not then you need to re-read the past blogs! Today I want to talk about exercise and its effects on telomeres. Before I get there let me explain to you why we are talking about them and the importance they play to our body. 
Telomeres are these protective caps on our DNA, think about them like the caps over the ends of our shoelaces, or think of them like that plastic your grandma has over those couches in her living room- except not as ugly. So, these caps are what protect our DNA (hopefully we all remember what DNA is) from degradation and cell aging. As we get older these caps shorten, therefore not protecting our genetic material the same as it once did in our younger years, thus leaving us vulnerable. The vulnerability effects our cellular function. This means you won’t move, heal, function as you did when these caps were protecting you. It also effects cell division, they can become unstable and cause genetic mutations (cancer), and it can affect our organs. These caps shortening are linked to Alzheimer’s, heart disease and a decreased immune system. That’s all, as they say in my motherland-no bueno. 
 
It sucks I know but sadly this is a normal part of the aging process. Now let me tell you what you already know…. drum roll please…. Exercise can help, I’m sorry does help, I’m sorry has been scientifically proven to help lengthen your telomeres shelf life time. I’m not talking about just a few years either.
 
A study done by Brigham Young University found that people who take part in high levels of physical activity had significantly longer telomeres than their sedentary counterpart. Biologically speaking, they were NINE YEARS YOUNGER than their counterpart. Guys that is a decade younger biologically. Think about it like this, hypothetically my friend- I’ll make up a fake name- Llamas is a sedentary adult, I partake in exercise as I do. While he may be easier on the eyes than I am, on the inside- yes, I’m uglier on the inside too, but my body is a decade younger than his. SO, while he may be dealing with the effects of aging, I won’t be feeling like his sedentary but for anther 9 years!
 
This is due to exercise slowing down the shortening process, telomerase activity being improved- telomerase is the enzyme that lengthens telomeres, if shortening them is what leads to aging complications, then lengthening them would do the opposite.  Also reduces oxidative stress, this is a major contributor to telomere shortening.
 
I know dude, it sounds too good to be true. Now I will admit there is a catch. This huge difference was found in people who partake in 30-40 minutes of “High Intensity” workouts as opposed to moderate exercise. 
You may be wondering; do you partake in high intensity? Well, if you see me on a weekly basis the answer is your welcome. You do in fact participate in high intensity, so net time y’all are trying to catch your breath and complaining, cough* cough* Nat, Ashley * cough just remember- I’m trying to give you another 10 years of good quality of life. 
 
For those that aren’t sure, high intensity would be a workout where you work up quite a bit of sweat, typically it is almost impossible to keep a conversation while training like this.
 
Your body will literally be a decade younger with a great exercise routine and pushing yourself a little harder than you normally would. It’s a pretty fair trade if you ask me, 30-40 minutes of hard work, 3-5 days a week and you get to enjoy that body of yours for a decade longer. Hope y’all have been enjoying this series of blogs. Have a great week and as always, I love you for reading this.