Research shows that adults who regularly engage in intense exercise have significantly longer telomeres, those protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. As a result, people who exercise regularly are a full decade younger than their peers on a cellular level.

• Larry A. Tucker, “Physical Activity and Telomere Length in U.S. Men and Women: An NHANES Investigation,” Preventive Medicine 100 (July 2017): 145–51, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.04.027.)