When a study conducted on twenty four people winds up dictating what the other six billion or so of us can expect in terms of a specific treatment or therapy, we have every right to be cynical.

Recently A team of researchers led by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, a cell biologist working at the University of San Francisco made an amazing discovery regarding the aging process. Blackburn has been involved in the science of aging for over thirty years and her group recently won the Nobel Prize for their discovery of how telomeres and telomerase effect the advancement of aging and mortality. Stress is related to this aging theory and is thought to be at the root of this aging hypothesis.
 
Telomeres

When you look at your shoelaces, you see a plastic tip at the end that keeps the threads from unraveling. Telomeres are just like those caps only they protect the ends of your chromosomes inside your cells. If you guessed that telomeres act as a defense against chromosomes, fraying you would be correct. We have thirty thousand genes and they are all located within the chromosomes [23 pairs] hold your genetic sequence – the architecture of your life. It is a deeply thoughtful reality that when your chromosome ends disentangle, we are inevitably closer to the final curtain.

Telomerase

The Nobel winners researching this also discovered an enzyme called telomerase that can rejuvenate the ends of the chromosomes as they wear out. Enzymes are proteins within living cells of humans and they facilitate chemical reactions inside of us. The telomerase repairs the aging process happening to the ends of your chromosomes.

Therefore, telomerase can inhibit the swift aging response that is usually associated with our final countdown. The older a human grows to be, the more unraveling occurs to your chromosome ends.

Nervous Tension [Stress]

Based on Dr. Blackburn’s research it is the mental stress we encounter that leads to the aging of our cellular structure. Scientific investigation has determined that ongoing stress and your frayed telomeres are scientifically related. The more nervous tension we are under, the less we see of telomerase – the friendly enzyme and savior of our untangling bits – being secreted and this means the shorter our chromosome ends get. This form of aging is totally unnatural, having nothing to do with genetics. It is a controllable external influence that is causing us to biologically advance in age.

Illnesses

The three most deadly illnesses are heart disease, Cancer and stroke. When examined by medical researchers, early warning signs of each of these deadly three diseases include the span of telomeres and the generating of the telomerase enzyme. This finding has been verified by pathologists in the course of doing autopsies. Though it has not been confirmed, scientists are led to believe that cell splitting in irregular programs could be openly associated with the shortened ends of chromosomes, as a result of this, cancer.

Stress Reduction

Dr. Herbert Benson, of Harvard Medical has been investigating daily meditation for more than three decades. Meditation has displayed to him in this time that it can perk up the immune function, reduce hypertension and improve the function of the heart muscle. It has not been established if those people who meditate for at least fifteen minutes each day have more telomerase flowing in their systems. Once again, research is a step behind theoretical enthusiasm.

DNA

It is interesting that in scientific research, new ideologies are fashioned as new research warrants a change. Previously the principle was that DNA was only able to generate more DNA. These days we now recognize that telomerase enzymes are able to produce DNA. We are witness to an amalgam of nature, genetics and our chromosomes mandating our mechanics for living, and nurture as it pertains to the stress that impacts how our body and mind function. Our consciousness merges our thoughts, emotions and behavior so we can make choices. Our right and left brain fuse for the best outcome. This means it is nature in addition to nurture, not nature versus nurture.

Meditation

Meditation is not some hugely difficult concept to learn and perfect. It is actually simple if you learn the basics and implement them rather than questioning their validity and effectiveness. The simplest of principals is at play with meditation, clearing your mind of all unimportant clutter, gaining control over your concentration. It starts by being determined to concentrate your attention towards ridding your mind and body of stress related effects to be successful at meditation.

Dr Edward Lorenz, of MIT is the person who first used the term “The Butterfly Effect” and he said small changes lead to massive reactions. You need to be able to make the simple modifications in your daily routine. When you do this, you will be on your way toward adding upwards of ten years to your life.

Electroencephalogram or an EEG

How often have the intelligent people in the field of science and research – or any calling for that matter – been driven to find solutions to life’s greatest questions while their own bodies and minds suffer failure? What good does it do to make the next great discovery or figure out how we all got here, when we cannot seem to find a healthy manner to reduce our daily levels of stress. It only takes fifteen minutes per day to show a significant improvement in your EEG from Beta [13-40] cycles, to Alpha [8 – 12] cycles per second. Nonetheless, the important numbers taken into account, all you really have to do is take the time to shut your eyes and breathe deeply while making every effort to relax. The power charge operating your brain reduces from Beta [active consciousness] to Alpha [alert relaxation]. The trick is to avert your awareness from open eye commotion to closed eyes focused on a Mantra.

Mantra [Mind Focusing Tone]

The meaning of the word Mantra in Hindi is sound or special word that is repeated while your eyes are closed and your body is attempting to relax in order to focus your racing mind. You are required to focus or pay attention to how you are breathing – the in and out of your breath – which is not something we do when we are in Beta mode. When we inhale, in our mind we hear the word BUT, when we exhale we hear the word MOM. Soon, with practice, the mind will go on automatically as you meditate in sequence with your wind. Inhaling BUT, exhaling MOM and relaxation becomes easier and deeper while it blocks all of the self talk that clutters your mind. As you do this, your stress begins to subside.

