Teenagers with an unhealthy lifestyle age faster than their healthy peers

According to a large DNA study, smoking, regular drinking, low physical activity, and high BMI accelerate the biological age of teens by 2-5 weeks a year.

To Alice Klein

Young people smoke Also, according to a study that followed 800 teenagers for 10 years and evaluated markers of aging in the blood, other unhealthy lifestyle habits age biologically faster than their non-habitual peers. To do.

“If teens know that something like smoking actually makes them biologically older, I think it’s a motivation for them to stay healthy,” he says. Anna Cankernper At the University of Yuvascula, Finland, where he led the study.

We usually think of age by the number of birthdays –…