Scientifically proven ways to stop aging.
This article will dive into the research-based on reversing aging specifically the research lead by Dr. David Sinclair of UNSW Sydney.
Let's start with a rare gem of marine biology, there is this jellyfish the Moon Jellyfish which is famous for not showing any signs of aging as its complex life cycle allows it to asexually reproduce and be a young jellyfish again without dying in the process, The Moon Jellyfish can be considered immortal as they never die they only mold themselves into new from an old body.
Image shows a pulp (young Moonlight Jellyfish )
Let's start with the question now,
WHY DO WE AGE?
Aging is not merely the amount of time you have spent on earth alive, it is not your age but its the rate at which you are progressing towards your death because of natural failures of an organ(s)
Failures in organs happen due to defective tissues and the further we will go we will find that our building blocks, our cells are the starting point of this defect where they refuse to show signs of vitality and growth and robust performance as they once did, going further in we will find the DNA the starting point, the blueprint code that tells a cell how to function and in our DNA we will find our clue to solve the problem of aging, The Telomeres.
Telomeres are located at the end of our chromosomes and they keep them tied like aglets on shoelaces, as we age they get reduced and slowly and steadily they vanish and so do the cells until a failure is caused. And as we age the cells reproduce and divide and in this process, the telomeres get reduced.
The challenge now is to stop aging, thus to stop the reduction in the size of our telomeres as we age, and to do that we need to protect Epigenome, Epigenome tells the cells to be a specific cell, and as we age its damaged this leads to an identity loss in the cells, for example, our cells forget to be skin cells after they are exposed to damaging UV, which will lead to undesired cells in the skin, and this is aging and if this goes rogue this becomes cancer, this also explains why cancer risk grows as we age
Human chromosomes (grey) capped by telomeres (white) :
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| A chromosome with telomeres highlighted |
MODES OF SURVIVAL IN CELLS
Its believed that at some point in our evolutionary journey cells developed two modes of survival. The first was suited for a favorable environment when the conditions were good they reproduced and grew, the second was when the environment was hostile, then the cells became dormant.
These cells are our ancestors and we still have this trait in us. There are three types of longevity genes, the genes that control the epigenome, Sirtuin, these cells are silent information regulator they regulate the info in the cells the other one is AMPK is responsible for detecting sugar,& finally mTOR they are sensitive towards amino acids (meat) taken in by the body.
And to control these genes. Calorie restrictive diet shows to work in monkeys, so you have to eat less to live longer.
There is a wide range of conditions that affect these genes that you can follow to reverse aging.
1) AVOID SUN as the UV rays will damage your DNA and will lead to faster aging, wear sunscreen always.
2) EAT LESS (CALORIC RESTRICTION) So your cells will not reproduce and grow faster than required and you will stay in shape too.
3) EAT fewer PROTEINS proteins are the building blocks your body will know if you are eating them and will grow accordingly leading to faster growth which may be good but also faster aging.
4) EXERCISE, This one is no surprise for a healthy and longer life you must exercise every day even if it's for less than half an hour.
5) BE IN A HOT OR COLD ENVIRONMENT. Your cells will react to the environment, if it is pleasant and favorable they will "think" you are comfortable to grow and expend resources instead of storing them for the long run and will lead to growth and thus aging as compared to living in a harsher environment.
This may sound harsh but it's the truth to live long you must live like a human with lesser food a harsher environment. These things are unpleasant and hard and that is what we want our cells to experience so they stay dormant for longer in terms of reproduction to live longer.
But what if you want to go further? what if you want to reverse aging in an old person faster so that they are good as new?
Let's see the breakthrough Dr.Sinclair of UNSW Sydney got when he and his team tried to fix the eyes of an old mouse that were damaged due to aging,
Pluripotent stem cell therapy is a therapy that when given to mice old ones recovered their vision as if they were young mice. This therapy is still in its early ages, so no solid stuff must be said although we can all agree upon one fact that the future certainly holds the key to a longer much healthier life and our ancestors ever experienced.
When will this be a reality?
My personal point of view I have to admit is changed after going through all of this, I was skeptical and doubtful at first but now I am hopeful, Don't want to sound like an eloquent critic who is pessimistic. I want to be a colorful child when it comes to technology and that's why I think this is something I believe will be used to increase our life expectancy by the end of the decade, the research is solid and science is simple enough to communicate and is also tested on rats and on top of that the things discussed are known to be good for health like exercising and avoiding sun the research is not outlandish if we think that way we already know the answer to a longer and healthier life and now I am glad we have a deeper cellular level understanding too.
