Source: Gregg Braden Official
Gregg Braden shares 4 things you can do to thrive and extend your lifespan in this fast-changing world: nutrition, exercise, supplements, and heart-brain coherence.
Source: TEDx Talks
Have you ever wondered how long you will live? And if so, how could you change that number to live drastically longer? The science might be in your favor: follow David Sinclair, Australian biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard University, as he shares his research on slowing and reversing the process of aging in mice, and how the same technology may someday be transferable to humans. David Sinclair, Australian biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard University, shares his insightful research into the science of age reversal and anti-aging medicine.
David Sinclair, Australian biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard University, shares his insightful research into the science of age reversal and anti-aging medicine. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
NOTE FROM TED: Research around aging discussed in this talk remains an ongoing field of study. Please do not look to this talk for health advice. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers.
Source: Dr Rangan Chatterjee Clips
In this interview with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, David Sinclair explains the secret to looking younger and feeling healthier.
David Sinclair, a Harvard professor and author of Lifespan: Why We Age – And Why We Don’t Have To, is a revolutionary thinker and ground-breaking scientist who’s on a mission to make you younger. He is one of the world’s leading scientific authorities on longevity, aging, and how to slow its effects.
Watch the FULL CONVERSATION HERE:
Source: Thomas DeLauer
Thomas DeLauer reveals a new fasting study about what fasting window is the best and how it positively affects your body.
Video Source: vpro documentary
By Dr. Joseph Mercola | mercola.com
If you want to live to celebrate your 100th birthday, you’re not alone. Some are going to great lengths to achieve extreme life extension — if not immortality itself. Statistically, the younger you are right now, the greater your chances of living to 100 and beyond, thanks to improvements in 3D printing, stem cell research and nanotech technology.
At present, about one-quarter of children born today are expected to live beyond 100,1 and research shows the number of centenarians in the U.S. has been doubling every decade since the 1950s. By 2050, the number of centenarians living in the U.S. is expected to pass 1 million.2
The fascination with extreme longevity is an enduring one and the search for “the fountain of youth” has a long history, from tracking down sacred, life-giving water sources in the days of antiquity to the invention of nanobots and stem cell research in the modern age.
The featured VPRO Backlight documentary, “Becoming Immortal,” documents some of the latest advancements in the fight against aging. “If aging is considered as a disease, then the cure is immortality,” the narrator says. For some, the dream of eternal life is so strong, they freeze their bodies — or just their heads — in cryogenic tanks, where they await the day when the technology to revive them has come to pass.
According to this film, billions of dollars are spent biohacking the human biology in search of longer life, and Google has created an entire department dedicated to investigating the human biology of aging and mortality. “The techies are convinced the human code can be cracked,” the narrator says, “if not during their own lifetime, then shortly thereafter.”
The ultimate goal: The ability to extend life indefinitely, allowing you to live as long as you wish. As noted in the film, while some find life unbearable and seek to end it sooner rather than later, others truly love life and want to keep going far beyond what is currently considered a normal life span.
In the desert of Arizona is a company called Alcor, founded in 1972. Here, those who refuse to accept the finality of death can have their remains placed in a cryogenic deep freeze to await reanimation at some future date. Freezing your head costs $80,000; placing your entire body on ice will set you back a cool $200,000. Some are also choosing to cryopreserve their pets, in the hopes of reuniting with them in the future. Freezing a small pet’s head costs about $5,000.
For proper preservation, the patient is immediately frozen following death. Cryogenic freezing involves preserving the dead body in liquid nitrogen. After the blood has been replaced by an antifreeze fluid to protect tissue integrity, the body is placed in an arctic sleeping bag and cooled to about 166 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (110 degrees below zero Celcius). Over the following weeks, the temperature is progressively lowered until it reaches about 321 degrees below zero F (196 below zero degrees C).
According to Alcor cofounder Linda Chamberlain — who currently has three of her own family members, including her husband, stored at the facility — the idea is not to be brought back to life as an old and feeble person. The idea is that once reanimation is possible, the technology will also be advanced enough to actually rejuvenate the body, essentially winding back the biological clock to a much more youthful stage. Cloning would also need to be perfected to allow for the reattachment of your frozen head onto your cloned body.
According to Alcor, once frozen, the individual is “located somewhere between life and death.” “It’s kind of like if you were in a hospital, and the person was in a coma,” Chamberlain says when asked how she feels about her family members being in this in-between state.
“You know their body is still alive, and that there’s hope that medical technology will be able to fix what they died of and bring them back to a healthy state of functioning. And so, for me it’s very much like that. I feel very joyful and happy when I’m back here [in the cryopreservation room]. In addition to my family members, I have dozens of good friends [here] that I’ve known over the years. This is a very inviting place for me. I like being here.
Am I afraid of death? You bet I am. Death sounds boring. It’s the end of everything. Death there’s no way back from. With cryonics, we’re talking about stopping death so that we have a chance of living vastly extended lifespans. Real death means all the information that was once in your body … is gone, irretrievably. Maybe fear is the wrong word … maybe [a better word is] detesting the idea of going out of existence.”
While most of those awaiting new life at Alcor have expressed the desire to be brought back into a healthy human body, Chamberlain has more exotic wishes for her future life. She aspires to be brought back into a technologically sophisticated frame composed of nanobots, which would give her the ability to alter her physiological functioning at will. She gives the example of being able to go skiing on Mars without concern for the lack of atmosphere.
Silicon Valley is home to the SENS Research Foundation, where scientists such as Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist and a leading authority on life extension, aim to stimulate rejuvenation research on a global scale. Rather than hoping for reanimation after death, SENS is focused on damage repair, essentially turning back the biological clock before death occurs.
“We’re interested in restoring the body of an older individual, in terms of its structure and composition, to something like it was in early adulthood,” de Grey says. “If we can do that reasonably well, then we will by definition restore function, both mental and physical.
But that’s very different from how people have historically thought about how to address aging, either by directly attacking the symptoms of old age … or alternatively trying to clean up the way the body works so that it just ages more slowly in the first place.”
Silicon Valley’s growing obsession with radical life extension seems a logical outgrowth of geniuses creating life-altering technologies that affect millions if not billions of people. It’s a hubris of sorts, that makes them think they can crack the human code and bend mortality to their own will. However, as noted in the film, techies are not necessarily very good at understanding the complexities of human biology, or predicting the risks inherent with “biohacking.” Still, some accept the risks and use themselves as guinea pigs.
Liz Parrish, founder and CEO of BioViva, a biotech company specializing in antiaging therapies, was her company’s first patient. “If you don’t look young, you’re not young,” she says. Parish used gene therapy to lengthen her telomeres. According to BioViva scientists, her biological age reversed considerably. At present, these kinds of gene therapies are illegal for human use in most Western countries. Parrish received her treatments in Colombia.
Telomeres were first discovered back in the 1930s. Every cell in your body contains a nucleus, and inside the nucleus are the chromosomes that contain your genes. The chromosome is made up of two “arms,” and each arm contains a single molecule DNA, which is essentially a string of beads made up of units called bases.
A typical DNA molecule is about 100 million bases long. It’s curled up like a slinky, extending from one end of the chromosome to the other. At the very tip of each arm of the chromosome is where you’ll find the telomere. In 1973, Alexey Olovnikov discovered that telomeres shorten with time because they fail to replicate completely each time the cell divides. Hence, as you get older, your telomeres get increasingly shorter.
