How does lifestyle help you rejuvenate at the cellular level?
A five-year research project has found that changing your lifestyle can trigger cell renewal. Eating balanced meals, staying active, and managing stress may help slow aging at a cellular level. While there is no vaccine for eternal youth yet, these results are promising.
People age differently because of their habits and genetics. Aging shows not only in how someone looks or feels, but also in their cells. One way to see this is by measuring telomeres, which are protective tips at the ends of chromosomes.
Telomeres get shorter over time. Their length can give an idea of a person's age. Short telomeres can also signal the start of diseases like cancer, heart disease, obesity, stroke, or diabetes.
Before this study, scientists didn’t know that telomeres could grow longer. This discovery suggests that reversing aging at the cellular level might be possible.
The study, led by Dean Ornish and Elizabeth Blackberry, involved 35 men with prostate cancer. Ten men followed a strict lifestyle plan, while 25 served as a control group. The men in the control group continued their normal routines. The others followed these rules:
Eat more plant proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Cut down on fats.
Do moderate aerobic exercises for half an hour, six days a week.
Practice stress relief activities like yoga, meditation, and stretching.
Attend weekly group sessions for social support.
After five years, scientists checked the telomere length of all participants. The ten men on the special lifestyle saw their telomeres grow by 10%. In contrast, the control group’s telomeres shrank by 3%.
While this isn’t a cure, it shows that lifestyle choices can help improve health and slow down aging.
Telomere length isn’t the only factor that determines how we age. Still, the idea that it might be possible to reverse some aging at the cell level is good news. The lifestyle described above won’t cause harm and may do some good.