Or walking - or doing any sort of moderate physical activity.
A sedentary lifestyle accelerates aging at the chromosome level
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A sedentary lifestyle increases the propensity to aging-related diseases and premature death. Inactivity may diminish life expectancy not only by predisposing to aging-related diseases, but also because it may influence the aging process itself," study author Lynn F. Cherkas, of King's College London, said in a prepared statement.
The researchers looked at the physical activity levels, smoking habits and socioeconomic status of 2,401 white twins. The researchers also collected DNA samples from participants, and examined the length of telomeres-repeated sequences at the end of chromosomes in white blood cells (leukocytes). Leukocyte telomeres shorten over time and may serve as a marker of a person's biological age.
Overall, the study participants had an average telomere loss of 21 nucleotides (structural units) per year. But those who were more active in their leisure time had longer leukocyte telomeres than those who were less active.
"Such a relationship between leukocyte telomere length and physical activity remained significant after adjustment for body-mass index, smoking, socioeconomic status and physical activity at work," the authors wrote.
"The mean difference in leukocyte telomere length between the most active [who performed an average of 199 minutes of physical activity per week] and least active [16 minutes of physical activity per week] subjects was 200 nucleotides, which means that the most active subjects had telomeres the same length as sedentary individuals up to 10 years younger, on average."
One wonders if you can make arguments that installing good bike paths is cost effective when health costs are considered.
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There are limits - you probably don't want to commute on a bucking bull, even if it is a good workout. And there is an issue of style (hat tip to Bjarne)
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