Research suggests that weight training three times a week can reduce your biological age by nearly eight years.
People who did strength training for one hour three times a week had significantly younger-looking bodies.
Weightlifting has long been linked to improved bone and muscle health, but a new study of 4,800 people found that weightlifters were also younger at biological age.
The NHS recommends that adults be active every day and get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity every week.
It’s also recommended that you do activities that work all your major muscle groups, including your legs, back, and abdomen, at least two days a week.
In this study, we focused on the effects of weight training on the body and analyzed the length of telomeres. These are clumps of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that act like the aglets on a shoelace, protecting the genetic material from unraveling and damaging it.
Previous research has shown that people with long telomeres have a longer life expectancy than those with short telomeres, and has also shown that telomeres shrink with age.
Analysis of blood samples found that those who exercised the most had the longest telomeres, meaning exercise provided more benefits.
Lifting weights three times a week can reduce your biological age by nearly 8 years, research suggests (stock image)
People who did one hour of strength training three times a week had significantly younger bodies (stock image)
Every 10 minutes of weight training per week reduced your biological age by about five months, and the effect was seen in all age groups, not just in both men and women.
“In this national sample, 90 minutes of weekly strength training reduced biological aging by an average of 3.9 years,” researchers wrote in the journal Biology.
Larry Tucker, a professor of exercise science at Brigham Young University in the US, conducted the study and said that while the study shows a strong correlation, it cannot prove that weightlifting lengthens telomeres.
“Correlation does not mean causation. We cannot say that the increase reduced biological age,” he told the Telegraph.
“All types of strength training were counted, and all types of exercise appear to be associated with telomere lengthening.”
The people in the study who lifted weights the most had telomeres that contained about 225 more pieces of DNA than those who didn’t lift weights.
“Our findings showed that for every 10 minutes spent in strength training per week, telomeres lengthened by an average of 6.7 base pairs,” the study said.
The NHS recommends that adults be active every day and get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week (stock image)
Therefore, 90 minutes of strength training per week was predicted to lengthen telomeres by an average of 60.3 base pairs.
“In this national sample, telomeres shortened by 15.47 base pairs with each increase in chronological age, so 90 minutes of strength training per week was associated with an average reduction in biological aging by 3.9 years.”
“This interpretation suggests that one hour of strength training three times a week (180 minutes total) is associated with a reduction in biological aging by 7.8 years.”
Scientists say weight training may be good for a person’s health and longevity because it not only eliminates obesity, but also reverses muscle loss, boosts metabolism, and promotes cardiovascular health. There is.
“By reducing the impact of chronic diseases and metabolic risk factors, resistance training appears to slow the biological aging process and reduce cellular aging, as evidenced by longer telomeres,” Tucker the professor writes.
