Forget plastic surgery and fancy creams just hit the gym instead
We’re all getting older, but thanks to creams and moisturizers everyone is able to prolong the aging process for a little bit. Thankfully cosmetic products aren’t the only trick to looking younger.
According to a study, endurance workouts are the best-kept secret to anti-aging. After dividing 124 healthy but inactive adults into four groups, German researchers found that the group who continuously walked or ran showed signs of a slowed aging process.
Scientists also studied the effects of resistance training by having participants use different strength-training machines. However, researchers quickly saw that those participants experienced no anti-aging effects. When it came to the endurance group, researchers did take note of two important changes.
The group’s telomeres, or the caps at the ends of chromosomes, became longer. The also found that the telomerase, an enzyme involved in maintaining those caps, began to increase. According to the study’s author Ulrich Laufs, these effects “are both important for cellular aging, regenerative capacity, and thus, healthy aging.”
“Our data support the European Society of Cardiology’s current guideline recommendations that resistance exercise should be complementary to endurance training rather than a substitute,” study co-author Christian Werner.