Life Extension Research

Life Expectancy

posted on November 24, 2008

Can your expectations determine how long you will live?

I believe lots of us actually die because of our expectations. We're conditioned to believe the average lifespan is around eighty years, so we wind down and die right on schedule. We usually get what we expect, not what we want. What if you expected to live to 100? Wouldn't you naturally gravitate toward the habits that will make that happen? Wouldn't your thoughts and emotions be more positive? How about longer? Loads of research tells us we should stay healthy for up to 100 years. But why don't we? Could it start with your attitude? Don't cop out by blaming it on your genes or on luck. Really, 65–75% of it is the choices you make. Your genes account for less that 35%.

This is backed up by hard science. Studies have shown that people who just think they are aging faster actually do age faster!

If you always think the glass is half full, you're on the right track. Mayo Clinic research shows that people with positive outlooks typically live 19% longer than people who see the glass as half empty. Although it's questionable if this can be attributed to optimists being more likely to seek medical help when they're ill, or if their immune systems strengthen as a result of their sunny outlook. The end result is though, they live longer. Optimists are also less likely to suffer depression and helplessness than their pessimistic counterparts.

To support the hypothesis that their immune systems are actually strengthened, Dr. Bruce Lipton’s experiments, and that of other leading-edge scientists, have examined in great detail the processes by which your cells receive information. The implications of this research radically change our understanding of life. It shows that genes and DNA do not control your biology. Instead, DNA is controlled by signals from outside your cells, including the energetic messages emanating from your positive and negative thoughts.

He clearly describes the connection between your core thoughts, beliefs and attitudes and how your cells function as a result. Happy thoughts put your cells’ functions in balance. Hateful, angry and resentful thoughts do the exact opposite. They suppress your immune system, alter your hormones, upset your digestive system, and diminish your brain function and respiration.

Dr. Lipton’s profoundly hopeful synthesis of the latest and best research in cell biology and quantum physics is being hailed as a major breakthrough showing your body can be changed as you retrain your thinking. His book, The Biology of Belief is a groundbreaking work in the field of New Biology.

In addition, an often repeated study showed that when a person’s living cells from different organs are put in separate dishes, cells from one organ would respond when cells from a different organ in a different dish were stimulated. If the cells were from two different people, they would not get the reaction. This means the trillions of cells in your body are always in direct communication with one another, even if they are not in direct contact by chemical or neurological pathways.

Stub a toe, and all your cells react. Poison your body with cigarette smoke or toxic food, and you stimulate every cell. Subject yourself to uncontrolled stress, and you stress tens of trillions of cells. Now can you see why stress management and attitude are so critical to your health and longevity?

Now that you know your thoughts affect every single cell in your body, what are you going to do about it? Since you now realize positive, loving and grateful thoughts keep you healthy and make you live longer, while negative thoughts destroy you from the inside out, you have a big anti-aging advantage. What happens to you usually doesn’t matter one bit. How you react means everything.

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LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES

Cryonics as Emergency Medicine (November 21 2008) http://www.depressedmetabolism.com/2008/11/19/cryonics-sets-example-for-emergency-medicine/
From Depressed Metabolism: "One of the most neglected aspects of cryonics is that its procedures, and the research to support them, can have important practical applications in mainstream fields such as organ preservation and emergency medicine. Contrary to popular opinion, cryonics does not just involve an optimistic extrapolation of existing science but can set the standard for these disciplines. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what cryonics, and cryonics associated research, has been doing over the last 25 years. It is encouraging to observe that some of the procedures that are routine in cryonics stabilization protocol are starting to catch on in mainstream emergency medicine practice as well. For example, contemporary cryonics stabilization protocol has been strongly shaped by the idea that the best strategy to limit brain injury after cardiac arrest is to combine a number of different interventions: cardiopulmonary support, induction of hypothermia, and administration of circulation-supporting and neuroprotective medications. It is therefore very encouraging to learn that the Wake County EMS group in North Carolina has achieved impressive results in treating out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims using a protocol that closely follows elements of current cryonics stabilization protocol."

