Size It Seems Does Matter (At Least To Telomeres)

The river of time is inexorable, always moving forward.
But all rivers have eddies and places where the river sometimes flows backward
So, can we find a way back, to a time of youth and youthfulness?
As we live longer this is a crucial question to answer.
I am approaching my sixty-fourth birthday but I feel like I am forty; the answer, extreme exercise and an extreme diet.
It is now known that on the end of each gene there is a chain of nonsense DNA that protects the DNA during replication from becoming “ragged”.
It is like the end of a carpet piece that has extra heavy stitching to keep the carpet from unraveling after prolonged usage.
These end pieces are called telomeres.
As we age telomeres become shorter and shorter until the DNA becomes unreadable and the cell dies (This is an over simplification but I hope you get the drift)
Much of the damage to telomeres occurs because of inflammation within the organism, the same inflammation that causes arteries to harden, etc.
It now has been shown that endurance exercise protects the telomeres, as do diets with low inflammatory properties, such as the Indo-Mediterranean Diet.
So the longer your telomeres, the healthier your cells, the more true the replication and repair thus keeping cell death and cell aging at bay.
The effect of physiologic stress on Telomere length has been shown to reduce length by as much as a decade in age controlled groups.
The same can be said for inflammation, bad diets and a sedentary lifestyle.
In some bird populations the length of a telomere predicts higher levels of adaptability to changing environments.
In twin studies, the sedentary twin loses telomere length at a much faster rate than the active twin and shows signs of earlier aging.
There is no pill, no easy solution to deferring aging; it is hard won in a gym, on the road and eating foods with high anti-inflammatory potential.
So in the end size does matter- http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2006/08/23/telomere-length-as-a-biomarker-of-stress-and-aging/. Copy the link and paste into your Browser for more on the issue.

Desiderata says it best: “Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy”----finally eat your veggies, Fish Oil capsules, legumes and nuts along with a good helping of fruit so your telomeres can keep on growing.