Longevity
Longevity
The aging process involves damage to the body and DNA so the key to longevity in the short term is limiting that damage, in the long term it involves repairing the body and DNA.
- Resveratol stimulates sirtuin genes linked to DNA repair. (fruit flies living 30-50% longer)
- *Good cholesterol HDL* is linked to longevity. (*people living to 100*)
- Low insoline is linked to longevity. (worms and fruit flies living longer)
- Sleep is linked to DNA repair.
- The secret of red wine. (resveratol and alcohol)
- Alcohol. (HDL boost and reduced dementia)
- Reduced stress and DNA damage
- Social networks and friends
- Positive emotions
- Digestion and supplements
- Sex and hormones
- Exercise and growth hormone
- The Legend (cholesterol and inflammation)
- A good diet and lower risk of disease
Sirtuin Genes and Resveratol
The sirtuin genes are part of an intricate stretch response or survival mode response. When times are tough they kick in and increase DNA repair or prevent cell death. Some people use calorie restriction in order to trigger the survival mode response and stimulate the sirtuin genes.
Resveratol also stimulates the sirtuin genes without the calorie restriction or survival mode response.
It is similar to calorie restriction but without the calorie restriction.
DAF2 Genes and Insoline
Decreased or low levels of insoline are also linked to longevity.
So a diet the keeps insoline levels low leads to a longer life similar to calorie restriction.
Good Cholesterol (HDL)
High levels of good cholesterol (HDL) are linked to longevity. (people living to 100)
Exercise is linked to higher HDL levels.
- Aerobic exercise, walking, jogging, exercise that raises your heart rate for 20 - 30 minutes at a time may be the most effective way to increase HDL levels. (duration)
A good diet can also reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase good cholesterol (HDL).
- Vitamin B, B3 Niacin, can help lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and boost good (HDL) cholesterol.
- Alcohol, one or two drinks per day can significantly increase HDL levels.
- Omega-3 fatty acids can also increase HDL levels.
- Monounsaturated fats such as olive oil can increase HDL levels without increasing the total cholesterol.
- Calcium supplementation can increase HDL levels. (postmenopausal women)
- Cranberry juice has been shown to increase HDL levels.
- Soluble fibers such as oats, fruits, vegetables, and legumes can reduction LDL and an increase HDL levels.
- Large flake oatmeal.
- Trans fatty acids, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, can increase LDL and reduce HDL levels.
- Sugar can decrease HDL and increase triglycerides levels.
Lose weight, obesity can increase LDL and reduced HDL levels.
Stop smoking, giving up tobacco will increase HDL levels.
Ultra-low-fat diets have been reported to result in a significant reduction in HDL in some individuals.
Cancer risk is reduced with increased HDL levels.
Detoxification and reduced plaque in blood vessels is linked to HDL cholestrol, the higher the better. (heart disease)
Sleep and DNA Repair (repair)
The body is repaired during sleep and releases chemicals into the body that repair DNA damage and mutations, with sleep loss the damage accumulates and increases the risk of cancer or disease.
The Secret of Red Wine (resveratol and alcohol)
For many years doctors have wondered and searched to discover why in France heart disease is lower than in North America, and believed it to be linked to the red wine they drink.
- Red wine has resveratol linked to DNA repair.
- The daily 1-2 glasses of red wine contains alcohol that significantly increase HDL levels.
Alcohol (HDL boost and reduced dementia)
- 1-2 drinks a day is linked to lower risk of dementia such as Alzheimer’s.
- Alcohol can significantly increase HDL levels.
- Higher HDL levels are linked to reduced plaque in blood vessels and lower risk of heart disease.
Reduced Stress and DNA damage (damage)
- Oxidative stress and DNA damage
- Acid-Base imbalance or acidic blood pH
- Cortisol and muscle wasting
- Cortisol and high blood pressure
All of these can damage the body linked to premature aging.
Social networks and friends
- Social networks and friends are linked to longevity
- Socializing is also linked to brain function and better brain function
Postive emotions
- "Happy and hopeful thoughts had an overall calming effect on the brain, while negative thoughts inflamed brain areas often involved with depression and anxiety." - Amen Clinics
- "*Positive emotions have been linked with better health, longer life, and greater well being in numerous scientific studies.* On the other hand, chronic anger, worry, and hostility increase the risk of developing heart disease, as people react to these feelings with raised blood pressure and stiffening blood vessels." - Harvard Health Publications
Digestion and supplements (prevention)
As we age we absorb less nutrition that our body requires such as vitamins and minerals and supplements can help with those deficiencies.
