Sitting for more than 10 hours with sedentary life style accelerates aging in older women.

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Researchers at University of San Diego school of medicine have found a link between prolonged sitting and shortening of telomeres length which  is associated with accelerated aging. They found that cells in these sedentary women are biologically older by 8 years than women who lead an active life style.[1]

Although Telomere attrition occur as a part of natural aging, new evidence in geriatric research suggests that beside genetics and several individual factors environmental, social and lifestyle factors affects the rate of shortening. Reduced Telomere length is found in  higher age, atherosclerosis, hypertension, adipositas, diabetes, smoking, physical inactivity, heart failure, maltreatment in childhood, exposure to traffic pollution, chronic infection, single life and dementia.[2]

This study was published online January 18, 2017 in American Journal of Epidemiology.[3] The researchers found that elderly women with less than 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) daily with being sedentary for more than 10 hours have significantly shorter leukocyte telomere lengths (LTL).

It is known that women on an average lose 21 base pairs/year. In the study population LTL was an average 170 base pair shorter in the women with least physical activity as compared to her counterpart with adequate physical activity. This lead to the conclusion that most sedentary women were biologically 8 years older than women of same chronological age with good amount of physical activity.

Nearly 15,000 women participated in this cross-sectional study, mean age 79 years (64-95 years). Activity time was measured by all women wearing accelerometer and also self-reporting by the participants.

After adjusting for confounding factors, it was seen that African- American women were considerably more active than white women. Women with sedentary life style were white, older, obese and have high B.P., chronic diseases and have experienced fall much more in last few months. Shorter LTL is also associated with CVD, diabetes and many types of malignancies.

“Our study found that cells age faster with a sedentary lifestyle. Chronological age doesn’t always match biological age,” said Aladdin Shadyab, PhD, lead author of the study with the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

“We found that women who sat longer did not have shorter telomere length if they exercised for at least 30 minutes a day, the national recommended guideline,” said Shadyab. “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.” 

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UC San Diego News Letter 

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[1] http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/too_much_sitting_too_little_exercise_may_accelerate_biological_aging

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21915807

[3] https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/2915786/Associations-of-Accelerometer-Measured-and-Self#56238637