Every day, fresh research in the field of health and longevity is being conducted, and fascinating new findings are frequently making headlines online and becoming social media sensations. Nonetheless, not all subjects are immediately clear to grasp. One example might be telomeres.
Simply expressed, you live longer if your telomeres are longer. Here’s how to hold onto them for as long as you can.
What are telomeres?
Compare telomeres to the tiny, transparent plastic wrap that is formally known as an aglet at the end of a shoelace. Your shoelace may fray without aglets, which would lower the quality.
![](https://i0.wp.com/jasminefeliciano.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Telomere-Testing-Test-Telomeres-for-Biological-Aging-and-Disease-Prevention-3-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&quality=89&ssl=1)
Your DNA’s aglets are called telomeres. They act as a shield to shield your chromosomal ends from deterioration and harm over time. Your cells are better protected the longer their telomeres are.
Moreover, telomeres serve as a predictor of the aging process in the body: A research team discovered that the rate of telomere degradation over time could precisely predict a species’ lifespan after analyzing telomere length in a variety of species (1).
Over time, unusually short telomeres appear to increase the risk of bone marrow failure, lung fibrosis, liver disease, and gastrointestinal disease (2).
How to make them longer
It’s not as hard as you might believe to lengthen your telomeres, which will extend your life. How to do it is as follows:
1. Control your stress levels.
Stress has been shown to have detrimental effects on a variety of health outcomes, including mental and skin health. But stress can also affect your health at a far deeper level, right down to the level of your DNA. A single study indicates that “Psychological stressโboth perceived stress and chronicity of stressโis significantly associated with higher oxidative stress, lower telomerase activity, and shorter telomere length.” (3)
Additionally, “Women with the highest levels of perceived stress have telomeres shorter on average by the equivalent of at least one decade of additional aging compared to low-stress women,” according to the study. Indeed! Stress can cause your DNA to look ten years older!
Many practices, such as breathing exercises, meditation, and physical activity, can help you reduce stress. Researchers have even demonstrated that the latter helps prolong and protect telomeres: In particular, they discovered that telomerase activity is substantially higher in meditators than in non-meditators (4). Even now, other researchers have confirmed their findings.
Are you prepared to take up meditation? To get started, check out my guided meditation collection.
![Aurora Mediations on Youtube](https://i0.wp.com/jasminefeliciano.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Aurora-Meditations-Youtube-channel-art-Facebook-Cover-1.png?resize=918%2C200&quality=80&ssl=1)
2. Consume a healthy diet.
Eating a healthy diet is the first step, especially if it’s high in omega-3 fatty acids. A study was conducted on the impact of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly on telomeres. The subjects that received omegas: Their telomeres lengthened in proportion to the number of omegas absorbed in their red blood cells (5).
Omega-3s are prioritized in the Mediterranean diet, which promotes nutrition for longevity. It’s the consistent trend that is linked to decreased telomere length, oxidative stress, and inflammation levels (6).
![](https://i0.wp.com/jasminefeliciano.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Eat-for-Longevity-Mediterranean-dietary-meal-sample.png?resize=819%2C1024&quality=80&ssl=1)
The following foods make up most of this diet:
Seafood includes things like shrimp, oysters, mussels, clams, crab, salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, halibut, and anchovies.
Dairy products include feta, yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese.
Nuts and seeds include sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, cashews, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, and so on.
Vegetables include bell peppers, artichokes, zucchini, eggplant, squash, mushrooms, celery, fennel, cabbage, leeks, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic, cucumber, cauliflower, and so on.
Fruits include grapefruit, pomegranate, apricots, avocados, olives, melons, peaches, plums, berries, figs, apples, pears, and grapefruit.
3. Take adequate vitamin D.
Making sure you’re getting enough vitamin D is another strategy to support the length of your telomere.
The telomeres of those with the highest vitamin D levels have the longest, while those with the lowest levels have the shortest. These findings are supported by studies on the relationship between vitamin D levels and telomere length published in the Journal of Nutrition and the Archives of Medical Science (7,8).
The building components of telomeres, which shield cellular DNA from aging, are called telomerase (9). It appears that vitamin D, a hormone required for several bodily processes, functions by boosting telomerase activity.
4. Perform regular exercise.
Try your best to get some exercise whenever you can, even if it’s just a little stroll. Researchers discovered that as little as 10 minutes of vigorous walking each day was linked to longer telomeres. So much so that their midlife biological age seemed 16 years younger as reported in a UK study (10).
The stress response’s outbursts and the remarkable recovery they provide for aging cells are incredibly restorative and revitalizing, since they activate the cell’s cleanup workers. Exercise also increases telomere length and improves mental health in addition to making you feel happy and reducing stress.
![Forever Young: 5 Methods to Extend Your Telomeres](https://i0.wp.com/jasminefeliciano.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Forever-Young-5-Methods-to-Extend-Your-Telomeres-pin.png?resize=683%2C1024&quality=80&ssl=1)
5. Get restful sleep.
And lastly, how sound is your sleep? Men who reported getting less sleep had shorter telomeres in one study, regardless of their age, BMI, level of education, level of employment at the time, cynical hostility scores, or depressive symptoms (11).
What is the threshold for good sleep, then? According to that study, seven hours is about right, with five hours being the very dangerous range. Numerous studies have demonstrated the critical role that enough, high-quality sleep plays in maintaining overall physical and mental health, as well as in promoting lifespan.
To Wrap Things Up
Although maximizing telomeres may appear complex, it just involves following the fundamentals of good health: eating natural, whole foods, exercising whenever possible, controlling stress, and getting adequate sleep. As easy as that!
Sources |
- Telomere shortening rate predicts species life span (pnas.org)
- Bone Marrow Failure Disorders Program | Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center (hopkinsmedicine.org)
- Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress | PNAS
- Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators – ScienceDirect
- Omega-3 fatty acids, oxidative stress, and leukocyte telomere length: A randomized controlled trial – PubMed (nih.gov)
- Mediterranean Diet and Telomere Length: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – PMC (nih.gov)
- Home Page: The Journal of Nutrition
- The association of telomere length and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in US adults: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey – PMC (nih.gov)
- Increased Telomerase Activity and Vitamin D Supplementation in Overweight African Americans – PMC (nih.gov)
- Investigation of a UK biobank cohort reveals causal associations of self-reported walking pace with telomere length | Communications Biology (nature.com)
- Short Sleep Duration Is Associated with Shorter Telomere Length in Healthy Men: Findings from the Whitehall II Cohort Study | PLOS ONE
Thanks so much for putting this post together! I literally had never heard of telomeres prior to this post. Great info.
My pleasure! Iโm so glad it was insightful!!