In Conclusion

We do particular things for the advantages they bring to us – the ‘what’s in it for me’ – provision that many of us live by. Motivation in necessary to carry out any routine and that would include practicing meditation more than once. It seems like a good idea to take fifteen minutes from your day to relax completely via meditation if it means you will be increasing your life span and reducing your stress levels. Is it not a good idea to learn how to manage circumstances that elevate your stress and ignore people who add misery and anxiety to your life? If you try it, you will notice that you not only decrease your stress but you will elevate your own sense of worth.

It is also a good idea to relax more by working on your cognitive capabilities. Increase it by tripling your learning proficiency and doubling your long term memory practices so you can enjoy your longer life by avoiding dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – it is as they say, use it or lose it.

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The study of genome sequences have up to now only been conducted on healthy individuals. It was extremely costly to decode the genome of an individual but costs are rapidly swinging down. The cost to examine the complete genome, according to Geneticist, is around $50,000 to decipher.

David B. Goldstein, a Duke University geneticist says that soon human genetics will provide meaningful information for clinical treatments. The key is to identify various genetic variations that are origins for some diseases.

Moreover, a team in Seattle, found out that the hereditary genes that are passed from parent to child, to produce similar DNA damages and mutations are higher than previously expected. It was found that 3 billion human genomes are self-mutated. This means that 40 percent of DNA mutations are determined by innate biological disadvantages and 60 percent is affected by random mutation.

Research Projects

There were 3 different diseases that were scrutinized in recent reports. Yet, the diseases were all caused by an uncommon mutation in a gene.

First Report

Richard A. Gibbs of the Baylor College of Medicine made a study on the “Whole-Genome Sequencing in a Patient with Charcot–Marie–Tooth Neuropathy”. The patient was Dr. James R. Lupski, an important medical geneticist who does actually suffer from nerve disease.

Second Report

“Leroy Hood and David J. Galas of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle decoded the genomes of two children with two rare genetic diseases, and their parents.” In a research entitled; “Analysis of Genetic Inheritance in a Family Quartet by Whole-Genome Sequencing”

It has since long been thought that disease such as cancer is promulgated through mutation of various genes. An earlier human genome project which was funded with $3 billion had the goal to unravel this mystery. However, scientists have tried to alluring cheaper and easier method to find answers over the recent 8 years. .

Shortcuts envisaged turned out to be invalid. For instance, it was believed that common diseases would be generated through common mutations. The HapMap project that was worth $100 million focused on identifying common mutations in a particular population. Genomes of patients were compared to healthy genomes. Sophisticated technology and devices such as SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) chips were used to examine segment of the genome. For each genome-wide study, the cost was around $10 million.

The high cost and poor results have been inadequate. There have been around 2,000 regions in the human genome that has been correlated to particular diseases. Yet, statistics are properly quite flawed. Disease-causing mutation seems to have been left unidentified.

First Research

New research is saying that common disease is eventually found in atypical and rare mutations. It is necessary to decode the whole genome of patients to find answers. The recent study proclaims that single-gene or multi-gene diseases require a whole-genome approach to be addressed. Dr. Lupski, say that new genome-wide studies are required. Besides, whole-genome sequencing is only one way to find answers.

Dr. Gibbs, an expert in DNA sequencing, decided to ask his colleague Dr. Lupski to be a volunteer. He suffered from a genetic disease. The study involved a genome study on 10 healthy people. It was determined that 39 genes could be the root cause for the nerve disease “Charcot-Marie-Tooth”, which is known to impair various nerves that can weaken the muscle of hands and feet.

Spending $50,000 on genome sequencing showed that a rare mutation of a gene named SH3TC2 was properly the core cause. The gene was inherited from his mother and father. However, the copy found in his father caused mild symptoms whereas the copy from his mother was working effectively.

In the genetic randomness lottery of so-called human procreation, two of the eight children had inherited good copies of SH3TC2 gene. Besides, two inherited the bad copy from the mother but the good one from the father, preventing the disease. However, amidst the remaining four, including Dr. Lupski, the mutated copy of SH3TC2 was inherited from both parents. Apparently, all of these 4 individuals suffer from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, “according to the study”.

Second Research

The second study was conducted in Seattle by Dr. Hood and Dr. Galas who also used whole-genome sequencing to evaluate the disease. Four families of four (2 children + parents) were studied, whereby each child has two single-gene diseases, known as ciliary dyskinesia and Miller syndrome. Having four related genomes, the causative genes were spotted. The sequencing was also improved through new decoding processes.

For instance, the team believes that multi-gene diseases can be found through whole-genome sequencing. They are expected to sequence around 100 genomes from multi-generational families in the coming years to find out more.

Technology Cheaper and Better

The cost of whole genome sequencing is decreasing rapidly. The genomes reported in the Science (Second Report) was conducted by Complete Genomics of Mountain View, Calif and cost $25,000 each. However, the Chief Executive, Clifford Reid, say that they conduct around 500 genomes a month and that the price for large project will gradually decrease to $10,000 per subject. This is likely to soon fall down to $5,000 per genome.

According to Dr. Reid the genome-wide associated study, entitled HapMap was not a failure. It was only that at that time technology was not up to the capacity to give findings such as these today.

From Duck University, Dr. Goldstein says that the “rapid progress in technology” is helping research to reach the target that they have been seeking.

From: New York Times

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By watching what you eat and being sure you get adequate exercise, you will lessen the risk of receiving disturbing news from your physician.  During your younger days of early adulthood and into your thirties, you were probably more active than at age fifty and you were probably in reasonably good health with no conditions or diseases to worry about. Your body was functioning at peak immunity, you were perhaps at your physical prime, as humans we tend to be driven by our libidos in early adulthood and so we are innately attracted by the physical appearance of the opposite number. Suffice to say we are firing on all cylinders at that stage of life led naturally by hormones and genetics.

Therefore, as we age, we pay the price of the three hour lunches, parties, poor diets, sports injuries and let us not overlook gravity, etc. These take their toll on our health and physical stature. The American Heart Association along with the American College of Sports Medicine having looked into the progression of aging, have released a framework for the fifty plus age group who are in need of physical training but may have an illness or physical impairment of some kind.

Aerobic Training

It is recommended that aerobic activity consist of thirty minutes or more, five times each week at a moderate rate of training or for twenty minutes at a more energetic pace three times a week. Using a scale between 1 and 10, a 5 / 6 would be considered moderate exercise and a rate of 7 / 8 would fall into the energetic category. When you commence your regimen, you can start at a slower pace than this and work your way towards the minimum objective.

Resistance Training

When we age, we are going to lose muscle mass, particularly after age fifty. It is vital to continue with your exercise routine so you can offset this muscle atrophy. At the least, two days per week you should focus on resistance exercises. Many folks use machines to achieve this or go to the gym for the equipment, great if you can manage it but not a requirement. You can train at home with a set of free weights, tension bands, springs, or even use your own body weight as with isometrics. A combination of these training equipment ideas will give you the optimal outcome.
 
Try and practice eight or ten separate exercises working your main muscle groups like your legs, arms, back and core. Each exercise should be done for a total of ten to fifteen repetitions to begin with. When you find fifteen reps at a particular weight has become simple, increase the weight, lower the reps, and work toward your objective at the new weight. Never ignore pain and do not overdo it. You may want to look at shuffling exercise routines every four to six weeks so boredom does not set in. Settle on an exercise regimen that is interchangeable and always effective.

Flexibility And Stability

Not only will your muscularity start to atrophy when you get older, you will notice a degree of stiffness in joints along with a decrease in movement and stability. Problems with your equilibrium and litheness can ultimately impact your daily routine and make your life uncomfortable as you manage regular activity.

To increase your flexibility, warm up for about ten minutes by stretching all your major muscle groups. Do this two or more times in a week. This will be key to your independence in years to come o get started now. To enhance your stability and steadiness you should include the specific exercises into your training regimen several times each week.

Enough cannot be said about proper exercise and the benefits are many. Find an exercise program that works for you, stick with it, and be consistent and you will be amazed by the results over time.

Physical Training For Health

Extensive research has been carried out on aging and exercise that has proven strength becomes more important to an aging body than endurance is. A serious problem afflicting mainly women as they age is osteoporosis. Unfortunately, jokes are made about falling and not being able to get up, but the heartbreaking fact is that in numerous cases, the bone breaks first at which time they fall. This means that weight bearing, physical training is imperative.

The proof exists that resistance training causes mechanism and metabolic modification that assists in safeguarding an individual from sarcopenia, osteoporosis as well as obesity, while elevating the functionality of the elderly person.

If your desire is to be stronger, using free weights and reduced repetitions while resting thirty seconds or more between sets. If body sculpting is what you are after, stay with lesser weight and do more reps with a shortened rest period. Another caution here not to do too much too soon. Read your body. Sarcopenia is an ailment when the muscle mass starts to waste away or atrophy at approximately six pounds every ten years beyond the age of thirty.

What follows is a physical training regimen designed to augment muscle mass:

A1) Back / Leg Squat  -  A2) Lying Prone Leg Curl  -  B1) Bent-Over At The Waist Row  -  B2) Close-Grip Bench Press  -  C1) Abdominal Crunches  -  C2) Standing Calf Raise

Your goal should be to do two to three sets of ten to twelve repetitions while recovering for one minute between sets. These strength training exercises will increase your strength if you do them slowly while you maintain control. Follow the strength training regimen thrice weekly or every other day.

Rejuvenate yourself with a massage if possible, contrasting hot, cold showers, and baths along with some light cardio exercises like walking or bicycling is good as well as some stretching.

