Dear Future Centenarian,
Bill Andrews sent me an interesting article about life extension. Bill is CEO of Sierra Sciences, where they screen compounds for their effect on activating telomerase. You might remember that telomerase is the enzyme that regulates telomere length, and telomeres are the protective tips of your chromosomes that gradually shorten as your cells divide. Lengthening shortened telomeres appears to reestablish your youth and potentially let you live a lot longer.
Doing that is a bit tricky, but Sierra Sciences is making progress. A big part of the solution to aging is understanding our genes and influencing their activity. First, it’s necessary to identify the ones which affect aging.
This month, the New York Post and The Times of London published the article “Found: genes that let you live to 100,” detailing longevity research at Leiden University.
Leiden University had previously published research on the physiological differences between centenarians and the rest of the population, finding that centenarians metabolize fats and glucose differently than the general population; that their skin ages more slowly; and that they have a lower prevalence of heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. They also appear to have genetic protection against the effects of smoking and poor diet habits.
Now, the group has analyzed the genomes of these centenarians and found a suite of genes that are statistically much more common in centenarians than in the general population. The hope is that these genes can be used as drug discovery targets, and that one or more drugs can be developed that will afford us all the same protection against disease and environmental damage that centenarians enjoy. The research itself is due to be published later this year.
Many other researchers are identifying aging-related genes as well. Michael Rose at the University of California at Irvine, for example, has already discovered what could be hundreds of them, with more on the way. Next step is developing drugs that tweak them. This step is underway as you read this.
Donate to the Maximum Life Foundation to do your part to advance the field anti aging research.
Long Life,
David Kekich
Hi David,
Thanks for your interesting blog.
I have written a paper entitled ‘ Healthy life extension / physical immortality – the mass possibility’ http://drjannilloyd.wordpress.com/ . I have approached the topic from the medical science, quantum physics, alternative medical and spiritual perspectives. I was a medical doctor then moved into alternative medicine.
many blessings
Janni Lloyd
Also wanted to ask , have you heard of Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer’s work? She has written a book called ‘Counterclockwise’ featuring much of her research – it is very good.
The counterclockwise study in particular is interesting – this is an area where I feel much more research needs to be done. Here is a description of the Counterclockwise study –
A study was done in 1976, by psychologist Ellen Langer and her team at Harvard, which demonstrates the power of the mind to reverse ageing. Deepak Chopra describes this study in “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind” – “The subjects, all 75 or older and in good health, were asked to meet for a weeks retreat at a country resort. They were informed in advance that they would be given a battery of physical and mental exams, but in addition one unusual stipulation was placed upon them; they were not allowed to bring any newspapers, magazines, books or family photos dated later than 1959. The purpose of this odd request became clear when they arrived – the resort had been set up to duplicate life as it was 20 years earlier. Instead of magazines from 1979, the reading tables held issues of Life and Saturday Evening Post from 1959. The only music played was 20 years old, and in keeping with this flashback, the men were asked to behave entirely as if the year were 1959. All talk had to refer to events and people of that year. Every detail of their week in the country was geared to make each subject feel, look, talk and behave as he had in his mid 50′s.
During this period, Langer’s team made extensive measurements of the subjects biological age. Gerontologists have not been able to fix the precise markers that define biological age, as I noted earlier, but a general profile was compiled for each man using measurements of physical strength, posture, perception, cognition and short term memory along with thresholds of hearing, sight and taste.
The Harvard team wanted to change the context in which these men saw themselves. The premise of their experiment was that seeing oneself as old or young directly influences the ageing process itself. To shift their context back to 1959 the researchers had their subjects wear ID photo’s taken 20 years before – the group learned to identify one another through these pictures rather than present appearance, they were instructed to talk exclusively in the present tense of 1959 (“I wonder if President Eisenhower will go with Nixon next election”); their wives and children were referred to as if they were also 20 years younger; although all the men were retired, they talked about their careers as if they were still in full swing.
The results of this playacting were remarkable. Compared to a control group that went on retreat but continued to live in the world of 1979, the make believe group improved in memory and manual dexterity. They were more active and self sufficient about such things as taking their own food at meals and cleaning up their rooms, behaving much more like 55 year olds than 75 year olds (many had become dependant on younger family members to perform everyday tasks for them).
Perhaps the most remarkable change had to do with aspects of ageing that were considered irreversible. Impartial judges who were asked to study before and after pictures of the men detected that their faces looked visibly younger by an average of three years. Measurements of finger length, which tends to shorten with age, indicated that their fingers had lengthened, stiffened joints were more flexible and posture had started to straighten as it had in younger years. The control group also showed some improvements (Langer explained this by the fact that going on a trip and being treated specially made them feel younger too). But the control group actually declined in certain markers such as manual dexterity and finger length. Intelligence is considered fixed in adults, yet over half of the experimental group showed increased intelligence over the five days of their return to 1959, while a quarter of the control group declined in IQ test scores.
Professor Langer’s study was a landmark in proving that the so called irreversible signs of ageing could be reversed using psychological intervention.”
blessings Janni