If you were to unravel the tip of the chromosome, a telomere is about 15,000 bases long at the moment of conception in the womb. Immediately after conception your cells begin to divide, and your telomeres shorten each time the cell divides. Once your telomeres have been reduced to about 5,000 bases, you essentially die of old age. This is now thought to be a major key that explains the process of aging itself, and holds the promise of not just slowing aging, but actually reversing it.
In 1984, Elizabeth Blackburn Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered that the enzyme telomerase has the ability to lengthen the telomere by synthesizing DNA from an RNA primer. She, along with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak were jointly awarded the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.
The following year, research3 showed that exercise buffers the effect of chronic stress on telomere length, which helps explain some of its well-documented effects on health and longevity. Other studies have found there’s a direct association between reduced telomere shortening in your later years and high-intensity-type exercises. As noted in a study published in Mechanisms of Aging and Development:4
“The results of the present study provide evidence that leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is related to regular vigorous aerobic exercise and maximal aerobic exercise capacity with aging in healthy humans. LTL is not influenced by aerobic exercise status among young subjects, presumably because telomere length is intact (i.e., already normal) in sedentary healthy young adults.
However, as LTL shortens with aging it appears that maintenance of aerobic fitness, produced by chronic strenuous exercise and reflected by higher VO2max, acts to preserve LTL … Our results indicate that LTL is preserved in healthy older adults who perform vigorous aerobic exercise and is positively related to maximal aerobic exercise capacity. This may represent a novel molecular mechanism underlying the “anti-aging” effects of maintaining high aerobic fitness.”
Another do-it-yourself experimenter and SENS Foundation supporter is real estate millionaire Darren Moore, who uses FOX04-DRI, a senolytic agent, in an effort to turn back time. As explained on his website:5
“A senolytic … is among the class of senotherapeutics, and refers to small molecules that can selectively induce death of senescent cells. Senescence is a potent tumor suppressive mechanism. It however drives both degenerative and hyperplastic pathologies, most likely by promoting chronic inflammation.
Senescent cells accumulate in aging bodies and accelerate the aging process. Eliminating senescent cells increases the amount of time that mice are free of disease. The goal of those working to develop senolytic agents is to delay, prevent, alleviate or reverse age-related diseases.”
In mice, FOX04-DRI has been shown to turn back the biological clock. The substance, which is hard to come by, costs about $500 per milligram, so it’s by no means an inexpensive experiment. There are also no guarantees it will work in humans. Moore, however, believes some risk is worth the possibility of gaining a longer life, and more importantly, longer health-span.
But he’s made his share of mistakes. One experimental drug caused severe side effects, making him break out in a swollen, itchy rash and caused rapid heartbeat and dangerously high blood pressure.
Life extension, especially when we’re talking about extreme life extension — possibly to the point of making us more or less immortal — brings up a lot of questions. What makes us human? What is personal identity? Is there a soul, and if so, what are the spiritual ramifications of reanimating your corpse? Who should have access to life extending technologies? There are many more, and as advances are made, we’ll eventually need to face all of these questions.
As of right now, death is still a certainty for all of us. You can, however, slow down the aging process, and you don’t need to be wealthy or reckless to do it. According to longevity researchers, the majority of centenarians — people who are 100 or older — do not feel their chronological age; on average, they report feeling 20 years younger. They also tend to have positive attitudes, optimism and a zest for life. Indeed, having a positive outlook on life has been shown to be THE most influential factor in longevity studies!
Interestingly, healthy behaviors cannot fully account for impact optimism has on mortality. Some researchers believe optimism has a direct effect on biological systems. Indeed, while conventional medicine is still reluctant to admit that your emotional state has a major impact on your overall health and longevity, a 2013 article in Scientific American6 discusses a number of interesting advancements in the emerging field of psychoneuroimmunology.
Researchers have found that your brain and immune system are actually wired together. Connections between your nervous system and immune-related organs such as your thymus and bone marrow allow for crosstalk between the two systems. Your immune cells also have receptors for neurotransmitters, which suggests they can be more or less directly influenced by them.
In interviews and surveys with centenarians, the following themes come up time and time again when asked to explain why they’ve lived so long.7 This list contains things most of us have quite a bit of control over. The same cannot be said for predicting the emergence of reanimation technologies and rejuvenation drugs.
| Keeping a positive attitude | Eating real food |
| Managing stress | Clean living (not smoking or drinking excessively) |
| Living independently | Strong family ties |
| Exercising (most report basic activities like walking, biking, gardening, swimming) | A network of friends |
| Staying mentally active and always learning something new | Faith/spirituality |
Source: Greatness Clips – Lewis Howes
Dr. David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard University, shares his insightful research into habits that destroy health and decrease lifespan.
By April McCarthy | Prevent Disease
Lose your temper on the road? Frustrated with colleagues at work? You may be cutting your life short, warns molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn–who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009–and health psychologist Elissa Epel, who studies stress and aging.
The authors claim in their new book, The Telomere Effect, that negative thoughts harm your health at the DNA level. Research has shown that a person’s “social relationships, environments and lifestyles” affect their genes. “Even though you are born with a particular set of genes, the way you live can influence how they express themselves.”
Blackburn and Epel say components of DNA called telomeres determine how fast your cells age. Short telomeres are one of the major reasons human cells grow old, but lab tests have shown that they can also grow longer. In other words, aging “could possibly be accelerated or slowed -and, in some aspects, even reversed.” The
The aging and lifespan of normal, healthy cells are linked to the so-called telomerase shortening mechanism, which limits cells to a fixed number of divisions. During cell replication, the telomeres function by ensuring the cell’s chromosomes do not fuse with each other or rearrange, which can lead to cancer. Blackburn likened telomeres to the ends of shoelaces, without which the lace would unravel.
In one study, telomere length, an emerging biomarker for cellular and general bodily aging, was assessed in association with the tendency to be present in the moment versus the tendency to mind wander, in research on 239 healthy, midlife women ranging in age from 50 to 65 years. “People who score high on measures of cynical hostility tend to get
“People who score high on measures of cynical hostility tend to get more cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease and often die at younger ages. They also have shorter telomeres.”
Pessimism shortens telomeres too.”When pessimists develop an aging-related illness, like cancer or heart disease, the illness tends to progress faster… They tend to die earlier,” warn the authors.
Ruminating over a bad situation is also destructive. “Rumination never leads to a solution, only to more ruminating… When you ruminate, stress sticks around in the body long after the reason for the stress is over.” The resulting depression and anxiety only make your telomeres shorter.
Trying to suppress thoughts and feelings makes matters worse. “The more forcefully you push your thoughts away, the louder they call out for your attention… In a small study, greater avoidance of negative feelings and thoughts was associated with shorter telomeres.”
Even lack of focus is bad for telomeres because “when people are not thinking about what they’re doing, they’re not as happy as when they’re engaged.” To reverse the harm to telomeres, try meditation and long-distance running.
By Jill Suttie | Greater Good Magazine
Like many people over 60, I sometimes lose my keys or forget the names of my favorite films. When I do, it makes me wonder: Is this the beginning of the cognitive decline? Or, worse, am I fated to follow in the footsteps of my mother, who died of Lewy-body dementia in her 70s?
