For everyone who loves life, here are seven sure ways you can live past 100 years and still be strong and agile.
A happy couple
The dream of living forever permeates human culture. Mythical tales
of immortals are found everywhere from the Greek myths and alchemist's
notebooks to modern movies and futuristic science-fiction books. As the
science of aging progresses, scientists have made tremendous progress in
extending human life.
From lowering infant mortality rates to creating effective vaccines
and reducing deaths related to disease, science has helped increase the
average person's life span by nearly three decades over the past
century, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Where will the future of genetic engineering and regenerative
medicine take us? No one knows, but researchers are narrowing down the
places to look for that next fountain of youth.
1. Kick old cells to the curb
The adage "out with the old and in with the new" could help prevent
age-related diseases if applied to certain cells, suggests a study on
mice, published in the journal Nature in November 2011.By removing the
body's worn-out cells, called senescent cells, several times during the
lifetime of aging-accelerated mice, researchers were able to spare the
mice of cataracts, aging skin and muscle loss.
These comatose cells send out chemical signals that have a strange
impact on the cells around them, and researchers have speculated that
these chemicals can lead to age-related diseases. Compared with mice
that kept all their senescent cells, mice undergoing spring-cleaning of
old cells had stronger muscles, fewer cataracts and less wrinkled skin
(because their fat deposits in their skin were in better shape).
Even if their treatment started at middle age, deterioration of the
subject's muscle and fat cells was nearly stopped when the researchers
started removing their senescent cells. Such an approach, if validated,
could be used to help develop a vaccine to prime the immune cells to
attack senescent cells.
2. Starve yourself
Reducing calories in your diet could help you live longer, if you
are a worm or a mouse. The effects of a reduced-calorie diet are still
debated in humans, though. Recent research in the Journal of Nutrition,
published in January 2009, added another layer to the
caloric-restriction debate: In the study, naturally chubby mice lived
longer when fed reduced-calorie chow than lean mice that ate the low-cal
food.
Previous studies have indicated that lab animals, like the nematode
C. elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila and lab mice, all lived almost
twice as long when fed an almost-starving diet (30 percent fewer
calories than usual), but the effect on humans isn't clear. A study
published in July 2008 indicated that eating less could add five years
to the life of an average human.
The restricted diet seems to work by lowering metabolic rate,
reducing the frequency of age-related diseases by reducing the amount of
"free radicals" produced naturally by our bodies. This may happen by
reducing levels of thyroid hormone, the study in the June 2008 issue of
the journal Rejuvenation Research suggested.
3. Have healthy parents
You are what you eat, and, it turns out, you might also be what
your parents eat. A study in rats presented in April 2010 at the
American Association for Cancer Research meeting, indicates that what
your parents are exposed to, through their food and other toxins in the
environment, can impact not only their health but the health of their
offspring. Specifically, rat diets high in omega three fatty acids
during pregnancy left not only daughter rats, but also granddaughter
rats at an increased risk for breast cancer.
A similar study in mice (published in the journal Cell in December
2010) indicated that a father's diet could influence the expression of
hundreds of genes in his offspring, including those genes involved in
fat- and cholesterol-processing in the liver.
These types of changes to gene expression are called epigenetic
changes. Instead of changing the genes themselves, epigenetic changes
alter how the genes are accessed and used. New research published in the
journal Nature in 2011, indicates that, at least in worms these
epigenetic changes (which in that study increased the worm's lifespan)
can be passed down to offspring for several generations. Researchers had
previously thought that the epigenetic slate gets wiped clean when
sperm meets egg.
4. Be hardworking
Taking it easy may be the key to a relaxing vacation, but it isn't
the key to a long life, according to research finding that hard-working,
prudent humans live the longest. The study followed more than 1,500
children from the 1920s until their death.
Analysis of the longevity of this group of children was published
in March 2011 in the book "The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries
for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study" (Hudson
Street Press). It indicates that dependable, prudent children on average
avoided risks and eventually entered into stable relationships — a
major boost for health, happiness and longevity.
The conscientious, hard-working personality trait extends life by
an average of two to three years, the equivalent to a 20 percent to 30
percent decreased risk of early death.
5. Be an Ecuadorian dwarf
Genetics plays a big role in our expected lifespan. A study of
Ecuadorians with Laron syndrome, which causes dwarfism, shocked
scientists when they realized that these short-statured South Americans
were essentially resistant to cancer and diabetes.
The disease is caused by a mutation in a protein that regulates how
cells grow and divide. And it turns out the mutation's effect on a
growth-signaling pathway in the body also leads to resistance to cancer
and diabetes.
Though none of the Laron group died of these two age-related
diseases, they didn't live any longer than their unaffected relatives —
instead, the study found they had higher rates of death from various
accidents and alcohol-related issues. Still, after extended study in lab
animals, the study points to this growth-factor pathway as an important
regulator of lifespan in humans.
6. Avoid bachelorhood
Need an excuse to get married? For guys, the result could mean a
longer life. Data from the "Longevity Project" book indicates that men
who got and stayed married were likely to live beyond age 70, but less
than one-third of divorced men made it to that age. Men who never
married outlived those who divorced, but not those who stayed married.
The effect is smaller in women, but still there. On average,
married men live 10 years longer than non-married men, and married women
lived about four years longer than non-married women. There are several
hypotheses for these differences: Married men might adopt healthier
lives and take fewer risks, or their wives may help them stay connected
to their social circle, since being social has a positive impact on
lifespan.
7. Have the right stuff
Back to researchers' favorite worms, the nematode C. elegans.
Multiple proteins linked to longevity have been isolated in the lab
worm. For example, a study published in May 2010 in the Journal of
Biological Chemistry indicated that a protein called arrestin directly
regulates lifespan. Being born with no arrestin meant the worms lived a
third longer than usual, while being born with extra meant the worms'
lives were cut short by a third.
Previous studies have also shown that decreased activity of the
so-called insulin-like growth factor pathway can also increase longevity
in worms, a link that held up in fruit flies, mice and even humans —
for example, it's linked to increased lifespan in Ecuadorians with
Laron's syndrome.
The jury is still out on how these proteins and other
life-extending or -depleting compounds found in rodent studies will
affect human longevity. A study published in the Journal of the American
Geriatrics Society in August 2011 indicates that centenarians live just
as unhealthy lives as the rest of us.
One woman, at age 107, smoked for over 90 years. This indicates
that genetics probably plays a large role in what makes a centenarian
live so long, but the researchers note you shouldn't fall off the wagon
and start tossing down doughnuts for breakfast; remember that genetics
is a game of chance.
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