You are growing older every hour of the day, on a cellular level. A major cause of aging is inside the cells of your body. Your mitochondria, inside the nucleus of your cells, are responsible for replicating your DNA, making your cells divide to make new muscle, new nerve, new brain cells, new bodily tissue.
Mitochondria are very important energy converters. Recent research indicates that in addition to converting energy, mitochondria play a large part in determining when a cell will die by ordinary cell death (necrosis) or programmed cell death (apoptosis). In apoptosis the mitochondrion releases a chemical, cytochrome c, and this can trigger programmed cell death.
Did you know that your body replaces the lining of the stomach every five days, red blood cells every 120 days, and skin cells every two weeks? Your bone cells are completely replaced every 10 years. Muscle tissue varies. Fat cells are replaced every 12 years.
If the mitochondria don’t get the necessary chemicals, fats, proteins, enzymes, and fuel, they can’t replicate and you lose a cell. A cell here, a cell there. Before you know it, you’ve lost another percentage of muscle or bone. Exercise represents the fuel your cells require for long-lasting, healthy and replicating mitochondria.
The efficiency of mitochondrial energy production and function declines with age. Evidence is accumulating that mitochondrial dysfunction underlies many common age-related diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, fatigue syndromes, and numerous genetic conditions.
What can you do if you’re among the millions of aging seniors? There are no mitochondrial supplements. But exercise does send a message to your cells that they are needed to support activity. This is another reason exercise is vital to seniors. Get out there and get your heart pumpin’. Your cells will love you for it.
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