Your lifestyle choices will have a lot to do with how the program is maintained. There should be no doubt that recreational drug use is forbidden, along with smoking and alcohol, all of which have such a negative effect on your body at any age! Try and get at least seven to nine hours of sleep nightly and do your best to wake up at a regular time each day. Taking a short nap during the day is also helpful.

What About Nutrition?

Right off the bat, a majority of people will need to rethink their diets completely, doing away with processed foods and refined products in their cupboards and fridges. No longer should they be eating deli sandwiches at lunch and kids cereal for a quick breakfast. Stop the pop at lunch and the wine and pasta for dinner. Stay around the outer border in a super market and avoid the inner aisles!

You should consume four or five smaller meals through the day while being sure to get plenty of water. Almost everyone on the planet is dehydrated and it is a fact of aging that needs to be addressed since your body is made up of mostly water. When you are a newborn, your body is eighty five percent water and by the time you die, it is at fifty percent! When you become dehydrated, it is a sign that something is not working properly. Generally it is a problem with muscle tissue so maintain your hydration with at least five liquid ounces of water for every pound of body weight.

Here is an idea of what your diet should look like:

1st meal  -  spinach omelet  -  2nd meal  -  a chicken salad with vinaigrette dressing  -  3rd meal  -  Salmon with deep green veggies  -  4th meal  -  cottage cheese along with some mixed berries

It is okay to have a cup of coffee [decaf preferably] first thing in the morning, but beginning after lunch stick to green tea and chamomile in the evening hours. If you require a snack, have a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts.

You should also be consuming supplements since we rarely get all the nutrients we need from our diet. The most vital one is fish oil for Omega 3 fatty acids. You should have a superior quality multivitamin in liquid formulation for better absorption. You can have a decent quality protein powder, a probiotic, and fiber supplement are also something to consider, especially after your workout. It would qualify as your fifth meal. Be sure that everything you eat is fresh and nutritious.

You will get older, of this there is no doubt. However, no one said you had to age willingly so put up a strong fight against age. Get back your health and get into shape and it does not have to be a big deal. Follow a rudimentary plan and you will see results.

Once you start exercising and seeing the results, it will become easier and you might just get addicted to it. You could do worse! One thing is certain, your health will be improved, you will avoid disease and illness related to aging and your physician will not be able to find anything wrong with you. Being fit after fifty will almost certainly add years to your life and give you independence into your autumn years.

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Emotions can be examined from facial expressions. Any facial change represents a state of emotion. Positive emotions can usually be associated with the intensity of your smile. Now studies are showing that the intensity of our smile is a biological factor that contributes to longevity.

The study involved Pro baseball players from US major leagues from the 1950s. Studies on official photographs demarcated genuine smiles and fake smiles amidst sportsmen. It was proven that those who had an honest smile outlived sportsmen who displayed the deceitful smile. They apparently lived on average 7 years more than those who did not smile at all and 5 years longer than those who deceptively smiled. This was suggested by Ernest Abel and Michael Kruger from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

The so-called genuine smile was according to early neurologists coined as the Duchenne smile. To perform a Duchenne smile muscle found at both corners of the mouth and encircling the eyes must be used. The fake smile does on the other hand involve only the mouth muscles.

Determinants in the study

Old photographs for the 230 major leaguers who were playing in the season for 1952 were analyzed in respect to their displayed smile. The attributes used to classify the smiles were, non-smilers, non-Duchenne smilers or Duchenne smilers. The lifespan for 196 players who had already passed by was looked up and used to construct a graph.

Percentage of Major League Baseball players surviving to a given age as a function of their smile intensity in photographs.

Source: Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science:
Abel E L , Kruger M L Psychological Science 2010;0956797610363775

It was shown that the Duchenne smilers lived the longest, followed afterward by the non-Duchenne smilers. Moreover, other factors such as good health and university education were also associated and this further ascertained the correlation between the intensity of the smile and longevity.

The study depicts that amidst the 196 players those who did not smile had only a 50 percent survival chance to reach the age of 80, assuming that other factors remain constant. The chance for those with a Duchenne smile to reach this same age was 70 percent. The difference in the potential to reach a higher age seemed to be associated with the type or existence of smile on the face of players during photographs.

Kruger and Abel, suggested that smile intensity seems to influence happiness. Moreover, happiness is related to several health benefits such as reducing the level of stress hormones and supplying vital protein to avoid heart diseases. This is how our emotion triggers longevity effects.

Validity of Findings

There have been other studies conducted on smile and overall correlation to happiness inferred from marital satisfaction by psychologists at Sanders Brown Center on Aging in Lexington, Kentucky. Adding a smile to photography does not merely reflect happiness. It shows the willingness to conscientiously be willing to socialize. Attributes such as conscientiousness, social networks are all determinants associated to longevity.

The non-Duchenne smilers lived longer because of their willingness. It can be concluded that overall emotional display affect longevity to a great degree. Smile is one factor amidst many others that can give life some extra joy and years to live.

