Correlating Activity Levels and Telomere Length as a Proxy for the Pace of Aging

Discussions about the benefits of exercise should start when we are young, and physical activity should continue to be part of our daily lives as we get older, even at 80 years old." Associations of Accelerometer-Measured and Self-Reported Sedentary Time With Leukocyte Telomere Length in Older Women Emerging evidence has linked leukocyte telomere length (LTL) to modifiable factors such as smoking, body mass index, and physical activity. Sedentary behavior has also been studied in relation to LTL, but with mixed findings. In the Nurses' Health Study, there was no association of total sedentary time or specific sedentary behaviors with LTL, but in 2 recent studies, reduced sedentary time was associated with longer LTL. However, these studies were limited by several factors, including failure to measure sedentary time objectively (i.e., by accelerometer). Accelerometer-measured sedentary time is not highly correlated with self-reported time, the latter of which often underestimates actual time spent in sedentary behaviors. In a cross-sectional study, we assessed associations of accelerometer-measured and self-reported sedentary time with LTL in older white and African-American women from the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) Study, an ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). In the overall sample, there were 863 (58.3%) white and 618 (41.7%) African-American women. Women were aged 79.2 years, on average, rangin...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs