Reduce your biological age by eight years as scientists recommend the best exercise to do three times a week

According to a recent study, lifting weights can make your physique appear years younger.

Three one-hour strength training sessions each week can reduce your biological age by up to eight years, according to research by US scientists.

While biological age indicates the health of your cells, or more simply, how quickly your body is deteriorating, chronological age is just how long you have been alive.

This study of 4,800 participants found that those who lifted weights had a lower biological age, despite the fact that weightlifting has long been commended for enhancing bone and muscle health.

Adults should engage in 150 minutes of moderately intensive activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity every week, according to NHS recommendations.

Additionally, it recommends doing strengthening exercises at least twice a week that target all of the main muscle groups, such as the legs, back, and abdomen.

Strength training may help participants retain longer telomeres, the protective caps on your DNA that typically shrink with age, according to a study published in the journal Biology.

Weightlifting appears to slow the aging process at the cellular level, and longer telomeres are linked to improved health and longer life.

According to Larry Tucker, an exercise sciences professor at Brigham Young University in the United States, the study demonstrates a substantial association but is unable to demonstrate that lifting weights results in longer telomeres.

“Cause is not implied by correlation. We cannot claim that biological age decreased as a result of the lifting,” he told The Telegraph.

“All kinds of strength exercises were counted and all types of exercise seem to be associated with longer telomeres.”

The telomeres of study participants who lifted weights typically contained almost 225 extra bits of DNA than those who did not.

“The findings showed that for every ten minutes spent on strength training per week, telomeres were 6.7 base pairs longer, on average,” according to the research.

Strength training for 90 minutes a week was therefore associated with telomeres that were, on average, 60.3 base pairs longer.

Strength training for 90 minutes a week was linked to an average of 3.9 years reduced biological aging because each year of chronological age was linked to telomeres that were 15.47 base pairs shorter in this national population.

“This interpretation suggests that an hour of strength training three times per week (180 total minutes) was associated with 7.8 years less biological ageing.”

Because it not only combats obesity but also reverses muscle loss, raises metabolism, and improves cardiovascular health, the experts suggest weight training may be beneficial to an individual’s health and life expectancy.

“By reducing the effects of chronic disease and metabolic risk factors, resistance training appears to slow the biological ageing process and reduce cell senescence, which is evidenced by longer telomeres,” adds Tucker.