Get Physical and Grow Younger

Dear Health Conscious Reader,

In just minutes a day, you can program your genes to stay younger longer.

There’s new evidence that PACE-style movement slows down your aging clock, lengthening your life and making you more resistant to disease.

The professor that led the study said, “The act of exercising may actually protect the body against the aging process… and people may actually look and feel younger.”₁

Research now shows that exercise has the power to turn back time. Exercise affects your telomeres, making them longer and stronger. The telomere is your biological clock. It determines how long you live. And how well you live.

Telomeres are “caps” at the ends of every cell’s DNA. They act like the plastic fittings on the ends of your shoelaces, and keep your DNA strands from fraying.

Your cells are constantly dividing. And any kind of damage to your cells – from free radicals, toxins, poor nutrition, etc. – causes your cells to divide more rapidly. Each time your cells divide, a small part of the telomere is not copied. The shorter your telomeres, the less protection they offer your DNA.

Telomeres are a measure of your body’s true biological age. When your telomeres get shorter and shorter over time, they’re no longer able to protect your DNA. This robs you of your vitality and leaves you vulnerable to those dreaded signs of aging.₂

So, anything you can do to lengthen your telomeres serves to protect your DNA… and restore your vitality.

Now that you see the value of longer telomeres, here’s the kicker…

You don’t have to run a marathon or bore yourself to death with long, grueling workouts to have longer telomeres.

Recently a study of 2,401 twins found that physical activity was related to telomere length. Moderate levels of activity created much longer telomeres than either zero exercise or too much exercise.₃

People got to choose the kind of exercise they liked to do. They did things like running, swimming, or tennis. Those who exercised moderately, around 100 minutes a week, had telomeres that looked 5 or 6 years younger. Those who exercised vigorously, around 3 hours a week, had telomeres that looked 9 years younger.₄

Telomere length is also affected by stress and how you handle it. Women with the highest perceived stress levels had 10 years more of aging than women who either handled their stress better or had less of it.₅

PACE makes it easy. In just a few minutes a day you’ll calm your nerves, relieve anxiety, and lengthen your life.

After all, telomere length is the key to youth. And long-distance running and aerobics are doing more harm than good. You’re much better off doing a program like PACE, which keeps your routine challenging but in short segments, followed by recovery.

Try this simple PACE routine to slow or stop the shortening of telomeres:

1. Choose a body-weight exercise of your choice. Choose an exercise like arm circles, knee bends, leg raises, or push-ups.
2. Once you’re ready, do 100 repetitions of the exercise. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you. Take your time. Rest if you need to. But continue until you’ve done 100 repetitions.
3. Check how long it took to finish 100 repetitions. Now rest.
4. The next time you do it, try and do it faster.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

P.S. – If you haven’t already, join the PACE revolution TODAY.

1. Stein, R. “Exercise Could Slow Aging” Wash Post 1/29/09
2. Telomerase Activation http://www.telomeraseactivation.org/
3. Cherkas L., Hunkin, J. et. al. “The Association Between Physical Activity in Leisure Time and Leukocyte Telomere Length” Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(2):154-158
4. Stein, R. “Exercise Could Slow Aging” Wash Post 1/29/09
5. Epel ES, Blackburn EH et al. “Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Dec 7;101(49):17312-5. Epub 2004 Dec 1.