Does Hard Work Slow Aging?

You and I are still waiting on the relaunch of my first three products. While we wait, I want to share something on telomeres, which remains one of my favorite topics.

A recent study out of Brigham Young University reported a nine year gain in biological age estimates for people who exercise “intensely.”

My first question. What does intense mean?

Their answer. Run 40 minutes, five times a week.

That answer leaves a lot to be desired. It does not address effort, heart rate, breathing rate, or any of the actual markers of intensity. It does not address anything other than running. Forty minutes how fast? What if you run an hour, three times a week, or ninety minutes, twice a week? Who knows.

It does at least put a number on the running. That is the only specific thing in the study.

A few things to keep in mind

1. Be wary of internet recaps. The next two weeks will produce a wave of “intense exercise extends your life” articles, each one selling a different routine. The study was about running. Not yoga, not Zumba, not HIIT, not weight training. Just running.
2. Most exercise physiology research is run by aerobic specialists. People who are runners and cyclists by training and inclination. A long time ago there was one paper on Olympic weightlifters. Nothing comparable since.
3. Other forms of exercise have been linked to favorable changes in inflammatory markers but not, for the most part, to telomere length in the same way.
4. Almost all the studies in this area lack baseline telomere measurements followed by remeasurement after a period of exercise. They are single point comparisons between people who exercise and people who do not, with statistical statements drawn from the difference. That is not the same as showing exercise lengthens telomeres.

Here is the truth

This study adds little to what we already had. It will get headlines because more studies showing the same thing make a finding “more true” in the public imagination, even when the methodology is the same as the last one.

Lifestyle modifications, including serious exercise, will do a lot for you. They will not, on their own, lengthen telomeres in most people. Sooner or later, if you want to lengthen the shortest telomeres, you need to turn telomerase on. The most clinically documented way to do that remains TA-65, unless you have a million dollars and a willingness to inject yourself with an AAV vector. I know of one person who has done that. It took her eight months to grow her telomere length by an amount that took me four years of high dose TA-65 to match.

What to do tomorrow morning

• Keep exercising. Forty minutes of running five days a week is fine. Pair it with strength training and zone 2 cardio.
• Reduce systemic inflammation. Real omega 3 dose. Real sleep. Real glucose control.
• If telomeres are a goal, look at the clinical literature on TA-65, not the next telomerase-claim ad in your inbox.

Take care of your telomeres.

Doc