Throw out your beauty products, fad diets and thoughts of cosmetic surgery designed to prolong youth. It turns out, the key to living longer is standing, according to a new study.
Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden observed 49 adults in their 60s. Half of them participated in an exercise program, and the other half stayed sedentary most of the time without taking part in the program.
The study found that sitting less protects DNA from aging. By standing up frequently, DNA is less likely to age because telomeres, which are DNA storage units that sit on the end of chromosomes, are lengthened. Telomeres prevent chromosomes from fraying, clumping together and scrambling genetic code, Daily News 724 reported.
The study revealed that standing more often can improve physical looks, but can also drastically increase a person's life span.
"Long telomeres are linked to a longer, healthier life," Dr. Mai-Lis Hellenius, lead author of the study, told Medscape Medical News.
Standing is so beneficial for the body that Hellenius told Medical Daily that an effort to sit less is more important than an increase in exercising.
The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