According to neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta, CNN medical correspondent and author of the new book Keep Sharp: Building a Better Brain at Any Age, the answer is no. Forgetfulness is normal at all ages, and your genes don’t doom you to dementia. What’s important is taking care of your brain in the best way possible, he argues.
“You can affect your brain’s thinking and memory far more than you realize or appreciate, and the vast majority of people haven’t even begun to try,” he writes.
Gupta distills results from hundreds of research studies to help readers understand what’s known (and not known) about keeping your brain healthy. Along the way, he busts common myths—for example, that doing puzzles is a good way to ward off dementia—and replaces them with science-based advice on how to live a longer, healthier life with a more functional brain. He also distinguishes typical memory lapses (like forgetting an acquaintance’s name) from more troublesome ones (like not remembering the way home from a frequent destination)—a distinction I found quite reassuring.
While he’s quick to hail the cognitive strengths of older people (they tend to have better vocabulary skills, for example), he also points out that our cognitive capacities can start to decline much earlier in life than we think, even in early adulthood. That’s why he recommends making lifestyle changes now to improve brainpower at every age—not just when you hit your 60s.
Keep Sharp includes a questionnaire assessing risk for cognitive decline—with some surprising questions, like “Do you sit for most of the day?” or “Do you have a history of depression?” Understanding your risk can inspire you to take corrective action. To that end, here are Gupta’s five keys to a healthier brain.
“When people ask me what’s the single most important thing they can do to enhance their brain’s function and resiliency to disease, I answer with one word: exercise,” writes Gupta. Being inactive is probably the most significant risk factor in dementia while staying fit can help stave it off. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much movement to make a difference: Even walking for two minutes every day counts.
Exercise provides many benefits overall, including better stamina, strength, stress management, and immune function. But the main reason movement helps the brain is that it reduces inflammation while stimulating growth factors that promote the function and growth of neural cells. That’s why aerobic exercise (more than stationary exercise, like weightlifting) confers cognitive benefits—though weightlifting can build muscle.
“Sleeping well is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your brain functions, as well as your ability to learn and remember new knowledge,” writes Gupta. That’s because sleep seems to clear the brain of debris that might otherwise build up and create problems.
Of course, some people have trouble getting good sleep; so, Gupta’s book reminds them of sleep hygiene principles that can help. He also points to the importance of resting, in general, and suggests replacing daytime naps with stress-reducing walks in nature or meditations.
To reduce stress and rumination (those troublesome thoughts that keep us up at night), he recommends that people add a gratitude practice to their day—which, he writes, “acts like a big reset button.” You can also think about community volunteering, taking regular breaks from email and social media, and avoiding multitasking.
While puzzles may not be the answer to cognitive decline, we do need to stimulate our brains with learning and discovery, writes Gupta. Learning creates new neural pathways and promotes brain resiliency—something that may help stave off the outward symptoms of dementia (like memory loss) even if you develop the telltale brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s.
Keep Sharp: Building a Better Brain at Any Age (Simon & Schuster, 2021, 336 pages)
“Think of it as a big backup system in the brain that results from enriched life experiences such as education and occupation,” he writes.
Building cognitive reserve doesn’t happen overnight, he warns—it results from a lifetime of challenging your brain through education, work, social relationships, and other activities. However, just because you don’t have a college education doesn’t mean you will experience greater cognitive decline, either. Aiming to challenge your mind throughout your life is more protective than a formal degree.
Gupta warns that the majority of commercial “brain games” are not effective at staving off dementia, though they may improve memory because they don’t train problem-solving or reasoning—keys to cognitive reserve. People would be better off taking a traditional class or learning a second language, he says, because these activities offer more complex challenges and social contact, too—also important for brain health.
Finding purpose in life can be good for the brain, especially if it involves contact with people of different generations or personal learning and challenge. Research suggests that people with a sense of purpose have a reduced risk of suffering the deleterious effects of dementia—even if their brain contains Alzheimer’s plaques—probably because having purpose inspires them to take better care of themselves.
“What’s good for the heart is good for the brain,” writes Gupta. Still, there is so much conflicting information out there about diets and dietary supplements, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff (pun intended).
Gupta takes pains to dispel myths around gluten and so-called “superfoods” (like kale and fish oil). There is no evidence to suggest gluten affects people’s brain function, he says, and kale and fish oil, while good for you, are not going to stop cognitive decline.
While it’s hard to recommend a perfect brain diet based on research, Gupta cites Martha Clare Morris’s work. An epidemiologist and founding member of the Global Council on Brain Health, Morris recommends a Mediterranean-like diet—one rich in vegetables, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, and olive oil.
That diet may not be palatable or available for everyone, though. So, Gupta provides more general diet advice, too (using the acronym SHARP):
Having close relationships with others you can count on is important to a happy, healthy life, and may help you live longer. It’s important for brain health, too, as research suggests its opposite, loneliness, seems to be a factor in developing Alzheimer’s.
Gupta suggests combining socializing with other activities designed to get you moving or learning. That could mean taking a walk or class with a friend, joining a team sport, or volunteering. Socializing with more diverse people or people of different generations can also be a plus. And staying connected virtually, while less than ideal, maybe helpful when one lives in a remote place without many social supports. An added bonus: Learning how to use social media for the first time may help boost memory.
While it’s true each of these lifestyle factors is good for preventing cognitive decline, Gupta has advice for people already experiencing cognitive decline, too. Part of his book is devoted to helping readers experiencing decline to assess where they’re at and figure out how to move forward from there.
For the rest of us, his book is a useful and highly readable primer for sharpening your brain at any age—not just to stave off dementia, but to simply enjoy your life more fully.
“The brain can be continuously and consistently enriched throughout our life no matter your age or access to resources,” he writes. If you change your lifestyle, even a little, he promises, “Your brain—no, your whole body—will love it.”
Video Source: SOMA Breath
Can you live forever? In this video, Niraj Naik talks about immortality and longevity, and the ability to live forever. Do you think this is a myth, or is it something that’s actually true? There’s a technique in pranayama and yoga called Kumbhaka. Learn how to do the Kumbhaka Pranayama and how to fully utilize full breath retention.
No one has ever dreamed of a short life. We want to enjoy what the world has to offer. Yet, death is inevitable. To make the most of life, one of the best things we can do is invest in our health.
If we try to look around, we’ll be able to find different pieces of advice for improving our lifestyle. For instance, working out and following a quality sleep schedule are just some of the many good habits that experts recommend.
This article aims to help you learn more about the habits you need to develop. They will help you avoid disease, have more energy, and be less stressed.
Keep reading.
Despite the conventional methods of improving a person’s overall health, some people seek alternatives to avoid unwanted side effects. Medications and surgical interventions can, at times, do more harm than good.
That is why they explore naturopathy, yoga, meditation, and guided imagery. When it comes to safe and non-invasive strategies to boost health at the comfort of your home, one therapeutic technique that’s worth a try is red light therapy.
Exercise, in any form, is beneficial to our health. It boosts our bodily functions and promotes excellent blood circulation. It makes us feel renewed and invigorated.
Aerobic exercise like running or jogging improves the way your heart pumps, making blood flow all through your organs smoothly. One study revealed the impact of exercise on our health and longevity. The results showed how a one-hour exercise could add up seven hours to our lives.
