17 Sep Telomeres – and how to keep ’em nice and long!
This is good. Plug you brain in though, it isn’t the usual Back Pain blog!!
Telomeres are “caps” situated at the end of our chromosomes. They help prevent loss of genetic information as our cells divide. Cell division is part of the normal ageing process. Ok so far?
A shortening of our Telomeres is a factor in ageing and has been linked with age related diseases such as heart disease and certain types of cancer. Conclusion – let’s not allow our Telomeres to shorten, in fact can we do anything to lengthen them?
Previous research has shown that people who have a sedentary lifestyle can experience accelerated cellular ageing in the form of more rapid shortening of their Telomeres.
Well here’s the good bit. An admittedly small study was done over the last five years in California and they looked at 35 men with Prostate Cancer (that bit’s irrelevant). Ten of the sample were put on a vegetarian diet and a strict exercise programme including yoga meditation etc etc. It was noted that their Telomeres lengthened by approx 10%, whilst the remaining twenty five experienced shortening of about 3%.
I’m hoping that “Jack Daniels” might just help with Telomere length, but I’m not going to hold my breath. I do however, think this research is yet another example of how looking after yourself does appear to pay off as you get older, and that’s something we are committed to here at Openhealth Clinic.
No Comments