Your chances of reaching age 100 could be better than you think — especially if you get some additional sleep and improve your diet.
U.S. seniors who make it to their 100th birthdays tend to credit social connections, exercise and spiritual activity as keys to successful aging.
Research from UnitedHealthcare looks at centenarians and baby boomers, asking the former about the “secrets of aging success” and evaluating whether the latter are taking the necessary steps to celebrate a 100th birthday.
The primary findings: Many boomers are embracing lifestyles that could lead to a long and rewarding life — with two exceptions. More than seven in 10 centenarians — 71% — say they get eight hours or more of sleep each night. By contrast, only 38% of boomers say they get the same amount of rest. And when it comes to eating right, more than eight in 10 centenarians say they regularly consume a balanced meal, compared with just over two-thirds (68%) of baby boomers.
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Monday, December 24, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Foods For Longevity: 7 Picks That Could Add Years To Your Life
The more we learn, the clearer it is that longevity isn't just about our genetic heritage. Instead we can control many of the factors that will influence the quality and quantity of our years with all those small, daily decisions we make about nutrition, fitness, sleep and other health behaviors.
So when we saw the recent study linking vitamin D and calcium supplements to a longer lifespan, it got us thinking. What other nutrients or foods could help improve lifespan? Read on for some tasty items that may just add years to your life.
Source
So when we saw the recent study linking vitamin D and calcium supplements to a longer lifespan, it got us thinking. What other nutrients or foods could help improve lifespan? Read on for some tasty items that may just add years to your life.
Source
The Strange Neuroscience of Immortality
n the basement of the Northwest Science Building here at Harvard University, a locked door is marked with a pink and yellow sign: "Caution: Radioactive Material." Inside researchers buzz around wearing dour expressions and plastic gloves. Among them is Kenneth Hayworth. He's tall and gaunt, dressed in dark-blue jeans, a blue polo shirt, and gray running shoes. He looks like someone who sleeps little and eats less.
Hayworth has spent much of the past few years in a windowless room carving brains into very thin slices. He is by all accounts a curious man, known for casually saying things like, "The human race is on a beeline to mind uploading: We will preserve a brain, slice it up, simulate it on a computer, and hook it up to a robot body." He wants that brain to be his brain. He wants his 100 billion neurons and more than 100 trillion synapses to be encased in a block of transparent, amber-colored resin—before he dies of natural causes.
Why? Ken Hayworth believes that he can live forever.
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Hayworth has spent much of the past few years in a windowless room carving brains into very thin slices. He is by all accounts a curious man, known for casually saying things like, "The human race is on a beeline to mind uploading: We will preserve a brain, slice it up, simulate it on a computer, and hook it up to a robot body." He wants that brain to be his brain. He wants his 100 billion neurons and more than 100 trillion synapses to be encased in a block of transparent, amber-colored resin—before he dies of natural causes.
Why? Ken Hayworth believes that he can live forever.
Read more
Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality?
After more than 4,000 years — almost since the dawn of recorded time, when Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh that the secret to immortality lay in a coral found on the ocean floor — man finally discovered eternal life in 1988. He found it, in fact, on the ocean floor. The discovery was made unwittingly by Christian Sommer, a German marine-biology student in his early 20s. He was spending the summer in Rapallo, a small city on the Italian Riviera, where exactly one century earlier Friedrich Nietzsche conceived “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”: “Everything goes, everything comes back; eternally rolls the wheel of being. Everything dies, everything blossoms again. . . .”
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Monday, November 19, 2012
Sex Robot 'Longevity Orgasms' May Help Extend Human Life Spans, Futurists Suggest
Could sex with robots help extend human life spans? Some futurists seem to think so.
A Nov. 7 article on the futurist website Transhumanity argues that robot lovers could help extend life spans by giving users mind-blowing "longevity orgasms" far superior in quality to those from human "meat-bag" partners.
Warning: Graphic Descriptions Follow
The link between orgasms and health is not unexplored. Some have argued that orgasms have significant health benefits, and "The Longevity Project," a book about an eight-decade study of long-life factors, observed that women with higher frequency of orgasm during sex lived longer.