Exercise doesn’t only improve your blood circulation, but it also relieves stress and promotes better mental health. Now, that’s what we genuinely call a better way of existing, not just living.
Healthy food is fuel to our bodies. People who eat a diet that’s high in processed foods tend to have a higher risk of developing diseases than those who stick with clean diets.
Choosing the right foods is a great habit to develop. Some people intentionally limit their carbohydrate intake to control their blood glucose levels and burn more fat effectively, while others follow a standard diet. Whatever your dietary preference is, what’s most important is that you eat more whole foods.
They’re more nutrient-dense which means that they contain most of the vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function optimally.
Turmeric is a spice that’s known to contain anti-aging properties that other crops can’t produce. It has anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidants that help eliminate toxins in your body and protect you from certain cancers and other age-related diseases.
Smoking shortens your lifespan by damaging your lungs and blood vessels. A study revealed that those who quit smoking before age 35 might prolong their lives by up to 8.5 years.
Also, smoking has a negative effect on your skin. It may make you look older than you are. If you’ve never smoked before and are thinking of trying it, it’s best to ditch the idea right now – or it’ll be too late to walk away.
Happiness is contagious – and sometimes, it can be the remedy to almost any problem. If your heart is happy, you’re less likely to get stressed out easily. This can improve your immune response and cardiovascular health. Doing what makes you happy can significantly increase your life’s longevity!
Grab that book you’ve been wanting to read. Meet up with an old friend. Give someone a compliment. Shop for the healthiest foods at the grocery store. Enjoy a day at the park.
When ingested occasionally or moderately, alcohol may have positive health benefits. However, when you become addicted to the taste and feeling it brings, it becomes more challenging to quit.
Heavy drinking increases your health risk and poses an internal threat to your system. CDC’s dietary guidelines for alcohol defines moderation as up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.
The kind of friendships you have contribute to your overall health. A group of researchers has proven that maintaining healthy social networks helps you live up to 50% longer.
Hang out with those who motivate you to be the best version of yourself. Ask yourself, “Do my friends inspire me to think and live more positively?”
Quality sleep is a necessity. It’s the period in which your body heals, repairs itself, and regenerates. You need to have at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep to be able to recuperate properly.
A lack of sleep may lead to irritability, stress, and other health-related problems. It also significantly affects your immune response, making you more susceptible to serious health conditions.
Being conscientious without requiring too much effort can lead to a happier and longer life. It would be best if you had unshakeable self-control to avoid external and internal threats that may damage your health as a whole.
One way to raise your conscientiousness is to plan your day so you can stick to a realistic schedule. Another is to prepare healthy meals instead of grabbing whatever satisfies your hunger.
Some people find joy in investing in their careers and working long hours to earn an income that rewards them for their hard work.
This kind of determination is impressive. However, it’s important to not overwork yourself. A person may get overwhelmed by heavy workloads, and that makes them a ticking time bomb.
If you want to thrive, make sure you also have another life outside the four walls of your office. Never force yourself to carry a load that’s too heavy to bear.
There are a lot of steps we can take to boost our health and longevity, and the tips above are some of the most important ways to do it. Yet, developing the right habits doesn’t happen overnight.
It takes the right amount of patience, consistency, and determination. When all of these traits are combined, you’ll transform into a better person with more years to live and goals to strive for.
By Ronald Peters | Mind-Body Medicine Center
“People don’t grow old. When they stop growing, they become old.”
Anonymous
According to Genesis 5: 27, Methuselah, son of Enoch and grandfather of Noah, lived for 969 years. Adam, Seth, Lamech, and several others also lived into their 900s, making modern centenarians look like kids. So, what was Methuselah’s ancient secret? I doubt if green smoothies, jogging, or some exotic Chinese potion were part of the plan. According to the scriptures, after his father’s death, Methuselah is designated by God as a priest. Furthermore, Methuselah asks his father for a blessing and is given instructions on how to live righteously. Now after some 5000 years of human contemplation, what have we learned about the enchanting topic of longevity? What threads of insight or knowledge have grown, like the branches of an ancient vine, through the annals of time?
Modern researchers focus on the importance of nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, cholesterol, cortisol, blood pressure, homocysteine, telomeres, and DNA repair, while others find that optimism, meditation, passion and human connection may be more powerful predictors of a healthy and long life. As a physician for the past 45 years, it is my strong opinion that the deepest roots for longevity arise from human consciousness as the creative force for the infinite variety of human experience. And, just as Methuselah was designated a priest and told to live righteously, we too can access a spiritual source within and in so doing we unshackle the creative power of consciousness leading to untold possibilities, including longevity.
Therefore, in this writing, I will present time-tested and scientifically supported tools for creating longevity, starting with diet, exercise, and the medical perspective. I will leave the most powerful for last which is consciousness and our connection to Spirit.
“Don’t dig your grave with your knife and fork.”
English Proverb
The wisdom of our English ancestors has been proven again and again by modern scientists: eat less and live longer. Reducing the number of calories consumed by all species tested so far, including, yeast, rotifers, nematodes, fruit flies, spiders, fish, rodents (hamsters, rats, mice), dogs, and chimpanzees, as well as humans, will improve health and extend life span by 30 to 40%. The caloric restriction varies between 30 and 50% and may be significantly below that for maximum growth, but enough for maintaining overall health. The reduced-calorie diets create “under-nutrition without malnutrition.”
Caloric restriction is far and away from the most researched and successful approach to life extension discovered so far. Thousands of published articles over 70 years have proven again and again that it works in every species tested. So why aren’t we all jumping on the caloric restriction bandwagon? We can’t stop eating; that’s why. We are flooded daily with images of yummy food and somehow along the way food has become self-directed psychotherapy. Surrounded by junk food, we eat when we are lonely, frustrated, or depressed. It rewards us after a difficult day. Since the days of suckling at the breast of a mother, food is curiously associated with love. It seems that if we are deficient in love in our lives, whether for another or for ourselves, we revert to the primal programming of the infant, and eating moves beyond simply fueling the body and becomes an unconscious surrogate for love and well-being.
But don’t worry, it is the same for chimpanzees. The caged chimps used in caloric restriction research had no choice. Living in captivity and given the opportunity to eat at will, they will overeat, gain weight, and often develop the same chronic diseases that we do. In contrast, chimps living in nature seldom gain weight. Living in nature affords them guidance in the principles of longevity: rich social lives, food prepared by mother nature, and lots of exercise. Basically, they can live as they wish in accordance with the biological intelligence they are born with.
Perhaps many of us are caged as well. However, the bars of our cages are the conscious and unconscious limiting beliefs conditioned into us from childhood which create the all too common dramas of modern life: unfulfilling employment, dysfunctional relationships, loss of creativity in life, and chronic disease. We too are lacking in the natural guidance provided by honoring our emotions, following our excitement, and generally loving ourselves and others. However, unlike the chimps, we have the keys to our cages and we can fling the doors open. But I am getting ahead of myself. More on the high-powered tools for longevity later in this writing.
Back to nutrition – you can achieve 30% caloric restriction by switching to a whole-food, plant-based diet. You can eat as much as you want of gluten-free whole grains such as brown rice, millet, oats, and quinoa, as well as a great variety of vegetables and beans. And, this happens to be the diet of the longest-lived peoples on the earth.
