Exercise and a high level of activity in old age can prolong a person’s life because they activate the NRF1 gene that protects the ends of DNA molecules from damage, according to an article published in the journal Science Advances.

Telomeres are the end sections of chromosomes located in the nucleus of every cell of the human body.. Telomeres protect DNA from damage. With each cell division, they become shorter, when their length is not enough for new division, the cell dies..

Relatively recently, scientists have discovered that telomeres length and their condition can change not only with age, but also as a result of various processes in the body associated with depression, poverty and stress.. Moreover, the stronger the symptoms of mental disorder were and the longer they persisted, the shorter the telomeres were.

Anabelle Decottingnies from the University of Leuven in Brussels (Belgium) and her colleagues suddenly discovered how telomeres are related to exercise and why moderate exercise prolongs a person’s life.

They studied how the cell “reads” telomeres and produces specific TERRA molecules that interfere with the special telomerase enzyme to “repair” the end sections of chromosomes while it is not dividing, which usually leads to extremely unpleasant consequences..

Watching cell cultures in vitro, scientists unexpectedly found that the rise and fall in the concentration of TERRA molecules depended on two genes and related proteins - NRF1 and PPAR-gamma. The first is responsible for the so-called "nuclear respiration" of the cell and controls the metabolism of the whole organism, conducting the behavior of mitochondria, cellular "power stations", and regulating the levels of antioxidants in the body. The second gene is responsible for storing fat, appetite and several other aspects of metabolism..

Both of these DNA sites are activated in our body during charging and intense physical exertion, which prompted scientists to test how their activation affects the state of telomeres and the work of TERRA molecules in the human body. To do this, the scientists recruited a group of several volunteers who pedaled the exercise bike for 45 minutes and then donated blood and saliva samples..

As this experiment showed, playing sports really contributed to an increase in the number of TERRA molecules in the nucleus of the cells of the human body, thereby improving the protection of telomeres from damage.

Such a mechanism of “switching on” the telomere protection system, according to biologists, can explain why an active lifestyle and charging prolong a person’s life, especially in old age.. In addition, the same system “turns on” not only with high loads, but also with limiting the number of calories in the diet, which can also explain why a low-calorie diet prolonged the life of mice in several experiments conducted in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Source: ria. ru http: // vitaportal. ru.

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