9th European Public Health Conference: Parallel Sessions
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Key messages: Lifestyle change involving green exercise is associated with better cell-aging profiles Health promotion should encourage regular green exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle
Green exercise is associated with better cell ageing profiles Gunnthora Olafsdottir G Olafsdottir1, P Cloke2, E Epel3, J Lin3, Z van Dyck1, B Thorleifsdottir4, T Eysteinsson4, M Gudjonsdottir4,5, C Vo¨gele1 1 University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg 2 University of Exeter, Exeter, UK 3 University of California San Francisco, USA 4 University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland 5 Reykjalundur Rehabilitation Centre, Mosfellsbaer, Iceland Contact:
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Background Lifestyle factors (e.g. regular exercise) have been shown to impact the health and lifespan of individuals by affecting telomere length. There is also increasing evidence for the health benefits of nature experience, although previous studies often confound the effects of exercise and nature experience. It remains unclear, therefore, whether exercise in nature has effects superseding those of exercise alone. We
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investigated the effects of a lifestyle change programme involving exercise outdoors in nature-rich areas compared to exercise inside a built environment and a no-exercise control group in terms of telomere changes and other health parameters. Methods Sixty healthy, physically inactive adults (50% female, mean age 25.9 years) took part in a non-randomised 5-months lifestyle change programme involving regular endurance exercise, either in a nature-rich setting (green exercise; n = 20) or a fitness centre (gym; n = 20). The control group (n = 20) stayed inactive. Telomere length and telomerase activity was measured before and after the intervention, in addition to bimonthly assessments of a range of self-report, behavioural and physiological measures (e.g. cortisol). Results We observed a significant increase in telomere length across groups, which was most prominent in the two exercise groups. Paired samples t-tests performed separately on each group revealed that telomere length significantly increased in the gym group (0.11 T/S; p = .011) and in the green exercise group (0.10 T/S; p = .001), but not in the control group (0.04 T/S; p = .074). While telomerase activity significantly decreased in the gym group (0.16 units/10.000 cells; p = .001), there was no change in the nature and control groups. Conclusions Green exercise is associated with better cell-ageing profiles. These preliminary findings have important implications for health promotion and public access to nature-rich places in an increasingly urbanized world.