These are the areas on our beautiful planet where people live long and free of common chronic diseases, often reaching into the 110s and 120s and beyond:
These long-living societies eat organic, mostly vegan, whole foods, including grains, vegetables, beans with minimal animal products and fat. Their days usually require lots of movement and exercise and they live in close-knit communities. Most of them also live with a strong spiritual focus in their lives.
Beyond longevity, the following is a summary of the benefits of caloric restriction:
From the first appearance of vertebrate life on earth almost until the present century, our ancestors have been active and strong – “athletic” . . .. Viewed from the perspective of evolutionary time, sedentary existence, possible for great numbers of people only during the past century, represents a transient, unnatural aberration.
Boyd Eaton, Marjorie Shostak, and Melvin Konner MD, The Paleolithic Prescription, A Program of Diet and Exercise
Intuitively, we know that exercise promotes longevity. And, the scientific literature is crystal clear in support of our intuition. Like caloric restriction the science is conclusive. However, I doubt if Methuselah went jogging and the people of Okinawa or the Hunza Valley have seldom seen organizing marathons.
Long prior to the “unnatural aberration” of the modern sedentary human confronted with the new epidemic of “sitting disease”, people were physically strong and “exercise” was not a separate part of the day. It was woven into the fabric of daily life. And, indeed, the human body is a masterpiece of engineering with bones that can withstand compression forces twice as well as granite, and 600 muscles that permit movement ranging from Olympic athletics to playing the piano and brushing your teeth. Your heart, arteries, veins, intestines, lymphatic circulation, bones, joints, liver, and brain depend on vigorous movement to function well. The body is designed for movement and our ancestors survived because of this natural endowment. They ran from danger and worked vigorously to support family and communities.
Our hunter/gatherer ancestors looked like the professional athletes that we watch on TV. They walked, ran, and lifted every day, sometimes for hours and days at a time. Their fitness program was life and survival. This is the wisdom of the body.
Daily life in long-lived societies requires movement. Instead of sitting at desks and computers, they walk everywhere, working the fields, visiting neighbors and family, and taking care of the requirements of daily living. Walking, lifting, carrying, pushing, and perhaps playing punctuate their days like automobiles, elevators and desk chairs do ours.
In modern times, we “don’t have time to exercise”, and yet we seem to find time to be sick. Our ancestors died of infections and trauma, while we succumb to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, all of which are prevented by exercise.
“Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older.”
Hans Seyle
The fight or flight human stress system has ensured human survival on earth for tens of thousands of years, yet in modern times this powerful system is killing us through stress-related diseases. Our hunter/gatherer ancestors ran from danger with the help of cortisol and adrenaline, while we modern “hunters” worry about an endless stream of imaginary dangers while sitting on the sofa or driving the car. All the while cortisol is doing its job of preparing us to run or fight, even though neither is appropriate for our modern “dangers”.
For us, “fight or flight” has become “anger or fear”, or, more commonly, worry, anxiety, apprehension, frustration, guilt (anger at self), and resentment. Unless you can stop worrying about money, the kids, work problems, or, feeling frustrated about traffic and busy schedules, you need to understand the effects of cortisol and why it is considered by some to be the death hormone.
I have talked to thousands of patients over the years and most of them cannot imagine living without worry. We live in the Age of Stress and our bodies are not designed for it. Cortisol is the molecular messenger that tells every cell in your body you are in danger. Research has shown that cortisol levels in the blood steadily increase as we get older. The average 50-year-old has 17 times as much cortisol in his or her blood at bedtime as the average teenager. It is difficult to sleep when you are in danger.
Unless you live in Bagdad, Somalia, or the ghettos of an American city, the clear majority of your stress comes from your mind – what you think about day after day. As Eckhart Tolle writes in his remarkable book, The Power of Now, we are all afflicted with “thinking disease”. We worry about what may go wrong in the future, or, we feel resentment, guilt, or frustration about what did go wrong in the past. Your body cannot distinguish the difference between a man pointing a gun at you in a dark alley, and your worried thoughts about financial problems. So it is important for you to understand what excessive cortisol is doing to your body. Consider the following effects of high cortisol over time:
It is easy to see how these powerful and recurrent changes in the body can contribute over time to a range of diseases, including:
There is little doubt that persistent and recurrent stress, the biggest toxin of all, will shorten your life. Let us look at some of the research on stress and longevity.
Work-Related Exhaustion and Telomere Length: A Population-Based Study
Kirsi Ahola, PLOS, July 11, 2012
Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress, Elissa S. Epel, et al. Proc Nat Acad Sciences 12/2004
Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress, Elissa S. Epel, et al. Proc Nat Acad Sciences 12/2004
Anticipation of Stressful Situations Accelerates Cellular Aging Brain, Aoife O’Donovan, Brain, Behavior and Immunity May 2012
Cortisol levels during human aging predict hippocampal atrophy and memory deficits, Sonia J. Lupien, et al Nature Neuroscience 1, 69 – 73 (1998)
Elevated glucocorticoid (cortisol) levels produce hippocampal dysfunction and correlate with individual deficits in spatial learning in aged rats. Previously we related persistent cortisol increases to memory impairments in elderly humans studied over five years. Here we demonstrate that aged humans with significantly prolonged cortisol elevations showed reduced hippocampal volume and deficits in hippocampus-dependent memory tasks compared to normal-cortisol controls. Moreover, the degree of hippocampal atrophy correlated strongly with both the degree of cortisol elevation over time and current basal cortisol levels. Therefore, basal cortisol elevation may cause hippocampal damage and impair hippocampus-dependent learning and memory in humans.
Stress is the biggest toxin of all and is deeply woven into the mind. High levels of cortisol over time will weaken the immune system, lower hormone levels, atrophy brain cells, and contribute to almost every disease.
Maintain low normal blood glucose levels to avoid cross-linking of sugars with proteins which will cause cell and organ damage [advanced glycation end products, or AGEs).
Inflammation is at the heart of all diseases including chronic illness.
Reduces Free radical oxidative damage which is thought to be a key element of aging
Transfer of methyl groups is the most fundamental biological reaction in the trillions of cells in your body. Compromised methylation will disturb neurotransmitter production, DNA repair, cellular energy production, detoxification of chemicals and heavy metals, immune function, cell membrane repair. Poor methylation may also shorten your life.
The immune system weakens due to persistently high cortisol as well as aging in general and is reflected in thymus shrinkage, auto-immunity, and increasing incidence of cancer.
DHEA is a natural steroid that plays a fundamental role in the maintenance of hormonal balance and youthful vitality. In addition to being the precursor to androgens and estrogens, it supports the immune system, modulates inflammation, protects bones, and helps us adapt to stress. Aging disrupts hormonal balance, with the levels of several critical hormones dramatically reduced in comparison with youthful levels. By age 80, levels of DHEA fall by as much as 80%–90% compared to what they were during young adulthood
Menopause and andropause greatly reduce estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone, but the process is accelerated by stress. Optimal hormone levels are associated with longer telomeres.
Mitochondria convert the energy-rich nutrients in our food into the cellular energy source, ATP. Free radicals and oxidative stress are necessary by-products of “burning” food and oxygen and are eliminated by intrinsic antioxidants as well as antioxidants from our diet. Antioxidant deficiency for a variety of reasons can damage mitochondria reduce energy production needed for healthy organ function and create “mutant” mitochondria which generate even more oxidative stress.