Sources:
1. Journal References: Psychological Science
2. Newscientist

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To date, these are some of the markers of aging that they have uncovered:

Oxidative Stress – these are toxins, stressors, sun radiation and even the body’s own metabolism can produce free radicals that cause healthy molecules to degrade. In a normal healthy body the our system will keep the free radical population at bay and an equalization occurs. When someone’s body is not up to the task of repelling these free radicals, these will rampage through the body, wreaking havoc and contributing to swift aging. Think of how fresh fruit quickly begins to go bad if it is left uneaten after being cut in half.

Inflammation – this condition is associated with redness, swelling and pain that is accompanied by heat due to an attempt by the system to mend the damage and eradicate the aggressor. When we get older, the body has a propensity to react excessively resulting in hyper inflammatory response and this can result in diseases such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, allergies and auto-inflammation – due to a person’s own body attacking itself.

Cell Proliferation – Cells have been designed to exist under a particular code, they then die off when they “time out”. Under certain conditions, cells will go against nature and go rogue, refusing to die and duplicating themselves with abandon and this could be perilous. Ordinarily the system will identify rogue cells and wipe them out. Though as we get older, our immunity level becomes less effective and the maverick cells can turn cancerous.

Diminished Adjustment To Stress – One of the characteristics of aging is an inability to cope with stress and the costs associated with it. These include, decreased sex drive, hypertension, poor digestion, elevated blood glucose, weakened immunity and others.

Discovering Some Answers

Humankind has focused research on how and why people age for millennia. Ayurvedic traditional medicine practiced in India was dedicated to maintaining the health of the public enabling them to live on for a full life expectancy of a hundred years or longer. Ayurvedic medicine had devoted an entire specialization to manage Rasayana – the science of longevity.

Life Extension Herbs

Those scribes who penned the original Ayurvedic texts praised the youth sustaining qualities of numerous that came with unique monikers like haritaki, amalaki, guduchi, ashvagandha, shatavari, pippali, shilajit. Instructions were offered to produce jams, wines, pills and further life providing training that actually remain in service to this day.

Current study of rasayana herbs has come with interesting findings – each of these herbs comes complete with a mix of antioxidant, anti inflammatory, anti cancer, and anti stress characteristics. They actually reverse the known markers of aging!

Ayurveda suggests rasayana herbs for partners trying to conceive, for pregnant women and newborn infants, adolescents and adults, and lastly for those who are in the autumn years of life. Ayurveda specialists are able to customize a health program that is age appropriate, suitable for your body style, genetic flaws and health record.

Panchakarma

Nevertheless, in order for the herbs to function properly, the system should initially be detoxified. The same as it is useless to change your car’s oil while leaving in the old oil filter; a person’s cells cannot efficiently absorb restoration herbs unless it first rids the body of waste and contaminants.

Panchakarma is an Ayurveda procedure powerful and capable of flushing pollutants from the body and scientists have discovered it can even eliminate environmental contaminants that have been embedded in fat tissue for decades. A panchakarma therapeutic treatment is suggested to take place a couple times each year, as the seasons turn. This should be followed up by a rasayana regimen of restoration herbs along with a diet laden in nutrients.

Suggested Ayurveda Diet

Ayurveda believes in a meal plan that is both nutrient filled and can be digested effortlessly. The majority of foods are cooked to ease digestion, raw food makes up a small portion of the diet. Spices are utilized to aid in digestive function.

The person’s method of eating is actually more important than what is being eaten. Ayurveda practice states that meals should be eaten in a relaxed state for digestion to occur properly and to generate suitable tissue development.

Superior fats are required for health, specifically to aid in reduction of inflammation. We need Omega 3 fatty acids to equalize the Omega 6, while we utilize saturated fats at the same time. Every long established culture has utilized saturated fats, including India – where they use ghee [clarified butter] in the North, while coconut oil is used down South.

You should consume food that has high concentrations of antioxidants; these include fruits and vegetables rich in color. Be sure to utilize spices such as ginger, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon and tamarind. Clove oil is among some extremely strong antioxidants available. Raisins, berries, pomegranates and prunes are quite deep in antioxidants.
 
Ayurvedic diet information makes no decrees, nor does it disagree with contemporary nutritional recommendations. A competent specialist will assist you to integrate the information you need to fit your own requirements.

Way Of Life

Learning to deal with stressful circumstances in your life is critical to avoid the harmful results it can bring upon someone. It can induce free radical formation, cause reduced digestive function and it will weaken your immunity level. You should acquire some skills for stress reduction such as yoga breathing practices.

Learning to relax and breathe properly will aid the body in reaching a point at which it will begin to rejuvenate and stabilize itself. These exercises will also elevate the prana, or organizing life force – which will raise energy levels as well as the body’s capability to manage stresses.

Controlling The Mind

Steer clear of anxiety, rage, jealousy, envy and all other negative feelings and considerations. Each unconstructive reflection can stimulate a surge of stress chemicals – especially cortisol for one – throughout the body with the consequence being ill health and physical harm. Nurture self understanding, reverting to more constructive thinking and passions if your goal is to remain youthful.

