5 simple ways to slow down aging

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5 simple ways to slow down aging

Telomeres

NIH

Telomeres, in white, are structures at the tips of chromosomes (in blue).

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Aging is largely your chromosomes' fault. That's what Nobel-prize winning biologist Elizabeth Blackburn discovered when she started exploring the world of the invisible, threadlike cellular strands that carry our genetic code.

"It's the over-shortening of telomeres that leads us to feel and see signs of aging," Blackburn said in an April 2017 TED talk. "It sends a signal. Time to die."

Here are a few things Blackburn suggests anyone can do to keep their telomeres long. While these tips won't make you live forever, they can help with your "health span" - the number of years a person lives happily, and disease-free.