|
Our lifestyle choices affect our telomeres and how we age. And it's possible to measure telomere length to get some indication of how we're doing.
As I mentioned, the chromosomes in each of our cells contain our DNA. At the ends of each chromosome are telomeres, which have been described as being like the caps on the ends of shoelaces, that keep the shoelaces/chromosomes from unravelling.
Each time a cell divides, the telomeres become a little bit shorter, until they become too short to protect the chromosome. At this point the cell has aged, and cannot properly do its job any more. Having too many of these senescent cells accelerates aging. This doesn't cause any specific disease, but it is believed you'll be more likely to develop any disease you might be prone to.
How can we affect the rate at which we age? Blackburn was part of a team that won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 2009 for discovering the role of an enzyme - telomerase - that can help lengthen your telomeres. Blackburn and Epel make the case that telomeres are just one pathway of aging, and that certain aspects of your lifestyle may stabilize or even increase telomere length and help slow down or prevent aging.
 Factors that help protect your telomeres include:
- a healthy diet - The Mediterranean diet is associated with longer telomeres. Adequate nutrition including antioxidants, in general, and specifically vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids are also important.
- being physically active - A small study found 45 minutes of moderate exercise, three times a week for six months increased telomerase activity twofold.
- adequate, good quality sleep - A 2012 study found that sleeping fewer hours was associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men.
- avoiding (or managing) chronic stress
- meditation
- mental well-being
- social support
- level of trust and safety in your neighbourhood
Conversely, factors that promote cellular aging and shortening of telomeres include:
- stress hormones
- oxidative stress
- inflammatory stress
Note that no long term studies have been done, so we don't know what effect maintaining telomere length has on longevity. At this point we are looking at associations, not cause and effect. However, a longer 'health span' (and reduced 'disease span') is likely to be the outcome of maintaining longer telomeres.
Too much as bad as too little? Too little telomerase resulting in shorter telomeres can increase the risk of cancer because mutations can occur when the cells don't replicate properly. However, too much telomerase can help confer immortality onto cancer cells and increase the likelihood of cancer. Telomerase has been found to be 10 to 20 times more active in cancer cells than in normal body cells. It is believed that if this telomerase activity could be turned off, then telomeres in cancer cells would shorten (as they do in normal cells) and this would prevent the cancer cells from dividing uncontrollably in their early stages of development, or prevent relapse after the removal of a more advanced tumour. This could be a promising avenue for better cancer treatment. It is also clear that healthy lifestyle choices are better than taking telomerase as a medication - we wouldn't know if we were increasing the length of the telomeres of good cells or cancer cells.
Haven't I already heard these recommendations for improving my health? Yes, absolutely. However, now there is a way to document how well we're doing, by measuring the length of our telomeres. Telomere length can change in both directions - you may have longer telomeres one year, and shorter ones the next year - so Dr. Blackburn does not actually recommend getting your telomeres tested, but it's possible.
According to S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, of the University of Illinois, Chicago, "The only equivalent of a fountain of youth that exists is exercise and diet and avoiding harmful behaviour and risk factors like smoking and obesity. If you are doing this, you are doing as much as you can to allow your genetic potential to play out."
| 
There are some Nature's Sunshine supplements that are relevant to this newsletter.
