HEALTH AND WELLNESS
66
NEW JERSEY COPS
■
FEBRUARY 2015
Melatonin can help you sleep
You could be 80 years old and feel like a teenager. Or
you could be in your 30s and feel like you have one foot
in the grave. The secret to feeling young is how well
your body “talks” to your telomeres, which are regions
of repetitive DNA at the end of a chromosome that protect the end of the chromosome from deterioration.
New research shows that telomeres have receptors that
communicate with your hormones; they talk to each
other.
DR. ALI
That’s important because your hormones and your
MAZANDARANI
telomeres affect aging more than anything else. If they
have “good” conversations, you feel (and stay) young.
If they have “bad” conversations, you can age more
quickly than your chronological age.
Youthful hormone levels tell telomeres, “We’re still young and strong!
Continue to rebuild and revitalize these cells.”
The opposite happens when you have too little of a specific
hormone. That signals the telomere that you’re “old.” Repair and maintenance work slows down. The cell takes on older, slower and less active
behavior.
One of the most remarkable examples of this is the way the “sleep
hormone” melatonin affects aging and telomeres.
Man H