As we age, most of us want to:

1. Live a long and healthy life
2. Avoid the diseases and ailments that come with aging

Fortunately, the latest scientific research shows that you can age healthier by maintaining a longer telomere length. With a growing understanding of telomeres and the enzyme called telomerase, many studies reveal natural ways to maintain healthy telomere length. Let's first explore what telomeres are, how they affect aging and how you can naturally maintain telomere length to reduce the effects of aging.

What Are Telomeres?

Have you never heard of telomeres before? That's ok; most of us haven't. The best way to describe telomeres is the shoelace analogy: telomeres are similar to the caps at the end of a shoelace. Its primary function is to protect the DNA within your 23 pairs of chromosomes. It prevents one end of a chromosome from fusing into another.

How Do Telomeres Affect Aging?

Telomeres naturally shorten as you age. This is because telomeres get shorter every time a cell divides. Once a cell reaches the point when its telomeres get so short and can no longer divide, it stops replicating altogether and enters into a state called senescence. Cells that reach this state are considered old, dying cells. Cells with shorter telomere length and cells that become damaged due to aging may cause an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers.

The Connection Between Telomere Length and Telomerase

Telomerase is an enzyme that activates the growth of telomeres and extends the lifespan of a cell. This enzyme helps cells repair and maintain telomere length as they divide. With an increased understanding of what this enzyme looks like, supplements and drugs can one day be designed to increase telomerase activity. If targeted telomerase activity can be increased with the help of drugs or nutritional supplements, it'll eventually be possible to lower the occurrence of age-related diseases and ailments drastically.

There's still a lot of work to be done to design drugs targeting telomerase activity in specific cells. Significant progress appears to be on the horizon thanks to recent high-resolution photos of telomerase, which helps researchers identify parts of telomerase they could target with drugs.

3 Natural Ways to Maintain Telomere Length

Believe it or not, the way you live your life has a direct impact on how you age. By adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you can improve how good you feel today and how good you'll feel as you get older.

We've put together a list of the top 3 natural ways that are scientifically proven to maintain healthy telomere length. Check them out below:

Take Supplements

Research shows that supplements can help lengthen your telomeres. When LifePharm launched, LAMININE was the very first nutritional supplement offered to consumers. Dr. Rafael Gonzalez and his team at the DaVinci Biosciences labs in Loma Linda, California, conducted studies to determine the benefits and effectiveness of LAMININE. 

The 90-day study revealed that LAMININE supports telomerase activity and can lengthen your telomere length. It's important to note that the subjects who took LAMININE did not change their diets or lifestyle habits but showed evidence of telomere lengthening. LAMININE's ingredients include Fertilized Avian Egg Extract, marine proteins, and Phyto proteins. The protein bio-factors such as FGF-2 can only be found in the egg extract used in this supplement. It's the primary ingredient credited with supporting healthy cell development.

Eat a Healthy Balanced Diet

You might want to consider trying the Mediterranean Diet. One study called the Nurses' Health Study concluded that the Mediterranean Diet was associated with longer telomere length. The Mediterranean Diet is considered effective because of its impact on oxidative stress levels in your body. Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance of free radicals in your body. They can cause damage to your fatty tissue, DNA, and proteins. Over time, this damage can lead to many different diseases. The Mediterranean Diet was found to be effective in protecting your DNA (and protecting the health of your telomeres) from oxidative stress because it offers foods rich in antioxidants that keep free radicals from overpopulating your body.

According to Elissa Epel, co-author of a study exploring the link between diet and telomere length, any diet rich in antioxidants creates a biochemical environment favorable to telomeres. The four diets reviewed in the study were the Mediterranean Diet (mentioned above), the DASh diet, the Healthy Eating Index, and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index. Each diet emphasizes eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plant-based proteins.

Exercise Regularly

It's universally accepted that exercise is good for your health. It helps reduce stress, improves rest, helps you maintain a healthy weight, and can help maintain healthy telomere length. According to a study by NHANES (the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), adults who exercised regularly had nine years less cellular aging than those who had moderate to low exercise. They concluded that adults with high levels of physical activity had longer telomeres than those who didn't exercise very much, if at all.

Start Improving Your Cellular Health Today

As you can see, there are ways today you can improve your health and better manage the effects of aging. Now that you know more about telomeres, their role in your health as you age, and how you can keep them healthy longer, will you take the next step to protect the health of your telomeres? 

The increased risk of illness that comes with aging is a natural occurrence everyone has to confront. Without a doubt, the best way to combat aging is through prevention by living a healthy lifestyle that includes eating a balanced diet. So put our list of ways to maintain and improve telomere health to good use and start your healthy aging journey today!