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A Nov. 7 article on the futurist website Transhumanity argues that robot lovers could help extend life spans by giving users mind-blowing "longevity orgasms" far superior in quality to those from human "meat-bag" partners.
Warning: Graphic Descriptions Follow
The link between orgasms and health is not unexplored. Some have argued that orgasms have significant health benefits, and "The Longevity Project," a book about an eight-decade study of long-life factors, observed that women with higher frequency of orgasm during sex lived longer.
Read more
‘Immortal' Cells: Is It Biologically Possible For Humans To Live Forever? (VIDEO)
Given the chance, would you want to live forever? In the Epic of Gilgamesh, written over 4,000 years ago, a Sumerian king seeks eternal life. And 500 years ago, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon came to the Americas searching for the fountain of youth. Every generation, a new ploy for outsmarting the reaper emerges--always futile, always in vain. But is the key to immortality within reach? Some people think that technology will help us cure diseases, build new organs, and essentially reprogram our bodies' faulty software. Futurist Ray Kurzweil calculates that 20 years is all it'll take for this exponential boom in computing power to help us live forever. But other scientists are more skeptical. They say that to understand immortality, we must understand our own DNA.
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Sunday, September 16, 2012
How Testosterone May Alter the Brain After Exercise
Thanks to Alyssa Milano for tweeting this article.
It’s widely accepted among scientists that regular exercise transforms the brain, improving the ability to remember and think. And a growing and very appealing body of science has established that exercise spurs the creation of new brain cells, a process known as neurogenesis. But just how jogging or other workouts affect the structure of the brain has remained enigmatic, with many steps in the process unexplained.
A new study published last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may fill in one piece of the puzzle, by showing that male sex hormones surge in the brain after exercise and could be helping to remodel the mind. The research was conducted on young, healthy and exclusively male rats – but scientists believe it applies to female rats, too, as well as other mammals, including humans.
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It’s widely accepted among scientists that regular exercise transforms the brain, improving the ability to remember and think. And a growing and very appealing body of science has established that exercise spurs the creation of new brain cells, a process known as neurogenesis. But just how jogging or other workouts affect the structure of the brain has remained enigmatic, with many steps in the process unexplained.
A new study published last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may fill in one piece of the puzzle, by showing that male sex hormones surge in the brain after exercise and could be helping to remodel the mind. The research was conducted on young, healthy and exclusively male rats – but scientists believe it applies to female rats, too, as well as other mammals, including humans.
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A First: Organs Tailor-Made With Body’s Own Cells
Two and a half years ago doctors in Iceland, where Mr. Beyene was studying to be an engineer, discovered a golf-ball-size tumor growing into his windpipe. Despite surgery and radiation, it kept growing. In the spring of 2011, when Mr. Beyene came to Sweden to see another doctor, he was practically out of options. “I was almost dead,” he said. “There was suffering. A lot of suffering.”
But the doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, at the Karolinska Institute here, had a radical idea. He wanted to make Mr. Beyene a new windpipe, out of plastic and his own cells.
Implanting such a “bioartificial” organ would be a first-of-its-kind procedure for the field of regenerative medicine, which for decades has been promising a future of ready-made replacement organs — livers, kidneys, even hearts — built in the laboratory.
For the most part that future has remained a science-fiction fantasy. Now, however, researchers like Dr. Macchiarini are building organs with a different approach, using the body’s cells and letting the body itself do most of the work.
“The human body is so beautiful, I’m convinced we must use it in the most proper way,” said Dr. Macchiarini, a surgeon who runs a laboratory that is a leader in the field, also called tissue engineering.
Read the rest
But the doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, at the Karolinska Institute here, had a radical idea. He wanted to make Mr. Beyene a new windpipe, out of plastic and his own cells.
Implanting such a “bioartificial” organ would be a first-of-its-kind procedure for the field of regenerative medicine, which for decades has been promising a future of ready-made replacement organs — livers, kidneys, even hearts — built in the laboratory.
For the most part that future has remained a science-fiction fantasy. Now, however, researchers like Dr. Macchiarini are building organs with a different approach, using the body’s cells and letting the body itself do most of the work.
“The human body is so beautiful, I’m convinced we must use it in the most proper way,” said Dr. Macchiarini, a surgeon who runs a laboratory that is a leader in the field, also called tissue engineering.
Read the rest
Monday, August 27, 2012
Scientists Clear Path to the Fountain of Eternal Youth
Using electrical pulses, the researchers opened holes in the membrane of blood cells extracted from a patient's spinal cord. They used these tiny holes to inject plasmids loaded with four genes, programmed to make the cells revert to a primitive state. After the plasmids completed their function, they cultivated the cells with irradiated bone-marrow cells. Seven to 14 days later, the cultivated cells magically turned to embryonic stem cells.
The team is now evaluating the quality of these cells, but the potential to accelerate current and future stem cell treatments like never before is nothing sort of miraculous. By getting rid of all the barriers to entry, medical researchers could experiment at a faster pace. And once new therapies are in place, everyone on the planet would be able to receive self-transplants of embryonic cells to cure diseases, fix spinal cords or eye nerves, and rejuvenate organs by renewing tissues without rejection risks or any other side effect. Hypothetically, if you're able to perpetually fix any part of your body, there's no reason you wouldn't be able to live as long as you wanted.
Read full piece
Sunday, August 26, 2012
The "2045" Initiative
The "2045" Initiative was founded by Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 in partnership with leading Russian scientists.
The main objectives of the Initiative are: the creation of a new vision of human development that meets global challenges humanity faces today, realization of the possibility of a radical extension of human life by means of cybernetic technology, as well as the formation of a new culture associated with these technologies.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Web site: http://2045.com
The main objectives of the Initiative are: the creation of a new vision of human development that meets global challenges humanity faces today, realization of the possibility of a radical extension of human life by means of cybernetic technology, as well as the formation of a new culture associated with these technologies.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Web site: http://2045.com
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Kurzweil Talks About Achievable Immortality On PBS NewsHour
Economists are known for investing enormous time making predictions about the near future, usually by following predictable cycles and extrapolating from trends of the recent past. But emerging exponential and convergent technologies seem to be throwing a wrench in the works, as some have suggested is currently taking place globally with the automation of the workforce.
So it’s about time that economists start adding another significant factor in their equations, the Singularity, and who better to turn to for guidance than Ray Kurzweil?
A few weeks ago, PBS NewsHour ran a 10-minute piece with Kurzweil titled “As Humans and Computers Merge…Immortality?” from correspondent Paul Solman for his economics-focused Making Sen$e of Financial News. It is part of a series covering Singularity University from earlier in the year. Solman probes Kurzweil for some insights about where technology is headed in the coming decades, covering topics like artificial intelligence, extending lifespans through supplementation, and digital resurrection of the deceased as avatars.
Read more
So it’s about time that economists start adding another significant factor in their equations, the Singularity, and who better to turn to for guidance than Ray Kurzweil?
A few weeks ago, PBS NewsHour ran a 10-minute piece with Kurzweil titled “As Humans and Computers Merge…Immortality?” from correspondent Paul Solman for his economics-focused Making Sen$e of Financial News. It is part of a series covering Singularity University from earlier in the year. Solman probes Kurzweil for some insights about where technology is headed in the coming decades, covering topics like artificial intelligence, extending lifespans through supplementation, and digital resurrection of the deceased as avatars.
Read more
Monday, February 13, 2012
Live to 100 - How To Live to 100
Live to 100 with these tips and facts on healthy aging and disease prevention. Learn how you can achieve successful aging and live to 100 in good health and happiness.
Too much television is bad for you -- but researchers now have done a study that shows just how much additional risk you are at if you watch tons of TV every day. In fact, your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease may increase as much as 80% if you watch TV more than 4 hours a day.
Top Ten Aging Challenges
Aging well means facing the challenges of aging with a strategy. The University of Texas Medical School, Division of Palliative Medicine put forth a list of 10 Aging Challenges. I will give you information and ideas on how to prevent or minimize your risk for each of these ten challenges.
