American scientists decided to take a closer look at the phenomenon of youthfulness - when the biological age of a person is more "serious" than one can assume by appearance. Employees of the University of Brigham Young came to the conclusion that the way we look is directly affected by physical activity.

So far, there are no specific means of stopping the aging processes occurring inside the body. Nevertheless, the speed of one type of aging can still be slowed down, said the authors of the new project.

On the question of how you can look younger than your "passport" years, scientists answered: the more mobile way of life a person leads, the younger his organism. This conclusion is supported by the data of 5 800 adults examined by physicians.

The group of specialists analyzed the peculiarities of the way of life of these people, correlating this information with the external appearance of the subjects. Genetic analysis was also performed. As a result, it was found that people who had a sedentary lifestyle had shortened telomeres (terminal segments of chromosomes). In these people, the size of telomeres was 140 bases less DNA.

People who were physically active had a more positive "genetic portrait". Volunteers, whose physical activity was assessed as moderate, had longer telomeres, so their advantage in terms of longevity was 7 years.

Those who constantly and actively went in for sports, had telomeres that allowed them to count on an increase in life of approximately 9.5 years.

Another study conducted in Canada showed that intensive exercise is not very effective in slowing physical aging, whereas aerobic exercise, on the contrary, is perhaps the only way to stop the age-old decrepitude of the body.

This time the scientists stated: in order to be younger, women should be given 5 days a week for a thirty-minute jogging, for men - 40 minutes.

medinfo. ua.

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