Internally young forever
Todays culture seems to be obsessed with looking younger, weather it's getting Botox, laser treatments, elective surgery or Viagra. But, what if we could actually be younger internally? Can we preserve or reverse our aging process deep in our DNA and cells? Well, maybe not like Benjamin Button but yes, some scientist believe we can.
David Sinclair is a biologist and geneticist from Australia. He's been working in a lab to create a supplement to preserve the longevity of a person's life span. As we age, we lose a lot! NMN is a big thing we have when we're younger but lose as we age. This is Dr. Sinclair's main focus in the lab. He believes taking this supplement an help the aging process. Exercise is also something we can do to increase NMN in our body, according to Dr. Sinclair. Sinclair also believes aging is a disease because we can get memory loss, other disease, cancers, and ultimately die from it. Dr. Sinclair is fifty-two but looks like he's forty! He's been taking this supplement for years but hasn't released it to the public yet.
"The top tips are simply: Focus on plants for food, eat less often, get sufficient sleep, lose your breath for 10 minutes three times a week by exercising to maintain your muscle mass, don't sweat the small stuff and have a good social group," Sinclair said in cnn reverse aging itself scn wellness by Sandee LaMotte June 2, 2022
Another part of longevity of life we look at is nutrition. Zach Effron hosted a documentary on Netflix about the blue zone countries a few years ago. These blue zone countries have the healthiest people in the world. They live longer, they don't have obesity, memory loss or the other diseases that seem so common in America. Some of these countries are Ikaria, Greece, Okinawa, Japan, Ogliastra, Sardinia.
In the blog, "The blue zones: Lifestyle habits of the world's longest-living populations, the author makes an ethos and logos argument. Laura Dan writes about the scientific research done over the years with certain areas of the world. Dan, also writes about the desire of living a long quality life by mirroring the people in these areas of the world's lifestyle.
Laura Dan says "through their research, they identified regions of the world with the largest percentage of individuals 100 years of age or older, called the blue zones. The people of these regions engage in similar lifestyle habits, such as consuming a plant-heavy diet and prioritizing tight-knit social networks". Some of these blue zones listed are Loma Linda, California, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica and Sardinia, Italy.
We seem to take advantage of our health and do not always take the initiative to take care of ourselves to the best of our abilities. Heart disease is the second highest cause of deaths in the U.S. 805,000 Americans have a heart attack.
In doing my research, I have found that heart disease is mostly from an unhealthy lifestyle.
Not moving around much or making exercise as apart of our daily or weekly routine. Also, eating an unhealthy diet.
Such as, fast food, fried foods, high in sugar foods and huge potions. Living a gluttonous and sloth like life. Although sometimes genetics do factor in.
Another health risk that comes with aging for Americans is Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is due to bone density loss which can increase the chances of breaking a bone. This can lead to much more health problems. It's harder to heal the older we get and if we break our hip during a fall we can be sedentary for awhile. Not being able to move around how we are used to moving can cause mental health issues, weight gain, and weakening other bones and muscles. Half of Americans 50 and older have loss in bone density.
There are much more diseases that are associated with aging but the last one I will mention in this paper is Alzheimer's. 6.5 million Americans 65 and older have Alzheimer's disease. It is the fifth leading cause of death in people 65 and older. It's a horrible disease that not only does the person with the disease suffer but also their families suffer taking care of them and seeing their loved ones go through this. It changes the person they love and it hurts their care takers.
Some say we have more control over our longevity than we previously thought. For so long we have focused on treating rather than preventing and maintaining our health. Well, it seems like that's changing. We're more aware of what we put in our bodies and staying active in a smart way.