And, as we toss toxic chemicals into the environment polluting the land, water, land air of our planet, we find the same toxins in the tissues of our bodies creating further damage to mitochondrial energy production
Perhaps the greatest mystery of life is the 100 trillion feet (about 19 billion miles) of DNA packed into the nucleus of every cell in your body. DNA contains the instructions for growth, reproduction, and survival. Since DNA is constantly making new copies for new cells, DNA repair is essential in order to maintain cell vitality and survival as well as cancer prevention. However, DNA repair declines with age for reasons not fully understood.
Research at Harvard Medical School reveals many of the DNA repair enzymes are dependent on the signaling molecule NAD. In addition to energizing DNA repair enzymes, NAD improves cellular energy production, reduces cell-damaging inflammation, and increases neurotransmitter production, it also activates the longevity-related Sirtuins 1-7 genes. Next to the power of consciousness, intravenous NAD is one of the most promising treatments for longevity.
The telomere is the region of highly repetitive DNA at the end of a chromosome which functions like a disposable buffer. Without telomeres, repeated cell division would quickly result in the loss of vital genetic information, which is needed to sustain a cell’s activities.
Age-adjusted telomere length is the best method to date to determine accurately a person’s biological age which is compared to their chronological age. Serial evaluation of telomere length will determine how rapidly one age relative to a normal population. Therapies directed at slowing the loss of telomere length will slow aging and age-related diseases
Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells found throughout the body that divide to replenish dying cells and regenerate damaged tissues. Adult stem cells have been found throughout the body, including the brain, bone marrow, blood, blood vessels, muscles, skin, and the liver. Stem cell populations decline with age and they may become dysfunctional, which produces an impaired regenerative response to cellular and tissue or damage
“. . .for the aging person it is a duty and a necessity to give serious attention to himself. After having lavished its light upon the world, the sun withdraws its rays in order to illumine itself.”
Carl Jung
Consciousness creates reality. We all create our life experiences in co-creation with those around us, including society. The creative force of consciousness is our beliefs and 80% of them are unconscious. It is the unconscious beliefs that create the painful experiences, whether they be marital or work problems, financial lack, “accidents” or physical diseases.
Our strong, foundational beliefs come from our family and our society. When a belief is energized by emotion, such as anger or passion, the creative power is stronger.
Therefore, we are responsible for the life circumstances that we create. When we are young it is easy to play the victim and blame others for our misfortunes. It seems natural and society supports this misconception. This is how people and societies have given away their power for millennia. This is a lot to swallow in the beginning, but quickly you will see that taking responsivity for your life is empowering and painful life experiences can be the doorway to healing and self-knowledge as well as a happy, productive, and long life.
This is how it works. The pristine nature of the infant is quickly programmed. Many believe that most of the ego operating system is done by the age of three or four, long before the onset of childhood memories. The non-thinking and vulnerable human infant is in a hypnotic trance, feeling his or her way in a complex, startling, and often scary world. Add in neglect, abandonment, family violence, and abuse and the grip of fear intensifies.
Just as physical wounds heal automatically without you having to think about it, emotional wounds also have a natural healing mechanism. The belief behind every emotional issue unconsciously influences your choices in life in order to set up circumstances, which will permit the unowned emotions to come up, be felt, and released. Basically, the past will return to us again and again until we allow the emotions to surface into consciousness, to own and release. This process is called “the natural therapeutic experience”.
Carl Jung addresses this issue when he said: “Emotion is the chief source of all becoming conscious. There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.” Carl Jung referred to the unconscious mind as the shadow, and its relentless efforts to discharge its contents as shadow projection.
Our health and happiness depend on accepting all that we are with self-love. Love is the energy of healing, not only for those around us but also for ourselves. The rejected parts of our psyche are also a part of us, and they are a powerful part. We can accept and release the contents of the shadow by allowing ourselves to fully experience emotions as they arise in the course of our lives, as they will in particular when we are faced with intimidating challenges such as relationship difficulties, career hurdles, and physical illness. Thus, this healing process depends on accepting challenges, and the emotional pain they entail, as our own creation instead of blaming them on others around us. In this manner, the shadow within becomes a little lighter, and we know, and own, more of who we really are. Also, we will improve our mental and physical health, experience more creativity in life, and are more likely to live longer.
Conversely, if we follow the lead of the ego and keep the “unacceptable” parts of consciousness locked in the shadow, then we are thwarting the natural self-healing mechanisms of the human mind. This self-denial can intensify and become neurosis, which Carl Jung called “a substitute for legitimate suffering.” If the feelings that arise from shadow projection are denied, again and again, the repressed energy can affect the body, creating physical illness, which in turn presents yet another opportunity for healing the unconscious burden of past denial.
Like Methuselah, we too can use the tools of Mastery and create life experiences we prefer, as well as learn and grow from the inevitable shadow projections and dramas in our lives.
Longevity, therefore, is ultimately an expression of consciousness and includes the following:
Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity
Ed Diener, Applied Psychology, 2011
Spontaneous Remission, Written by Andrew Weil, MD
“A study of nearly one thousand older adults followed for nine years concluded that people with high levels of optimism had a 23% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 55% lower risk of death from all causes compared to their pessimistic peers.”
Fulfillment at Any Age, by Aoife O’Donovan, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D. University of California:
Positive emotions in early life and longevity: Findings from the nun study, Danner, D. et al Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 80(5), 5-2001, 804-813.
The Energy Prescription, by Constance Grauds, RPh
Altruism, immunity, and longevity
“altruistic side effects include reduced stress; improved immune system functioning; a sense of joy, peace, and well-being; and even relief from physical and emotional pain.”
Longevity Increased by Positive Self-Perceptions of Aging, Levy, et al., J Pers Soc Psychol. August 2002
Life Beyond 100, Norman Shealey, MD
Summarizes four personality types and links them to longevity.
Based on the work of Dr. Hans Jurgen Eysenck – a 20-year study of over 13,000 European subjects
Positive psychological changes from meditation training linked to cellular health, Clifford Saron, UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain. Psychoneuroendocrinology, October 29, 2010
Source: Mercola.com
Researchers from Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan, recently released data1 after studying the gut microbiome of centenarians living in Japan. What they discovered was a unique bacterium that produced a type of bile acid, which seemed to be common to most of the study participants.
People have been searching for the proverbial Fountain of Youth for centuries.2 Alexander the Great was said to have discovered a river of paradise in the fourth century BC. Similar legends have been told in England, Japan and Polynesia. But likely one of the most famous is that of Ponce de Leon, who received a contract from the King of England to settle an island called Bimini.
In 1513, he set sail with three ships and anchored off the eastern coast of Florida. Not long after his death, he was linked with the Fountain of Youth. In his later years, author Mark Twain noted that “life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.”3
Through the ages, there have always been hopes that a cure would be discovered for aging, whether it was the magical waters of the Fountain of Youth or stem cell research. Yet, as I’ve written in the past years, this magical fountain is likely closer than you think.
Data from the research team in Japan were published in the journal Nature.4 They noted that the centenarians displayed a decreased susceptibility to illnesses associated with the elderly, namely illnesses, chronic inflammation, and infectious diseases.5
The researchers analyzed fecal samples from 160 centenarians living across Japan. The average age of the individuals was 107 years. They compared the gut microbiome found in the fecal samples to that of another 112 people in their 80s and to another 47 participants who were younger.
