A new study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association finds that long-term physical activity can add to your long-term longevity.

It does this by shortening telomeres, which is DNA that helps to protect chromosomes from damage.

The shortening of telomeres, say the researchers, limits the number of divisions cells can make and speeds up the “biological clock.” Longer telomeres slow the aging of the cardiovascular system.

The researchers measured the length of telomeres in blood samples from two groups of professional athletes — professional runners with an average age of 20 and middle-aged athletes with a history of continuous endurance exercise since their youth whose average age was 51.

The exercisers were matched by age to two groups who were healthy nonsmokers, but not regular exercisers.

Bottom line: you want to live longer? Drop and give me twenty.

Source: Sunny 100

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