Ayurveda states that disease is frequently the result of “faulty intellect” – the tangled thought processes that lead us toward making lousy lifestyle and health decisions. Managing stressful thinking leads toward lucid consciousness, which allows us to instinctively choose things that are good for our health.

Once more well established yoga techniques will assist you by providing a methodical means to deal with stress and reach a higher mental understanding and intelligibility.

Physical Action Devoid Of Nervous Tension

Getting reasonable exercise like yoga will maintain the body’s healthy mechanisms, improving the immunity levels and assisting the body’s ability to adapt to stress. Nevertheless, too much physical training will stimulate free radical production and result in degenerative conditions. Ayurveda suggests exercising to just a moderate elevation in heart rate and only a modest sweat.

Exhibit Youthful Exuberance To Remain Young

Keep acting like a young person and keep a youthful outlook and spirit. Play like a child once again!

Search out ways that allow you to act playfully and be child like in your character and the body will automatically reply with youthful enthusiasm. Clinical investigations have displayed that individuals who believe they are youthful actually have a lowered biological age than those persons who feel older though they remain the same age chronologically.

Recalibrating Your Innate Rhythms

As a final point, make time to calibrate yourself once again with nature. When you are in nature, it has the ability to harken us back to the flow of life, as it should be. When we return once more to the innately cyclical feeling of growth, it relaxes us and aids our body to work at its highest and best functionality, allowing it to mature elegantly on its own time frame organically.

Is Biological Longevity Fact Or Fiction?

The true description of longevity is the optimal mechanism of action for tissues and other life sustaining processes during our lifetime. The science of Ayurveda and yoga provide perhaps the ultimate all-inclusive method of providing the best possible health and anti aging practices. It is able to provide wonderful prospects for a superior human existence and should warrant further study and evaluation.

There is no singular answer. Ayurveda is able to distinguish the need for everyone’s personal uniqueness. As a result, it behooves the participant to form a connection to a skilled Ayurveda professional as a means of gaining the utmost from a practical health and longevity program.

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There have been several studies conducted on the field of calorie-restricted diets. The animal studies have shown that mammals, which are fed with calorie-restricted diets, are healthier and live longer than animals which are fed with a normal diet. This positive effect of calorie-restricted diets is unknown to high degree. However, sirtuins seems to have its role to play. Recent research has shown that sirtuins may slow down the aging process. It contributes to postpone cell death by safeguarding cells from “DNA damage”.

The calorie-restriction formula is yet fully proved for humans. It is highly possible that humans experienced an alternative effect compared to monkeys and fruit flies, on which the study has been carried out. Nevertheless, we are slightly progressing and understanding that starving is not the only way to initiate the benefit of sirtuins.

Sirtris, a research company has proved that resveratrol, is a particular antioxidant present in the skin of red grapes. This component activates sirtuins. It was shown in a research conducted on mice, that once they were put under high doses of resveratrol several health benefits were seen. It enhanced insulin resistance, assured weight control and augmented lifespan by around 20 percent. A mouse that was put on treadmill was miraculously able to run twice as fast and far than a mouse that had not been given resveratrol.

Truth Or Empty Promises

Nonetheless, it is certain that companies in the skin care sector are definitely eager to derive high profit from sirtuins. Companies such Avon have already launched products with the component, whereas other Spanish and German companies are also adopting the power of red-wine into their creams.

The promise of whether sirtuins will help to act as anti-aging substance will be seen after some years of use. It has already been shown that red wine and grape skin are vital antioxidants needed to assure longevity as well as healthiness. So, sirtuins can hopefully be significant weapon for anti-aging.

Source: Dr. Baumann from Yahoo

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The main reason for death in the Hunza population is not from poverty or Western illnesses complete with pain, suffering and degeneration, but old age. Since the Hunza do not include animal products in their diet, saturated fats found in animal meats and linked to shorter life expectancy might be one reason they are so healthy. Eating these saturated fats can cause osteoporosis, cancer, gout, kidney stones, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, diseases associated with the colon and this is only a partial list. Eating red meat has been linked to high cholesterol and blood albumin and when these two are elevated, so too is the risk of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The customary Hunza meal plan includes unprocessed whole foods deep in fiber; forty percent of their calories are from whole grains, thirty percent from veggies, fifteen percent from fruits, ten percent from legumes, four percent from nuts and seeds and just one percent from animal based products. The Hunza people also eat eighty percent of vegetables and one hundred percent of their fruit intake raw. Ten to fifteen percent of their full caloric content was derived from fat and yet there is no obesity – this low fat diet. No need for a western style diet plan here, these folks have been eating one for many years.

The attraction to the Hunza people started In the 1870s when the British were out scouting for their empire and a British army battalion descended on the Hunza River Valley. Western society has shown interest in this warrior people ever since at one time or another. They reside in a remarkably fertile valley that was cut off from the world for centuries. Travel to the Hunza people was quite treacherous as the only way there was via a twisting mountain trail called the most dangerous road in the world. It certainly would not be found on many trip ticks.