The goal was to look for differences in the gut microbiome that may help explain the differences in inflammation and chronic disease noted between the groups. The researchers began with an understanding that the gut microbiomes of centenarians likely have a higher diversity of core microbiota as found in a study of residents in Sardinia, Italy, who had lived more than 100 years.6
Functional analysis of the gut microbiota in the study from Italy showed a high capacity for central metabolism and gut microbiota that was “low in genes encoding enzymes involved in the degradation of carbohydrates.”7
The recent study from Japan looked at the differences in the bacterial species present in the gut microbiomes of each group and analyzed the type of compounds the gut microbiome produced.
The researchers hope that by identifying the bacterial communities that support longevity and health, it may be possible to correct imbalances that would prevent disease and improve health in other people.
However, it’s also important to remember that the gut microbiome is complex and sensitive. Past research has shown that changes in what you eat can rapidly alter the composition of your gut microbiome.8,9 However, as you may imagine, reaching an age over 100 is not common, so the data collected from these individuals may help identify health practices that reduce disease.
While some of the participants exhibited low levels of inflammation, ScienceAlert reports the researchers wrote that “the majority of centenarians were free of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension [high blood pressure], and cancer.”10
Over the course of two years, as the fecal samples were collected, the type of bacterial community in the centenarians remained stable. However, the study did not look at other lifestyle factors, such as diet. On further analysis, the researchers found that the centenarians had a group of bacteria (Odoribacteraceae) that reliably produced a bile acid called isoallo-lithocholic acid (isoalloLCA).
The research team did further experiments which showed that the bile acid produced by Odoribacteraceae could inhibit the growth of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) in a lab culture. Using an animal study, they also found the same bile-producing strain of bacteria could reduce the amount of C. difficile infected mice shed below detectable levels.
This suggested to the researchers that this strain of bacteria could help ward off infection with C. difficile. Scientists are finding the bile acids may be a new class of intestinal hormones that do more than aid in digestion.
Research physiologist Kim Barrett from UC San Diego was not involved in the study. She believes that this work revealed more correlation than causality but also said:11 “It is certainly conceivable that manipulating concentrations of specific bile acids, whether microbial or by giving them directly, could exert health benefits.”
Inflammation is at the core of many negative health conditions. This includes atherosclerosis,12 cardiovascular diseases, multimorbidity, and frailty.13 Researchers now call it inflammaging, which is “a condition characterized by elevated levels of blood inflammatory markers that carry high susceptibility to chronic morbidity, disability, frailty, and premature death.”14
Inflammation affects people of all ages. For example, adults with obesity and children with skin and respiratory allergies all struggle with high degrees of inflammation in the body. Researchers understand that aging is complex and chronic information is a pervasive feature in the elderly.15
Inflammaging represents a significant mortality and morbidity risk factor and even low-grade inflammation observed in aging can result in dysregulation of the innate immune system and cell death.
Inflammation is also related to your mental health. In one study, researchers connected depressive symptoms and behavioral disorders strongly with chronic inflammation.16 For example, in melancholic depression, bipolar disorder and postpartum depression, white blood cells called monocytes express pro-inflammatory genes that provoke secretion of cytokines.17
At the same time, cortisol sensitivity goes down, which is important as it is a stress hormone that buffers against inflammation. Together, these inflammatory agents transfer information to your nervous system, typically by stimulating your vagus nerve, which connects your gut and brain.18
Prebiotic foods are the nutrients beneficial bacteria need to thrive. They are found primarily in fiber-rich foods, which is perfect because your gut bacteria thrive on indigestible fiber. In animal research,19 data showed dietary prebiotics had a significant effect on rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (nonREM) sleep cycles.
This may positively affect your sleep quality. Researchers studying the effect of probiotics on gut health and REM sleep found that the animals who ate the prebiotics had an increase in beneficial gut bacteria20 and excreted metabolites beneficial to brain health.21
Prebiotic foods include those high in indigestible fiber, such as asparagus, cashews, a fennel bulb, leeks, and snow peas.22,23 Although I highly recommend getting most of your nutrients from real food, probiotic supplements can be helpful when you’re unable to eat fermented foods.
For probiotics to do their job, you also need to optimize the conditions where they flourish, which means eating plenty of prebiotic foods. In other words, if you take a probiotic supplement and continue to eat a highly-processed diet with added sugars, you’re only feeding the potentially pathogenic bacteria in your gut since they love sugar.
On the other hand, pathogenic microbes do not thrive in the presence of fiber-rich foods or those with healthy fats, proteins, and complex carbohydrates. When the gut microbiome is unbalanced, it can affect the immune system, mental health, mood, and even brain function. In other words, it can raise the level of chronic inflammation in your body and speed the aging process.
Following are several key dietary components that will help you nourish your gut microbiome, thereby protecting yourself against a whole host of chronic diseases:
| Eliminate sugars and processed foods from your diet, as sugar feeds microbes known to have a negative influence on your health. |
| Implement a cyclical ketogenic diet. While nutritional ketosis will initially improve your gut microbiome, thanks to the elimination of excess sugars, in the long term, continuous ketosis may be problematic. To optimize your gut health, be sure to eat lots of fiber-rich vegetables and implement a cyclical ketogenic diet, where once or twice a week you increase the amount of net carbs (total carbohydrates minus fiber). |
| Eat plenty of fiber-rich foods/prebiotics. There are two main types of dietary fiber: soluble and insoluble. Ideally, you need both on a regular basis. Soluble fiber, found in cucumbers, blueberries, beans, and nuts, dissolves into a gel-like texture, helping to slow down your digestion. |
| Insoluble fiber, found in foods like dark green leafy vegetables, green beans, celery, and carrots, does not dissolve and stays basically intact as it moves through your colon. By adding bulk to your stool, it helps food to move through your digestive tract more quickly for healthy elimination. |
| Prebiotics are found primarily in fiber-rich foods, which is perfect because your good gut bacteria thrive on indigestible fiber. Inulin is one type of water-soluble fiber found in asparagus, garlic, leeks, and onions that helps nourish your beneficial gut bacteria. |
| Regularly consume traditionally fermented and cultured foods, which are loaded with a wide variety of healthy live bacteria. Healthy choices include lassi, kefir, natto, and various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash, and carrots. |
| Consider a spore-based probiotic supplement, especially when taking a course of antibiotics. Sporebiotics are part of a group of derivatives of the microbe called bacillus. This genus has hundreds of subspecies, the most important of which is Bacillus subtilis.
Essentially, sporebiotics consist of the cell wall of bacillus spores, and they are a primary tool to boost your immune tolerance. Because sporebiotics do not contain any live Bacillus strains, only its spores — the protective shell around the DNA and the working mechanism of that DNA — are unaffected by antibiotics. |
| Antibiotics indiscriminately kill your gut bacteria, both good and bad, which is why secondary infections and lowered immune function are common side effects of taking antibiotics.
Chronic low-dose exposure to antibiotics through your food also takes a toll on your gut microbiome, which can result in chronic ill health and increased risk of drug resistance. Since they’re not destroyed by antibiotics, sporebiotics can more effectively help re-establish your gut microbiome. |
In this interview with David Sinclair, Ph.D., professor of genetics, and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School, we discussed another important strategy to slow the aging process. Sinclair is the author of “Lifespan: Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To.”
