A study concluded that lifting weights 3 times a week may help reduce a person’s biological age by about 8 years, meaning that he or she appears about 8 years younger.
The study – published in the journal Biology – said that people who practice strength training for an hour, 3 times a week, have a significantly younger body.
The British Daily Mail reported that the study indicated that lifting weights was previously linked to helping improve bone and muscle health, but the new study, which included 4,800 people, concluded that those who lift weights have a lower biological age.
The British Health Service recommended that adults engage in physical activity daily, and do moderate-intensity activity for 150 minutes or vigorous-intensity activity for 75 minutes per week.
The study, in particular, examined the effect of weight training on the body, and analyzed the length of “telomeres,” which are pieces of DNA at the end of chromosomes that act as a link and prevent genetic material from disintegration and damage.
Previous studies have shown that people with longer telomeres have a longer life expectancy than those with shorter telomeres, in addition to that telomeres shrink with age.
Analysis of blood samples showed that those who engage in significant physical activity have longer telomeres.
The study indicated that lifting weights every 10 minutes per week is linked to reducing biological age by about 5 months, as the benefits were observed in both men and women, in addition to people in all age groups.
Larry Tucker, a professor of exercise science at Brigham Young University in the United States who conducted the study, said that the results show a strong link, but it cannot be proven that lifting weights leads to lengthening of telomeres.
He added that all types of strength exercises were taken into consideration, and all types of exercise appear to lengthen telomeres.