What Can Your Telomeres Tell You About Aging & Health?

Almost everyone would love to live a long life - but how do you know if that’s going to be possible and can you increase the odds?

If you’ve heard the term ‘telomere’ before, you may already know that these minuscule parts of your chromosomes can tell you a great deal about general health and aging.

But did you know that there may be ways to improve their length so that you are able to slow the aging process?

What are telomeres and why are they important?

Telomeres are compound structures at the end of chromosomes. You can think of them as protective DNA protein ‘caps’ that prevent deterioration, damage, and fusion with neighboring chromosomes.

Long, healthy telomeres support chromosome stability and are therefore thought to lead to healthy aging and longevity,

Conversely, short telomere length has been associated with an increased risk of disease, as well as premature mortality.

In particular, telomere shortening has been connected to certain types of cancers, most notably breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, and bladder cancers. It has also been linked to chronic stress and depression.

The cellular enzyme telomerase is known to counteract shortening of telomere length. It is thought that certain lifestyle factors that have been shown to cause cancer and heart disease also adversely affect telomerase function.

What can you do to increase telomere length?

Telomere length is known to be shortened by cell division and oxidative stress and lengthened by the action of the enzyme telomerase, which slows cellular aging.

Making positive lifestyle factors choices in areas such as diet and exercise are thought to promote telomerase function.

A study published in the Lancet Oncology journal in 2008 set out to look at the effects of improved nutrition and lifestyle on telomerase activity.

In this study, 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer were asked to make comprehensive lifestyle changes for three months. It was found that:

“Comprehensive lifestyle changes significantly increase telomerase activity and consequently telomere maintenance capacity in human immune-system cells.”

Furthermore,

“increases in telomerase activity were significantly associated with decreases in low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and decreases in psychological distress.”

While larger controlled trials are required before firm conclusions can be drawn, this would seem to provide more evidence that lifestyle choices greatly affect your health, particularly as you age.

Another study from 2009 looked at the connection between mindfulness meditation and telomere length.

Telomere length has been associated with psychological problems such as depression, as well as physiological issues. It should perhaps be no surprise, then, if a link was found between meditation and telomere length.

The study looked at the effects of both threat cognition (which leads to reactive states) and mindfulness (which reduces stress) on cellular aging, with the aim of showing that:

“…some forms of meditation may have salutary effects on telomere length by reducing cognitive stress and stress arousal and increasing positive states of mind and hormonal factors that may promote telomere maintenance.”

While the field of stress-induced cell aging is still relatively new, early indications suggest that there may be positive effects of meditation on cell aging: just another of the amazing benefits that mindfulness has on physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Chiropractic care and telomere length

Interestingly, chiropractic care has been associated with increasing telomere length and may be another weapon in the battle for healthy aging.

One study from 2017 looked at the effects of a correction of sagittal cervical alignment on telomere length in a 35-year old white female.

In this study, the patient presented with chronic neck and midback pain for five years following a motor vehicle collision. She also had nocturnal polyuria.

After a series of chiropractic corrections over a course of 36 visits, the cervical lordosis and forward head posture of the patient was corrected. The following effects were also observed:

“…increase of telomere length, improvement in nocturnal polyuria, neck and mid-back pain, autonomic nervous system adaptability, and health-related quality of life.”

Finding out more about cellular aging 

As we have seen from the above studies, the topic of cellular aging is receiving more attention. Telomere length as a biomarker of aging is a hypothesis that has been tested considerably over the past 15 years or so.

This is perhaps mainly because most developed countries are increasingly facing aging populations.

A 2013 study published in Epidemiologic Reviews assesses the “conflicting data” and ends up concluding that:

“…shorter LTL is associated with older age, male gender, Caucasian race, and possibly atherosclerosis; associations with other markers of health are equivocal.” 

We can expect to see more studies looking at the role of telomere length in healthy aging and longevity - which should shed more light on what we can do to boost telomere length.


References:

Dean Ornish et al. Increased telomerase activity and comprehensive lifestyle changes: a pilot study. Lancet Oncol 2008; 9: 1048–57 DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70234-1

Elissa Epel et al. Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres. Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 August ; 1172: 34–53. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04414.x. 


Jason L. Sanders and Anne B. Newman. Telomere Length in Epidemiology: A Biomarker of Aging, Age-Related Disease, Both, or Neither? Epidemiologic Reviews Vol. 35, 2013. DOI: 10.1093/epirev/mxs008


Fedorchuk et al., Increased Telomere Length and Improvements in Dysautonomia, Quality of Life, and Neck and Back Pain Following Correction of Sagittal Cervical Alignment Using Chiropractic BioPhysics® Technique: a Case Study. J Mol Genet Med 2017, 11:2 DOI: 10.4172/1747-0862.1000269

Almost everyone would love to live a long life - but how do you know if that’s going to be possible and can you increase the odds?

