The New York Times Sunday Magazine ran a piece on January 31, 2010, on how exercise keeps you younger -- on the cellular and molecular levels. It seems that exercise helps keep your telomeres longer. Telomeres are on the ends of long strands of DNA. Every time your cells divide, the strands of DNA in the nucleus replicate and the ends shorten by getting broken off. It's the shortening that makes cells age and us age. Shortening telomeres = wearing out. (You can read more via the link below on the science and on the studies.)
But people who run a lot don't have their telomeres shorten as much or as fast. You can put ten years on your life with vigorous, regular exercise. That's pretty amazing. In fact, scientists who have been studying this say the findings are startling.
To learn more read the article:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/phys-ed-how-exercising-keeps-your-cells-young/
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