Building New Pancreatic Cells (November 21 2008) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081120130539.htm
Regenerative medicine advances, step by step: "researchers have developed an unlimited number of pure insulin-producing cells from mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). These pure insulin-producing cells, which according to electron microscopy studies, have the same sub-cellular structures as the insulin-producing cells naturally found in the pancreas, were highly effective in treating diabetes in the mouse model. The transplants of pure insulin-producing cells reduced the blood glucose levels of diabetic mice with high blood glucose levels. None of the diabetic mice involved in the transplant experiments developed teratoma, which are a type of tumor often associated with ESCs and which could complicate their use in human therapeutic treatment. Furthermore, the pure insulin-producing cells managed to retain their insulin-production and glucose-sensing capacity over time. Besides providing a tool to facilitate basic research in test tubes and animals, these insulin-producing cells may be also used to replace the isolated native pancreatic cells that are hard to obtain in a large amount, for pharmacological tests."

Towards Accurate Biomarkers of Aging (November 20 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/bifa-but111208.php
From EurekAlert!: researchers "have identified for the first time biomarkers of aging which are highly predictive of both chronological and physiological age. Biomarkers are biochemical features that can be used to measure the progress of disease or the effects of treatment. The research involves nematode worms, microarrays which measure changes in gene expression, and complex computer algorithms. This is the first step toward identifying similar biomarkers in humans which would provide a means of scientifically validating anti-aging therapies. This is the first evidence that physiological age can be predicted non-subjectively. This is a first step; our results were not perfect, but we were able to predict the ages of the animals 70% of the time, which is far better than anything that has been done before. Research into the biology of aging in humans has been hampered by the lack of irrefutable biomarkers that correlate with the aging process. I am confident that at some point there will be a non-subjective method of determining how old someone is with a high level of confidence."

Inflammation and Alzheimer's (November 19 2008) http://pmid.us/19014446
A prodrome is an early set of non-specific symptoms that herald a particular disease. Here, researchers point to chronic inflammation as a prodrome of Alzheimer's (AD): "Recently, the term 'inflammaging' was coined [to] characterize a widely accepted paradigm that ageing is accompanied by a low-grade chronic up-regulation of certain pro-inflammatory responses. Inflammaging differs significantly the from [traditional] acute inflammation in that it is characterized by a relative decline in adaptive immunity. While the over-active innate immunity characteristic of inflammaging may remain subclinical in many elderly individuals, a portion of individuals (postulated to have a "high responder inflammatory genotype") may shift from a state of "normal" or "subclinical" inflammaging to one or more of a number of age-associated diseases. Although conditions of enhanced innate immune response with overproduction of pro-inflammatory proteins are associated with both healthy aging and AD, it is suggested that those who age 'well' demonstrate anti-inflammaging mechanisms and biomarkers that likely counteract the adverse immunity of inflammaging. Thus, opposing the features of inflammaging may prevent or treat the symptoms of AD."

Regeneration via Embryonic Stem Cells (November 19 2008) http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USTRE4AI02220081119
From Reuters: "Stem cells from tiny embryos can be used to restore lost hearing and vision in animals, researchers said Tuesday in what they believe is a first step toward helping people. One team repaired hearing in guinea pigs using human bone marrow stem cells, while another grew functioning eyes in tadpoles using frog cells. They grew the stem cells into neuron-like cells in lab dishes and then transplanted them into the inner ears of the guinea pigs. Three months later, the animals appeared to have some hearing. The goal was to regrow the tiny hair cells that are essential for mammals to hear, although she is not sure yet how the stem cells made this happen. They would eventually like to try something similar in humans." These are early stage proof-of-concept demonstrations. It is an illustration of progress that they do not stand out as exceptional amidst advances in the many other lines of regenerative research presently taking place.

More on the Biochemical Value of Exercise (November 18 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/aps-eib111708.php

Exercise is good for you: "A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells. One hypothesis the researchers investigated is that the age-related decline in neurogenesis is tied to a rise in corticosterone in middle age. Elevation of corticosterone has been associated with a drop in the production of new stem cells in the hippocampus. The second hypothesis is that nerve growth factors -- which encourage new neural cell growth but which decrease with age -- account for the drop in neurogenesis. Production of neural stem cells improved by approximately 200% compared to the middle-aged mice that did not exercise. In addition, the survival of new nerve cells increased by 170% and growth by 190% compared to the sedentary middle-aged mice. ... Based on these results, it appears that nerve growth factor has more to do with these findings than the corticosterone."

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