Real Life Longevity Habits
When writing about longevity, one of the most popular questions I get is "What do you do for longevity?" and I've decided to answer it here. There ideas and habits below are what I do (or at least try to do) to live healthy and feel good. These are longevity ideas that I have come upon in my 2 + years of reading and writing about longevity. Of course, there are a lot more things out there that yo…
Click here to read the articles
- Be Social, Live Longer (19)
- Energize Your Life (9)
- For All Ages (10)
- Longevity To-Dos (11)
Too much television is bad for you -- but researchers now have done a study that shows just how much additional risk you are at if you watch tons of TV every day. In fact, your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease may increase as much as 80% if you watch TV more than 4 hours a day.
Top Ten Aging Challenges
Aging well means facing the challenges of aging with a strategy. The University of Texas Medical School, Division of Palliative Medicine put forth a list of 10 Aging Challenges. I will give you information and ideas on how to prevent or minimize your risk for each of these ten challenges.
Real Life Longevity Habits
When writing about longevity, one of the most popular questions I get is "What do you do for longevity?" and I've decided to answer it here. There ideas and habits below are what I do (or at least try to do) to live healthy and feel good. These are longevity ideas that I have come upon in my 2 + years of reading and writing about longevity. Of course, there are a lot more things out there that yo…
Click here to read the articles
Sunday, February 12, 2012
How to eat like an Italian
Very often I am asked: how do Italians manage to eat so much while they are so thin? People coming to Italy for the first time seem to be under the impression that every day Italians eat the same type of multi-course meal that is offered in a restaurant. First timers seem to be also convinced that the whole population survives on spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, veal parmesan and pizza, all smothered in vast amounts of cheese and tomato sauce.
I actually don’t think that Italians are that thin – may be I see myself in the mirror – but that’s another story. Modern Italians are busy people, like anybody else in the world. They go to their work, suffer through fast food lunches, crash on the couch in the evening. No siesta, that’s for babies and pensioners.
However, if they have the time or they are lucky enough to live near their work, Italians definitely prefer to eat a warm meal at home. Italians love their home food.
Read more
I actually don’t think that Italians are that thin – may be I see myself in the mirror – but that’s another story. Modern Italians are busy people, like anybody else in the world. They go to their work, suffer through fast food lunches, crash on the couch in the evening. No siesta, that’s for babies and pensioners.
However, if they have the time or they are lucky enough to live near their work, Italians definitely prefer to eat a warm meal at home. Italians love their home food.
Read more
How to Reverse Aging
Enzymes like Telomerase and Resveratrol, though not the Fountain of Youth unto themselves, offer tantalizing clues to how we might someday soon unravel the aging process.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Exercise, Longevity and Life Expectancy
Exercise Adds Years to Your Life
One study found that the average 65-year-old can expect an additional 12.7 years of healthy life –- meaning he will live disability-free until age 77.7. Highly active 65-years-olds, however, have an additional 5.7 years of healthy life expectancy –- they will remain disability free until age 83.4.
Another study found that increasing physical activity after age 50 can add years to one’s life. In the study, individuals with and without cardiovascular disease were compared by the amount of physical activity they did. Men who were moderately active added 1.3 years to their lives and those who were highly active added 3.7 years. Women who were moderately active added 1.1 years and those were highly active added 3.2 years. In addition, people who exercised more also lived more years free of cardiovascular disease. While moderate exercise increases life expectancy, highly active people more than doubled the benefits.
Read more here
One study found that the average 65-year-old can expect an additional 12.7 years of healthy life –- meaning he will live disability-free until age 77.7. Highly active 65-years-olds, however, have an additional 5.7 years of healthy life expectancy –- they will remain disability free until age 83.4.
Another study found that increasing physical activity after age 50 can add years to one’s life. In the study, individuals with and without cardiovascular disease were compared by the amount of physical activity they did. Men who were moderately active added 1.3 years to their lives and those who were highly active added 3.7 years. Women who were moderately active added 1.1 years and those were highly active added 3.2 years. In addition, people who exercised more also lived more years free of cardiovascular disease. While moderate exercise increases life expectancy, highly active people more than doubled the benefits.
Read more here
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