The younger you look, the longer you will probably live.

Danish scientists say appearance alone can predict survival, after studying 387 pairs of twins. All the twins were in their 70s, 80s or 90s when photographed.

Over a seven-year follow-up the researchers, led by Professor Kaare Christensen of the University of Southern Denmark, found that the bigger the difference in perceived age within a pair, the more likely it was that the older-looking twin died first. via BBC News

Age, sex and professional background of the subjects didn’t impact results.

A consistency in the aging and mortality process did involve key pieces of DNA called telomeres, which shorten with as we age.

Reading this information, I couldn’t ignore the research of Dr. David Weeks, who I wrote about two years ago in The Young and the Superyoung. The journal puts me in South Beach, facing the world of hard bodies and the kick-ass Crunch gym.

Dr. Weeks studied the lifestyles of a group of about 3000 people judged to look 10 years or more younger than their actual age. His book is no longer in print, but I own it. The top two lifestyle characteristics of his older were sex at least three times a week and lots of exercise.

Weeks concluded:

• Regular aerobic exercise for about 40 minutes daily can add as much as 12 years to your life.

• The equivalent of three brisk one-mile walks a week is sufficient to help you look between five to eight years younger in middle and later years.

• Improving the quality of your sex life can help you to look between four and seven years younger.

Reading today’s BBC News report People who look younger for their age ‘live longer’ and why, I just Googled exercise+telomeres and got the results I expected.

In early 2008 a study of more than 2,400 British twins found for the first time that physical exercise actually counteracts the shortening of telomeres.

The length of the twins’ telomeres was directly related to their activity levels, the researchers found. People who did a moderate amount of exercise — about 100 minutes a week of activity such as tennis, swimming or running — had telomeres that on average looked like those of someone about five or six years younger than those who did the least — about 16 minutes a week. Those who did the most — doing about three hours a week of moderate to vigorous activity— had telomeres that appeared to be about nine years younger than those who did the least. via Washington Post

This post is so relevant to yesterday’s discussion about menopause and hormone replacement therapy. Whether a woman uses hormone supplements or not should be her informed decision with her doctor. When it comes to exercise, women MUST get moving.

Please, please, please. No more excuses. There is absolutely no doubt about the important of exercise in our lives. Exercise is transformational at any age. Trust me, I know this fact very well in my own life. Anne