Exercise slows down ageing, study finds

A team of scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton in Canada has proved conclusively that exercise prolongs life. In an experiment on mice it was found that premature ageing ceased and even reversed in mice that had been exercised.

This is a very significant milestone in the study of anti-ageing medicine. It proves that exercise of the simple everyday kind is key to achieving a long and healthy life.

In the experiment mice were genetically altered to age faster. They were forced to run on treadmills three times a week for 45 minutes a session. Five months later they were all very healthy and active while the sedentary control group which had not been genetically programmed and were the same age were practically immobile. The exercised mice appeared to have glowing coats and all age-related damage had been reversed, on examination by the scientists.

Dr Mark Tarnopolsky, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the university's Michael G DeGroote School of Medicine said: "What's neat about our study is that this is something that is conceivably so simple. We purposely exercised them three times a week for 45 minutes at a moderate-intensity exercise, which is something that any human — provided they don't have . . . (an illness) — can do."

The scientists also found potent and unheard of signs of positive anti-ageing on all parts of the mice's bodies such as brain, hair, skin, kidneys, gonads, liver and spleen.

Professor Tarnopolsky said: "Every part of the body was protected by exercise." He added that he considered exercise to be "the most potent anti-ageing therapy available today and likely forever." He asserted that though "death is inevitable" the only way to stay healthy for a longer period of time is exercise.

Even when people just start to exercise after 65 it brings a host of benefits but the effect is even better if people exercise moderately and regularly from a young age and throughout their lives.

The lead author of the study, senior PhD student working in the research team Adeel Safdar said that the findings represent "one of the most striking rescues yet reported in aging models without gene therapy or a pharmaceutical intervention."

The message is clear that it is really never too late to start exercising. Professor Tarnopolsky concluded: "I really think we have to start when people are young. We have to encourage our children and people throughout their life to maintain healthy levels of physical activity."

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