In the interview, he talks about calorie restriction and intermittent fasting that affect two of the scientifically demonstrated strategies to suppress mammalian targets of rapamycin (mTOR)24 and the activation of autophagy.25 Fasting is not a revolutionary concept as it’s been practiced for more than 5,000 years.
However, researchers have only recently discovered the biochemical pathways affected by fasting. Another factor is limiting food to at least three hours before bedtime. This is because late-night eating increases your nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) levels that are important for a variety of bodily functions.26
As explained in the video, it also reduces nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), which is the cellular battery of your cells and has the potential to recharge your antioxidants. When you eat close to bedtime you won’t be able to use the NADPH to burn calories and instead it is stored. However, to store them, you have to create fat.
Another strategy we discuss in the video is that the ideal time to do your strength training is in a fasted state, just before your first meal after a 16- or 18-hour fast. This helps boost your growth hormone that is already activated from fasting and increases the maximum benefit of exercise.
As you may surmise, you cannot simply take a supplement or two and live a long life while eating junk food and being inactive. While researchers from the study in Japan demonstrated centenarians have a unique gut microbiome, it is simply impossible to use just one strategy to lead a long and healthy life.
Maintaining your health takes more than eating right, getting sleep, and exercising. To live a healthy life requires a process of those three fundamental principles along with regular health screenings.
Having regular health screenings will help determine and diagnose any potential underlying health issues and provide better guidance to improve your health and wellness.
To live well requires that you focus on the four central pillars of health, diet, exercise, sleep, and wellness exams. So let’s examine each of those four pillars and provide some tips to help you live the best life.
The sayings, “junk in, junk out” and “you are what you eat” are more than something to help you remember to eat better. There’s truth in these adages that what we consume provides us with the necessary macronutrients to fuel our bodies.
Macronutrients are the primary sources of energy and nutrition, so it only makes sense to provide our bodies with the best macronutrients we can provide. Avoiding processed foods that may be high in sugar, salt, and additives is a great start.
Focusing on a diet that is low in calories but rich in protein and high in fiber will provide your muscles with the energy needed to perform critical functions, aid in the digestive process, and provide long-sustaining energy.
These are all essential functions of weight management and appetite control.
There are numerous health benefits to moving to a more plant-based diet, and there are a wide variety of menu options available to you.
For example, you can decrease the amount of meat you consume and substitute it with beans and legumes.
Additionally, you can move to a breakfast routine that includes daily smoothies. Smoothies provide essential vitamins and minerals, protein and fiber, and are delicious ways to create flexible, filling meals.
A second pillar to wellbeing is getting regular exercise. The World Health Organization recommends 75 minutes of vigorous activity every week for a fully grown adult or up to 120 minutes of low-impact movements for optimal health.
The apparent benefits of exercise include strengthening the skeletal-muscular system, enhancing the immune system, slowing the aging process, helping the digestive process, and weight control.
One of the more significant benefits of exercise, we enhance the body’s immune system empowering it to fight off illness and other diseases such as cancers.
Exercise causes the body to strengthen its respiratory system and cardiovascular function and helps the body to perform more efficiently.
That said, one often overlooked benefit from regular exercise is that it works in boosting moods.
When the body is stressed, the brain releases powerful neurochemicals that can inhibit or strengthen moods.
For example, too much negative stress, such as when we experience depression and grief, can lower the body’s spirits.
On the other hand, when we stress the body in a good way, such as strengthening it through exercise, the brain releases dopamine that boosts moods and energy.
Sleep is the primary function of the body and mind to relax, regenerate, and rebuild itself. Yet, it is often the first thing we sacrifice when we’re stressed or overstimulated but should be considered necessary for our overall health as the other two cornerstones to good health.
The WHO recommends that fully grown adults get at least 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, and some studies show that even with the proper amount of sleep, occasional naps are encouraged.
At different stages of our life, we are prone to more or fewer health concerns. For example, at 45 years of age or older, getting regular colon exams is the recommendation, and those examinations may occur earlier in cases of family history of colon cancers.
However, if colon cancers are a concern for you, you can always get an at-home test before scheduling a professional examination. An at-home test, known as a fit test, will help you have peace of mind before your regular exam.
The primary benefit of regular health examinations is to screen for potentially more serious diseases or other underlying health concerns.
Taking a balanced approach of eating right, getting regular exercise, sleeping well, and getting annual health screenings will help you live a healthy, happy life.
Many people, particularly middle-aged and older adults, worry about the effects of aging. The United States’ aging population is rising, and American culture has long revered the preservation of energy, beauty, and vitality associated with youth.
With this, many have turned their attention to lifestyle factors that can affect the aging process, such as fitness level, adequate nutrition, and drinking and drug use habits.
Various health conditions, including substance use disorders, have been associated with premature aging, due to the effects of heavy drug and alcohol use on various systems in the body.
While the aging effects of drug and alcohol abuse can vary, understanding the full scope of long-term health complications of heavy substance use can be an important consideration.
Aging And The Effects Of Drugs And Alcohol On The Brain
Research on the connection between aging and substance use disorders shows that heavy, prolonged substance use can affect bodily processes associated with aging.
This may be true even for those who seek recovery through a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program.
Drug and alcohol use disorders, over time, can have toxic effects on the brain that researchers believe could affect the aging process. These toxic effects include:
The effects of heavy drug and alcohol use on the brain can affect everything from a person’s thoughts to their emotions, cognition, self-control, and behavior.
Chronic substance abuse has also been associated with the acceleration of age-related conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Aging And The Effects Of Drugs And Alcohol On The Body
Substance abuse can have significant effects on the body, particularly over time with chronic use.
Chronic drug and alcohol abuse can affect a person’s skin, cause changes in weight, affect a person’s hormones, as well as affect the pulmonary, cardiovascular, and immune systems.
Effects of substance abuse on the body can include:
Moreover, certain health conditions associated with substance abuse—such as malnutrition and organ damage—can accelerate the development of health issues linked to older age, such as brittle bones (osteoporosis), various cancers, memory troubles, and poor vision.
Who Is At Increased Risk Of Premature Aging From Drugs And Alcohol?
There are various factors that can affect a person’s risk for experiencing the negative effects of drug or alcohol use.
Drinking alcohol in moderation, for instance, may not be the healthiest behavior, but it’s unlikely to cause serious enough problems to speed up the aging process in the average person.
Factors that can increase the risk of premature aging from substance use include chronic substance abuse, heavy substance use, the abuse of multiple drugs, genetic factors, and co-occurring medical conditions.
Can The Effects Of Substance Use On Aging Be Reverse?
It depends. Whether the effects of substance abuse on aging can be reversed will largely depend on the duration of use, the severity of use, and other personal factors.
Drug and alcohol addiction is a progressive illness that can have more serious effects on a person’s health the longer a person struggles.
But many of the harmful effects of substance use disorders can be managed and sometimes reversed with medical and behavioral health treatment, which is offered at multiple levels of care, including an inpatient rehab program or on an outpatient basis for milder cases.
Getting help for a drug or drinking problem as soon as possible is the best way to prevent negative health consequences down the road.
Sources for additional reading:
Author bio: McKenna Schueler is a content specialist for the company, Ark Behavioral Health. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in Psychology from the University of South Florida.
Source: London Real
In this 3-minute video, Sadhguru shares some great advice for living a long life by managing your energy and your time.