Let’s face it – we’d all love eternal youth. We all hit a certain age when we wish we could “freeze” how we look on the outside for good. If you’re over the age of 25, you probably have a desire to be forever young on the inside, too. The secret to aging may actually be held within our cells – there’s a part of our DNA known as “telomeres” which hold the secret to slowing—and even reversing—aging.
Does that sound good to you? Even better, you can do this all naturally. Read on to learn more about telomeres and how you can lengthen yours naturally!
What are telomeres?
In the simplest of terms, telomeres are “caps” on the end of your chromosomes that prevent them from getting damaged. Whenever a cell replicates, the telomeres get shorter until they become too damage to replicate or repair. You can think of the length of a telomere as a measure of how young and healthy a cell is – a healthy cell has long telomeres, while one that has been damaged has short telomeres.
What impact do telomeres have on aging?
Well, a huge one. You may have heard that our bodies are entirely “renewed” every 7 years, meaning that every cell has been replaced. While it’s difficult to comprehend our heart’s cells being replaced, you can see this obviously when you exfoliate your skin.
Since our cells are being renewed, we shouldn’t age… right? Well, unfortunately, no. One of the reasons for this is because we lose some of the bases in our telomeres each time the cell divides (25-200 on average). The shorter the telomere, the more likely the cell (and us) are to develop a disease. That means the longer our telomeres, the younger our biological age.
Telomeres & How They’re Measured
Science has now developed methods of measuring the length of telomeres, which is how we know that healthy and fit people tend to have longer telomeres than someone of the same age who lives an unhealthy lifestyle.
Unhealthy lifestyle habits is a key factor in how quickly your telomeres shorten; obesity, eating junk food, chronic stress, smoking, and inactivity can all lead to drastically shortened telomeres.
For medical research, telomeres are often measured by a novel monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR method, but there are also kits to help scientists measure the length of telomeres.
For those of us not participating in medical studies, the TeloYears measurement is the best way forward. It’s a simple and accurate DNA test that will tell you your “cellular” age, and compare you to others in your age group. This is an important marker that can help you keep track of your progress as you work to lengthen your telomeres, as we’ll talk about in more detail throughout the rest of this article.
Tips to Lengthen Your Telomeres and Help Reverse the Aging Process
Here are the best ways to lengthen your telomeres and reverse aging:
- Exercise regularly – exercise doesn’t have to be an epic 1-hour high intensity training session every day, it’s simply about staying as active as possible. That means making sure you stand up and move around regularly, walk plenty, and/or do dedicated workouts regularly. The best way to make exercise a part of your way of life is to do something you love. If you hate the gym, don’t force yourself to join. Hike, swim, get a dog that will beg you for a walk twice a day – just make sure you can make it a part of your lifestyle. The effectiveness of this was emphasized in a famous study in which scientists examined the telomere length of male runners in their 50s, sedentary men in their 50s, and young men in their 20s. The runners had a comparable length to those in their 20s, while the sedentary men in the 50s had telomeres that were 40% shorter.
- Effective stress management – modern life has forced many of us to endure a high-level of stress 24/7. In many companies, industries, and societies (such as Japan) this high level of stress is even prized. However, it’s not good for us and can cut your life short. A study looked at the telomere length of people going through intense caregiving (such as caring full-time for a terminally ill, elderly, or disabled relative), working in high-stress work environments, and experiencing serious financial difficulties. They found that these people had significantly shorter telomeres than the control group.
- Maintain a healthy weight – obesity is a huge indicator of shortened telomeres, so it’s essential you maintain a good BMI or weight for your height and lifestyle. Make sure you get your nutrition on track (see our next point) to see effective weight loss, rather than turning to any extreme weight loss methods or diet plans.
- Eat a well-balanced diet high in antioxidants – our food fuels our body, it’s what it uses to repair and rebuild. Remember, you are what you eat and nowhere could this be truer. If you only eat junk food, that will be all your body has to rebuild with. Educate yourself on good nutrition and interesting ways to eat more vegetables – make it fun and experiment with new recipes. You should also focus on increasing your antioxidant intake. Antioxidants help clear your cells of free radicals, which find their way into your body through junk food and even pollution. Once in your cell they can cause a huge amount of damage, so you want as few in your system as possible. Fortunately, antioxidants are found in a wide range of foods (especially colorful fruits and vegetables) such as:
- Legumes (such as beans)
- Berries (blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.)
- Artichokes
- Prunes
- Apples
- Nuts (especially pecans)
- Dark leafy greens (spinach, kale, broccoli)
- Richly colored vegetables (red cabbage, beetroot)
- Dark chocolate (try to keep your daily intake to no more than 200 calories! Also, the darker the better!)
- Red wine (make sure you don’t over indulge – remember, alcohol is not good for you)
- Get enough rest – when you rest, your body starts to repair itself. You should strive to get a good nights’ sleep whenever possible. For most people, this is in the 6-9 hour range, and you’ll know what makes you feel best. If you suffer from insomnia, you should think about what you’re eating before bed, what media you’re consuming, and address any high-stress situations, if possible. If you do struggle with insomnia, remember that simply lying still and allowing your body to rest is almost as good as sleep, while worrying about the fact that you can’t get to sleep may cause more problems.
- Try natural Longevity supplements – that’s a long list of foods and the list of foods you need to eat in a day to get all of your nutritional needs is rarely doable. The best thing to support your overall wellness and telomere length is to take an all-natural supplement. The best nutritional all-natural supplement designed for telomere health is Telos95. Telos95 uses plant-based polyphenols (antioxidants) to fight free radicals in your cells and ensure they’re nourished with nutrients that promote telomere longevity. Telos95 is soy-free, gluten-free, GMO-free, and is the only supplement on the market to have been clinically proven through human trials to significantly halt telomere shortening, and was even found to help lengthen them by up to a huge 80% after just 6 months, decreasing your TeloYears (cellular age) by 7.24 years. It was created off the back of 20 years of research.
What increases telomerase activity?
Telomerase is the enzyme that repairs your telomeres so they become stronger and can even lengthen once more. To increase telomerase activity, you simply need to care for your telomeres in the ways discussed above. When you look after your overall health and nutrition, you’ll naturally see an increase in telomerase activity.
The best way to care for your telomeres is to put yourself first – that means feed yourself nutritious, high-quality foods, exercise, and take all-natural nutritional supplements to support your health. There is no other supplement on the market specifically geared toward lengthening your telomeres, so Telos95 is the best supplement for those looking to reverse aging and protect their telomeres.
To find out more about Telos95, and to buy, click here.
Related Resources
- Why Do We Lose Telomeres as We Age?
- How to Reverse Aging by Lengthening Your Telomeres (Naturally!)
- What is the Function of a Telomere?
- Telomeres and the Hayflick Limit
TeloYears Testing & Measurement
teloyears.com/about-teloyears.html
TeloYears Study
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370421/#R8
