The Connection Runners

The New Anti-Aging Secret


Exercising can keep you young! At least that's what researchers found in these lab rats. I guess it is probably good to get some exercise - but we all know that. The researchers have discovered something about mitochondria DNA, but that's not too exciting. Here's the gist of the article:


Half of the mice were allowed to run on a wheel for 45 minutes three times a week, beginning at 3 months. These rodent runners were required to maintain a fairly brisk pace, Dr. Tarnopolsky said: “It was about like a person running a 50- or 55-minute 10K.” (A 10K race is 6.2 miles.) The mice continued this regimen for five months.

At 8 months, when their sedentary lab mates were bald, frail and dying, the running rats remained youthful. They had full pelts of dark fur, no salt-and-pepper shadings. They also had maintained almost all of their muscle mass and brain volume. Their gonads were normal, as were their hearts. They could balance on narrow rods, the showoffs.