- Reduced glutathione is linked to aging and disease
- Reduced coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is linked to aging and disease
- Reduced alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is linked to aging and disease
- Cell Health and Supplements
Sex and hormones
Sex can stimulate the hormones and immune system, and linked to longevity.
Exercise and growth hormone (repair)
Exercise stimulates the body and is linked to increased blood flow, bone density, and the growth hormone.
- The growth hormone is linked to repairing the body.
- Physical activity can actually repair neurological connections in your brain.
- Hip fractures are a serious issue as we age and linked to early death.
- Exercise such as resistance training is linked to increased bone density and bone retention.
- Exercise is as close to a magic bullet as brain fitness gets.
- Increased blood flow baths the body and the brain with blood.
- Improved memory
- Lower risk of stroke
- Lower risk of dementia
The Legend (cholesterol and inflammation)
There is a legend of man who lived through many kings and to a very old age. When asked as to why he was living for such a long period of time the man replied oats in the morning and meat and potatoes at night.
- Oats are a soluble fiber that reduces bad cholesterol and inflammation.
- Potatoes are very high in nutrition, minerals, and macrominerals such as potassium and phosphorus, which helps to reduce acid-base imbalance or acidic blood pH, macromineral deficiencies, and inflammation linked to disease and premature aging, and this may help you recover at night.
A good diet and lower risk of disease (prevention)
A good diet can significantly increase longevity.
- Better health and lower risk of disease
- Good HDL cholesterol
- Lower risk of heart disease and stroke
- Lower risk of dementia
- Lower risk of obesity
- Lower risk of diabetes
- Lower risk of cancer
Raising Your HDL Levels
Increasing the GOOD cholesterol
heartdisease.about.com/cs/cholesterol/a/raiseHDL.htm
How To Raise Good Cholesterol
..
"HDL cholesterol, or "good" cholesterol, appears to scour the walls of blood vessels, cleaning out excess cholesterol. It then carries that excess cholesterol -- which otherwise might have been used to make the "plaques" that cause coronary artery disease -- back to the liver for processing. So when we measure a person's HDL cholesterol level, we seem to be measuring how vigorously his or her blood vessels are being "scrubbed" free of cholesterol."
These days, anti-aging specialists simply refer to it as "T." -- Testosterone is naturally produced primarily through a man's testes. (The hormone is also found in women, but that's another story.) The hormone helps regulate bone density, fat distribution, muscle strength, red blood cell production, sex drive and sperm production, ..
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/16/health/baby-boomers-testosterone/
Longevity and Good HDL Cholesterol video (people living to 100)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBbmQs0Clto
Longevtiy and Stem Cells to Regenerate the Body - Scientist talks about longevity and stem cells to regenerate the body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Dn3g6yqeE
Living For Ever - Aubrey de Grey speaks about different technologies to extend life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM_y6kKdddw
Nanotechnology and Longevity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGKUU_PiIFE
History Channel That's Impossible Eternal Life (Intro)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eWQ1akXGsE
History Channel That's Impossible Eternal Life (Young Blood)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ9XOmnSNXQ
Is Protein the Key to Fountain of Youth?
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/CHF/39018
Mice with age-related heart failure but preserved systolic function regained a youthful heart when given a protein extracted from the blood of young mice, researchers found. At first, researchers observed a "stunning" reversal of cardiac hypertrophy when young and old mice shared blood circulation, but were unable to pinpoint the blood component responsible for the change, according to Richard T. Lee, MD, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and colleagues. After several years of searching, however, they identified GDF (growth differentiation factor)-11 as the protein that relatively quickly gave old hearts new life and injected it into the older animals, they reported in the journal Cell. "The changes to the hypertrophic hearts were so dramatic that they could be seen with the naked eye," Lee said during a press conference. "Heart failure with preserved systolic function, also called diastolic heart failure, is one of the most frustrating diseases cardiologists face because there are no successful therapies," Lee said. "But the initial experiments with GDF-11 were stunningly positive from the outset." GDF-11, which belongs to the TGF (transformational growth factor)-beta superfamily, declines with age. As it does, ventricular "stiffening" slowly takes place, eventually leading to heart failure with preserved systolic function. But "emerging evidence indicates that systemic factors profoundly influence tissue aging," researchers wrote. Some of this evidence has come from experiments using a process called parabiosis -- where two mice are surgically joined so that they share blood circulation. Co-author Amy Wagers, PhD, a professor in Harvard's department of stem cell and regenerative biology, had previously shown that factors in the blood of young animals, which until now were unidentified, have a rejuvenating effect upon various tissues in older animals, particularly in the spinal cord and musculature. "One of the interests of my laboratory is in understanding why a decline in the function of our bodies happens and whether it is an inevitable consequence of aging, or if it might be reversible," Wagers said at the press conference. In the present study, Wagers said, they identified a substance in the blood that is abundant in youth and lower in the elderly. "We further found that when we supplemented the low levels of this substance that were present in old animals to the levels normally seen in youth, this could have a dramatic effect on the heart." One precaution researchers took was to determine whether the change in the aging hearts had anything to do with a reduction in blood pressure. They worked for a year, using a custom-built apparatus to measure blood pressure off the tails of mice, before they could conclude that the change in the heart's shape and size was not the result of lowered blood pressure. Researchers have not investigated yet whether the morphological cardiac change correlates with a longer life span. However, they intend to examine the effect of GDF-11 in other organ systems, and eventually will test the protein in humans. They also noted that GDF-11 may not be the only protein or factor with anti-hypertrophic properties.
