Skepticism is alive, well, and actually thriving as it pertains to the medical research field. If you believe the contrary to what research has exhibited due to a lack of solid evidence, you are a contrarian and there are many out there. Skepticism is for many people a means of getting to the truth rather than just being negative. Scientific research in many cases is very uncertain in its quest for the truth. Major discoveries are made and reported and once the media gets hold of these “breakthroughs” they tend to become larger than they were ever intended to be.
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.
Fri, Mar 12, 2010
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Bioscience, Longevity