Average telomere length measured in immune cells from a blood sample is a terrible measure of biological age. Trends only appear in large study populations, and the measure can move up and down with transient changes in health, such as infections. It is as much a measure of momentary pressure on the immune system and increased immune cell replication as it is a measure of longer term trends in health due to underlying mechanisms of aging. Still, while much of the world has moved on to epigenetic clocks, some groups still insist on using telomere length in their studies of the pace of aging. In large stud…
An Association Between Time Spent Running and Telomere Length
Average telomere length measured in immune cells from a blood sample is a terrible measure of biological age. Trends only appear in large study populations, and the measure can move up and down with transient changes in health, such as infections. It is as much a measure of momentary pressure on the immune system and increased immune cell replication as it is a measure of longer term trends in health due to underlying mechanisms of aging. Still, while much of the world has moved on to epigenetic clocks, some groups still insist on using telomere length in their studies of the pace of aging. In large stud…