History Channel That's Impossible Eternal Life (Replacing Body Parts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6xGZqmszT8
PBS | NOVA FULL EPISODES
Can We Live Forever?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/can-we-live-forever.html
Explore artificial organs, suspended animation, genes that impact aging, and lifelike avatars.
Replacing Body Parts
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/replacing-body-parts.html
Scientists are learning how to grow custom-made body parts so they can be ready when you—and your vital organs—start falling apart. At the University of Minnesota, Doris Taylor and her colleagues strip organs of their cells, reseed the organ "skeletons" with living cells, and watch as the organs start working right in front of their eyes.
Can We Live Forever? - Replacing Body Parts Chapter 2 of 5
Sarah Murnaghan 10-years-old left to Die Without Lung Transplant in Philadelphia
http://guardianlv.com/2013/06/sarah-murnaghan-10-years-old-left-to-die-without-lung-transplant-in-philadelphia/
A second dying child has been given a chance to get a transplant of adult lungs,
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-philadelphia-dying-children-lung-transplant-20130607,0,7171321.story
74-year-old defies time with hormones
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/02/07/ac-lah-forever-young-treatment.cnn
Longevity Factors (in progress, see the Longevity page for more)
S Sleep - the sleep cycle is linked to repair of the body and DNA, sleep deprivation is linked to premature aging and a higher risk of cancer.
C Cholesterol - good cholesterol is linked to longevity and reduced inflammation, and inflammation is linked to premature aging and cancer.
G Genes - a person's genes is an indicator of longevity such as the group with larger than normal cholesterol and a life span that reaches 100. Stimulating genes like the sirtuin genes through chemicals such as resveratol to increase DNA repair and longevity.
D DNA - DNA and cell damage similar to damaging the body is linked to premature aging, DNA aging. Repairing the DNA damage of the cells is part of the sleep cycle similar to the repair of the body. As the DNA gets damaged and changes the person ages.
D Diet - diet and nutrition is linked to good health, good cholesterol, good sleep, the genes or stimulating the genes, and repairing the body.
S Stress - stress is said to be linked to 80% of illnesses, increased cancer risk, the engine of inflammation, increased blood acidity or acid-base imbalance, depletion of minerals, the nervous system and immune system, other factors such as sleep deprivation, and premature aging.
G Growth Hormone - the growth hormone is linked to exercise, which stimulates the body to repair its self by releasing the growth hormone and repairing the body damage.
S Social Networks - people with social networks, friends, and even pets are said to live longer lives.
ARTICLES
Do humans need mystery 'junk' DNA? This carnivorous plant doesn't
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-junk-dna-carnivorous-plant-bladderwort-gene-20130513,0,3143571.story
a carnivorous plant deletes so much of its own junk DNA that it has hardly any left. -- Only 2% of the human genome is actually made up of functional elements such as genes, -- The rest of it is non-coding DNA that doesn’t appear to carry active, relevant information for that living creature’s proper functioning (i.e. for building proteins). But the carnivorous bladderwort plant, Utricularia gibba, has only about 3% junk, according to an international team of researchers -- which is unusual even by plant standards. About 97% of its code actually consists of genes -- making it a lean, mean genetic machine. -- Repeated segments buried in the plant's DNA show them that the entire genome has been duplicated three times since its lineage split off from its common ancestor with the tomato and the grape -- and yet this regular doubling of the code hasn’t increased its length. Clearly the plant must be cutting unnecessary DNA faster than it’s adding it, the researchers concluded. -- "The bladderwort certainly shows that at least one plant makes a perfectly good plant without it," Albert said. "By extension, I would say it's suggestive that maybe junk DNA in general isn't of much importance."
