For a Danish study, activities such as running, swimming, cycling, and rowing affect DNA
It is well known that regular exercise has positive effects on our health and reduces the risk of almost all chronic diseases. But can training consistently also have an effect on our DNA? The answer is yes, but with some clarifications.
According to a study from a few years ago, even just a few minutes of relatively strenuous exercise such as running, swimming, cycling, and rowing can act on DNA, improving some functions that help burn fat and sugar and support the body. But be careful: this does not mean that training changes the DNA code or our genetics. Rather, regular exercise underlies a temporary chemical change called methylation, where a particular chemical compound attaches itself to the outside of the DNA strand. DNA contains the genetic code that the body uses to produce proteins and methylation alters the speed at which these can be produced by genes. In this sense, however, it can be said that exercise brings about an epigenetic change on DNA.
Research – The discovery came about by analyzing a group of young volunteers through a six-week resistance exercise program. Before and after the exercise, the researchers took a biopsy of the thigh muscle of all the participants to see if changes in the epigenetic signature of their DNA occurred following the training. The result confirmed the suspicions: after completing the resistance training program, the structure of many enhancers in the skeletal muscle was altered. And by linking these enhancers to a series of genetic databases, they found that many of them had been identified as “hot spots” associated with human diseases. This would lead one to think that the beneficial changes induced by physical exercise protect against the development of various diseases. “Our data – explains Kristine Williams, lead author of the study – provide evidence of a functional link between the epigenetic rewiring of enhancers to control their activity after exercise and the modulation of disease risk in humans.”
Benefits (also) for the brain – That’s not all: Researchers have also found that exercise benefits organs distant from muscles, such as the brain. This could mean that the positive effects of exercise extend far beyond the muscles, scientists say, helping the body prevent many diseases, including degenerative ones.
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