If you’ve heard the term ‘telomere’ before, you may already know that these minuscule parts of your chromosomes can tell you a great deal about general health and aging.

But did you know that there may be ways to improve their length so that you are able to slow the aging process?

What are telomeres and why are they important?

Telomeres are compound structures at the end of chromosomes. You can think of them as protective DNA protein ‘caps’ that prevent deterioration, damage, and fusion with neighboring chromosomes.

Long, healthy telomeres support chromosome stability and are therefore thought to lead to healthy aging and longevity,

Conversely, short telomere length has been associated with an increased risk of disease, as well as premature mortality.

In particular, telomere shortening has been connected to certain types of cancers, most notably breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, and bladder cancers. It has also been linked to chronic stress and depression.

The cellular enzyme telomerase is known to counteract shortening of telomere length. It is thought that certain lifestyle factors that have been shown to cause cancer and heart disease also adversely affect telomerase function.

What can you do to increase telomere length?

Telomere length is known to be shortened by cell division and oxidative stress and lengthened by the action of the enzyme telomerase, which slows cellular aging.

Making positive lifestyle factors choices in areas such as diet and exercise are thought to promote telomerase function.

A study published in the Lancet Oncology journal in 2008 set out to look at the effects of improved nutrition and lifestyle on telomerase activity.

In this study, 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer were asked to make comprehensive lifestyle changes for three months. It was found that:

“Comprehensive lifestyle changes significantly increase telomerase activity and consequently telomere maintenance capacity in human immune-system cells.”

Furthermore,

“increases in telomerase activity were significantly associated with decreases in low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and decreases in psychological distress.”

While larger controlled trials are required before firm conclusions can be drawn, this would seem to provide more evidence that lifestyle choices greatly affect your health, particularly as you age.

Another study from 2009 looked at the connection between mindfulness meditation and telomere length.

Telomere length has been associated with psychological problems such as depression, as well as physiological issues. It should perhaps be no surprise, then, if a link was found between meditation and telomere length.

The study looked at the effects of both threat cognition (which leads to reactive states) and mindfulness (which reduces stress) on cellular aging, with the aim of showing that:

“…some forms of meditation may have salutary effects on telomere length by reducing cognitive stress and stress arousal and increasing positive states of mind and hormonal factors that may promote telomere maintenance.”

While the field of stress-induced cell aging is still relatively new, early indications suggest that there may be positive effects of meditation on cell aging: just another of the amazing benefits that mindfulness has on physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Chiropractic care and telomere length

Interestingly, chiropractic care has been associated with increasing telomere length and may be another weapon in the battle for healthy aging.

One study from 2017 looked at the effects of a correction of sagittal cervical alignment on telomere length in a 35-year old white female.

In this study, the patient presented with chronic neck and midback pain for five years following a motor vehicle collision. She also had nocturnal polyuria.

After a series of chiropractic corrections over a course of 36 visits, the cervical lordosis and forward head posture of the patient was corrected. The following effects were also observed:

“…increase of telomere length, improvement in nocturnal polyuria, neck and mid-back pain, autonomic nervous system adaptability, and health-related quality of life.”

Finding out more about cellular aging 

As we have seen from the above studies, the topic of cellular aging is receiving more attention. Telomere length as a biomarker of aging is a hypothesis that has been tested considerably over the past 15 years or so.

This is perhaps mainly because most developed countries are increasingly facing aging populations.

A 2013 study published in Epidemiologic Reviews assesses the “conflicting data” and ends up concluding that:

“…shorter LTL is associated with older age, male gender, Caucasian race, and possibly atherosclerosis; associations with other markers of health are equivocal.” 

We can expect to see more studies looking at the role of telomere length in healthy aging and longevity - which should shed more light on what we can do to boost telomere length.


References:

Dean Ornish et al. Increased telomerase activity and comprehensive lifestyle changes: a pilot study. Lancet Oncol 2008; 9: 1048–57 DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70234-1

Elissa Epel et al. Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres. Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 August ; 1172: 34–53. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04414.x. 


Jason L. Sanders and Anne B. Newman. Telomere Length in Epidemiology: A Biomarker of Aging, Age-Related Disease, Both, or Neither? Epidemiologic Reviews Vol. 35, 2013. DOI: 10.1093/epirev/mxs008


Fedorchuk et al., Increased Telomere Length and Improvements in Dysautonomia, Quality of Life, and Neck and Back Pain Following Correction of Sagittal Cervical Alignment Using Chiropractic BioPhysics® Technique: a Case Study. J Mol Genet Med 2017, 11:2 DOI: 10.4172/1747-0862.1000269

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