Some exciting research findings in the field of aging have been released on the beneficial effects from long-term participation in a physically active lifestyle.

Germany’s Saarland University researchers focused their study on the difference in aging effects experienced by groups of professional athletes who had been training long-term versus control groups of healthy non-smokers in similar age brackets.

The key indicator of anti-aging was found at the cellular level. When cells divide the process results in losing some of the ends of the cell chromosome information and this loss correlates to the aging process and cells changes over time.

These chromosome ends are called telomeres and in the group of long-term athletes it was discovered that exercise activated the telomerase stabilizing enzyme. This enzyme protected the ends from shortening and one marker of the effectiveness was in the infection fighting white blood cells.

So not only were the athletes experiencing anti-aging, their bodies were more effective in fighting off infections. A reduction in the onset of many of the diseases associated with aging such as cancer and strokes as well as measurable health indicators like cholesterol levels and blood pressure were superior in the groups of athletes.

And from Sweden, studies based on over a million men who enlisted in military service produced similar findings. The intense physical training results correlated with increases in intelligence tests and learning capabilities. The increased blood flow to the brain is believed to keep mental processes sharp and lessen the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

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