In 1960, Dr. Jay Hoffman was persuaded to visit the Hunza people by the United States National Geriatric Society to conduct a study of the health and longevity of the isolated tribal people. He wrote about his findings stating that through time man had searched fruitlessly for a fountain of youth to no avail but that one did exist in the Himalayan Mountains.  A land where people do not suffer from the same illnesses as those in the west. In addition, there are not any hospitals, mental hospitals, no pharmacies or saloons, tobacco shops or police – so no jails, no murders, and no panhandling.

A different physician named Dr Paul Dudley White spent some time studying the Hunza tribe and conducted twenty five men he assumed to be between ninety and one hundred ten years old. Not in any of them could he detect a single indicator of coronary heart disease, hypertension or high cholesterol quantities. They all had 20- 20 eyesight and there was no tooth decay. He could not find any vascular, respiratory muscular bone or organic diseases in any of them!

Of course, the first thing that one asks about these people is what are they eating to stay so healthy?

• They do not consume too much meat at all and they do not have an abundance of pastureland.
• Meat and dairy foodstuffs combined makeup only one percent of their entire diet.
• Any protein or fat that they eat is coming from vegetables they consume.
• Their food intake is entirely based on natural foods and there are no processed, refined or manufactured foods in their diets.
• The majority of their diet is whole grains such as wheat, barley, millet and buckwheat.
• They eat copious amounts of vegetables, most specifically rich leafy greens [including mustard green, spinach as well as lettuce] and root veggies, and sprouted legumes and beans.
• They cultivate and harvest flaxseed [a very powerful form of omega 3 fatty acid] and nearly every meal has some form of freshly ground flax meal in it.
• They consume much of their food raw and in the summer months, as much as eighty percent of their diet is consumed in its innate form.
• Vegetable are always picked just before they are eaten and nearly always eaten raw.
• In winter months, the beans and lentils are soaked so they can be ingested as sprouts.
• When cooking vegetables they are usually steamed lightly in just limited amounts of water.
• Their diet is low caloric, whole food and plant based with an overall daily caloric value of 1900.

The Hunza food is grown on rich terraced gardens cultivated on the mountain side. It is irrigated by mineral laden waters, which flow from the mountains giving them the most fertile soil on the planet. They grow a broad assortment of fruits that are acclaimed as the best in the world for nutrients and flavor.

The longevity puzzle of the Hunza people most assuredly has more pieces to it than simply their meal plan. Living in a mountainous terrain means they get around by moving up or down the passes and their popular mode of transport is walking. They certainly get adequate exercise! However, there is some disconcerting evidence that the encroachment of the western civilizations has brought with it some disease. It just is not as pristine a society as it was only a few decades past.

The following was a chronological ancestral description of an aged Hunza elder’s progeny that stagger the imagination and makes the longevity claims of these people even harder to comprehend.

One Hunza man claiming to be 145 years of age was jumping and playing volleyball. He has a son that is 125 years of age. A grandson who is 105 years of age. Great grandson that is 85 years old. Great great grandson of 65 years of age. A great, great, great, grandson who is 45 years of age. Great, great, great, great, grandson that is 25 years of age. Finally, a great, great, great great, great grandson who is all of 5 years of age. Not a bad set of genes if this is accurate information.

Scientists say there is only one true way currently to achieve life extension as humans and that would be calorie restriction. It seems more study should be conducted on the Hunza people to understand why they are living into their hundreds and not getting sick with age associated diseases. It would be very difficult and expensive to duplicate the lifestyle of the Hunza in western society and it would never be completely copied. Industrialized nations mean having to contend with environmental toxins the Hunza do not have. All we can do to mimic them is eat as healthy as we can and get plenty of exercise. We already knew that though – did we not.

Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Health And Aging, Longevity

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History proves how simple behavioral aspects add years to our lifespan. In the 20th century, life expectancy rose by 30 years. It is the greatest known increase in lifespan throughout the latest 5,000 years of human existence. People are now paving their way into a three-digit age. Centenarians are an increasingly growing segment of the population.

There are many contributive factors to this lifespan evolution. Improvements in education, health, treatments and prevention measures amidst dozens of other changes have altered our way of living. It has changed our habits from that of the past. These new habits (Life style and eating habits) are influencing our survival abilities and enabling people to live far many more years than in preceding centuries.

Precautions Should be Taken At An Early Age

A research published in the Journal of Pediatrics examined 137 African Americans during a span of 28 years, the individuals were scrutinized from birth up to the age of 28 years. It was found that children who were obese at the age of 14 had a much higher risk to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. An individual who suffers from diabetes has a much higher chance to experience heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, the risk of diabetic individuals is as much as 2 to 4 times higher than those who do not have diabetes.

The National Institute of Aging Study reported that women who have a relatively flat belly after their menopause are likely to live longer. In other words, the research stated that women who are rounder in the middle of their belly have a 20 percent higher risk to die earlier than those who have a flat belly. It is hard to keep the waists trim in the midlife; this is so because of altering hormones that are often responsible for the extra weight that is accumulated in the middle of the belly.

