2 Simple & Easy Ways To Prevent Cellular Aging & Reduce Dementia Risk

If you're at all interested in supporting your longevity efforts (like we are), you may have heard that having shorter telomeres is a sign of biological aging—and thus, having longer telomeres is a sign of living a longer life.

These little chromosomal caps help protect our DNA from damage, and measuring the rate of their decay over time can give us an accurate prediction for life span. 

While we don't quite know if telomere shortening is the cause of death or simply a byproduct of it, one thing is for certain—telomere length is, in fact, associated with biological aging.

A study published by PLOS ONE compared telomere length in white blood cells to brain MRIs in over 31,000 UK participants and found a number of interesting correlations between telomere length and cognitive function1.

Shrinking gray matter volume, hippocampal atrophy, brain iron accumulation, and accelerated thinning cerebral cortex are all associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Another important indicator of cognitive decline is an increasing volume of white matter hyperintensities, which grows with age. 

This study's results suggest that longer telomeres provide neuroprotective actions and help prevent dementia.

While the biological aging process is a bit complex, lengthening telomeres to support healthy cellular aging is surprisingly simple. 

Telomere length has been linked to biological aging for quite some time now, and a study from PLOS ONE shows that longer telomeres may even play a part in protecting the brain from dementia.