Biological clue to why women live longer than men
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22528388
Women live longer than men partly because their immune systems age more slowly, a study suggests. As the body's defences weaken over time, men's increased susceptibility to disease shortens their lifespans, say Japanese scientists. Tests of immune function could give an indication of true biological age, they report in Immunity & Ageing journal. The immune system protects the body from infection and cancer, but causes disease when not properly regulated.
TEDTalks
Aubrey de Grey: A roadmap to end aging
http://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging.html
Cynthia Kenyon: Experiments that hint of longer lives
http://www.ted.com/talks/cynthia_kenyon_experiments_that_hint_of_longer_lives.html
Dean Ornish: Your genes are not your fate
http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_ornish_says_your_genes_are_not_your_fate.html
Dan Buettner: How to live to be 100+
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_buettner_how_to_live_to_be_100.html
Dean Ornish: Healing through diet
http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_ornish_on_healing.html
Eva Vertes looks to the future of medicine
http://www.ted.com/talks/eva_vertes_looks_to_the_future_of_medicine.html
Alan Russell: The potential of regenerative medicine
http://www.ted.com/talks/alan_russell_on_regenerating_our_bodies.html
Juan Enriquez: The life-code that will reshape the future
http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_on_genomics_and_our_future.html
Ramona Pierson: An unexpected place of healing
http://www.ted.com/talks/ramona_pierson_an_unexpected_place_of_healing.html
Yoav Medan: Ultrasound surgery -- healing without cuts
http://www.ted.com/talks/yoav_medan_ultrasound_surgery_healing_without_cuts.html
Aubrey de Grey on TEDTalks: Aging is "an engineering problem"
http://blog.ted.com/2006/10/04/aubrey_de_grey_1/
Laura Carstensen: Older people are happier
http://www.ted.com/talks/laura_carstensen_older_people_are_happier.html
Jane Fonda: Life's third act
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_fonda_life_s_third_act.html
Gregory Petsko on the coming neurological epidemic
http://www.ted.com/talks/gregory_petsko_on_the_coming_neurological_epidemic.html
Robert Full: Engineering and evolution
http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_full_on_engineering_and_evolution.html
Janine Benyus: The promise of biomimicry
http://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_shares_nature_s_designs.html
.
Might you live a great deal longer? (5 talks)
We're obsessed with age: Quests for youth, immortality and prolonged life are, indeed, ageless. Here, explore the science of longer lives and imagine what we might do with our extra years.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/64/might_you_live_a_great_deal_lo.html
The future of medicine (8 talks)
Take this tour of medicine's future with some of the trailblazing doctors charting its course. Once you've seen a transplantable human kidney created from a 3D printer, almost anything is imaginable ...
http://www.ted.com/playlists/23/the_future_of_medicine.html
What doctors worry about (7 talks)
We worry about what our doctors will tell us -- and so do they. Doctors, scientists and medical researchers weigh in on health care and better health practices.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/70/what_doctors_worry_about.html
A cure for cancer? (5 talks)
Ridding the world of cancer: It's a far-flung dream, but that doesn't stop many from trying. Hear from researchers who've dedicated their lives and careers to understanding cancer, then ending it.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/63/a_cure_for_cancer.html
Where do ideas come from? (5 talks)
How does the metaphorical lightbulb go off? Is it a flash of genius? The power of crowds? These heady talks explore the nature of ideas themselves: Where they come from, how they evolve, and how each of us can nurture them.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/20/where_do_ideas_come_from.html
The creative spark (10 talks)
Need a burst of inspiration? Wildly creative thinkers share ideas, strategies and warmhearted encouragement to let your genius out.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/11/the_creative_spark.html
Climate change: Oh, it's real. (8 talks)
We still have a lot to learn about climate change, about why it's happening and what that means. But one thing is clear: It's real, alright. These talks provide a primer on the issue of our times.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/78/climate_change_oh_it_s_real.html
Re-imagining school (11 talks)
All over the world, there's a growing consensus that our education systems are broken. These educators offer lessons in how we might re-imagine school.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/24/re_imagining_school.html
What's wrong with what we eat? (5 talks)
It's easy to worry about food: Are we eating the wrong stuff? What about people who don't have enough to eat? These talks examine the problems -- and some compelling solutions.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/75/what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html
10 Fascinating TED Talks on Aging
http://www.mastersinhealthcare.com/blog/2011/10-fascinating-ted-talks-on-aging/
TED Ideas Worth Spreading
http://www.ted.com/
..
Aging needs to be recognized as a disease, the aging disease to permit more medical research in prevention and curing this disease.
YouTube Channel
See the Health and Longevity playlists for more videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BullyingNewsVideos
CNN IREPORT
Longevity
ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-482868