Moreover, longevity research has defined a list of aspects that address the waists dilemma related to longevity potentials. For example, if a woman’s waist is 35 inches or more, or for man, 40 inch or more, certain steps can be taken to curb it.

1. Performing three sessions of 20 minutes of strength training, per week will ensure that muscle mass remains lean. It will also act positively to our metabolism and other health aspects.

2. Omega-3 which, is present in salmon, flaxseed and walnuts, should be consumed to reinforce the immune system in fighting inflammation. Moreover, consuming a total of seven fruits and vegetables per day, having antioxidants effects can help to combat diseases.

3. Assure that at least 25 percent of your daily in take of calories comes from healthy fats. It can be monounsaturated fatty acids, which is healthy for your heart and may prevent fats to be stored in the belly.

Source: Prevention

http://www.prevention.com/surprisingsignsto100/list/2.shtml

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Angela Dolan and Sue Nadel, aged 92 and 96 respectively, admit that they have no clue how they have managed to live for so long. Doctors and medical researchers whose aim was to study the longevity of the seniors joined them at Crystal Cove Park.

Dolan admits that he has no idea how he has been able to reach 90 plus. According to him, he had been smoking for a longtime and had had his share of drinking too. But apparently his dad lived long too – 83 years old- the maximum number of years lived in his family.

Nadel, on her part has been sticking to a vegetarian diet and practiced dancing until she retired – she was a Ziegfeld girl when she was in her teens and had danced on Broadway. Nadel stated that she had had a pretty active lifestyle. She however commented that the secrets of longevity remain still unveiled.

Nadel and Dolan form part of the UC Irvine’s study of the 90 plus. It is one of the biggest examinations concerned with the aging phenomenon in the world.

Since the year 2003, this study has followed the health of around 1,400 test subjects; each of them aged more than 90. The oldest living member of the study is aged 106 years old; however, the medical researchers have also worked with one subject who had lived up to 108 years.
There are around 15 participants of the study who visited the Crystal Cove State Park the recently to take part of the Crystal Cove Alliances’ Science and Nature that was organized at the Park program.

Harry Helling, the president of the Crystal Cove Alliance said that the program worked on various levels for them; it comprised of their efforts to bring the scientific research in the park and they are as a result, also attracting senior people who are not necessarily traditional visitors of the park.

Since 2003, the study has been able to discover links between the level of exercise done and longevity. It has also found that there exist higher death rates among senior people who are underweight. The study further showed that women were more at risk than men to develop dementia.

Doctor Claudia Kawas, who is overseeing the study at UC Irvine, says that people who are aged more than 90 years old are a rapidly growing segment of the general population, and researchers are keen to be able to learn more from these aging Americans.

On Friday, the seniors were asked to do simple chair walking and chair exercises in order to raise their heart rates. Once this was done, the medical researchers of Crystal Cove conducted numerous tests to measure the seniors’ blood pressure. The data collected from these tests will also be used to study if there are any connection between the Alzheimer’s disease and the blood oxygen levels.

As a group of nonagenarians assembled in one of the famous Crystal Cove cottages, one of the participants of the study asked Kawas why he found them phenomenal. The majority of the participants were teenagers when the cottage was built.

Kawas answered that there were not many people who lived so long as them and you were as healthy to be able to have such conversations about current affairs. These qualities are what render them so phenomenal.

Source: Dailypilot

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A recent study conducted on fruit flies by a group of scientists from Oregon State University has depicted a key gene that improves the control of circadian rhythms and thereby enhances the aging process of the fruit flies. However, if the circadian rhythm is destabilized the flies might experience a shorter lifespan.

It was shown in the research that young fruit flies that did not possess this gene were capable to handle more stress. However, older fruit flies without this gene were severely worse-off. This was reported in the ‘Journal Aging”.

According to Natraj Krishnan, an associate researcher from the OSU Department of Zoology, the mechanism of aging of organisms is slowly being identified. The study proposes that young individuals with this particular gene are more able to deal with stresses. Yet, the absent of the same insult at a later age produce genetic damage and generates health pathologies that are fatal. Our biological clock is influenced by this particular gene and can cause early death, if absent.

Yet, the genetic damage occurring in fruit flies might not necessarily correlate to other animals or humans. According to Krishnan, the molecular functioning of genes are practically the same as their mechanisms has been preserved through millions of years in their historical evolution. Many gene expressions like “period” gene found in fruit files are found in human cells. This could prove the result to be highly relevant.

Moreover, the research scrutinized one of four genes that are mainly related to the biological clock of animals. For instance the rhythms are associated to the cycle of the day (night and day). It examines the effect of sleep, like inadequate sleep and working shift-time causing disruption to normal sleep.

The study that was conducted focused mainly on examining some normal fruit flies and mutant flies without the ‘period’ gene.

Source: The Hindu

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