Scientists discover DNA body clock

Newly discovered mechanism could help researchers understand ageing process and lead to ways of slowing it down

A US scientist has discovered an internal body clock based on DNA that measures the biological age of our tissues and organs.

The clock shows that while many healthy tissues age at the same rate as the body as a whole, some of them age much faster or slower. The age of diseased organs varied hugely, with some many tens of years "older" than healthy tissue in the same person, according to the clock.

Researchers say that unravelling the mechanisms behind the clock will help them understand the ageing process and hopefully lead to drugs and other interventions that slow it down.

Therapies that counteract natural ageing are attracting huge interest from scientists because they target the single most important risk factor for scores of incurable diseases that strike in old age.

"Ultimately, it would be very exciting to develop therapy interventions to reset the clock and hopefully keep us young," said Steve Horvath, professor of genetics and biostatistics at the University of California in Los Angeles.

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For A Longer Life, You Might Try Mowing The Lawn

We all know we're supposed to exercise daily, but precious few of us do. And it only seems to get harder with age.

There's a reason to try harder, though. Tacking more years of good health on to your life may be as simple as mowing the lawn more often and engaging in other everyday physical activities.

Researchers in Sweden measured the health of almost 4,000 60-year-olds in the late 1990s. A dozen years later, they checked back in. The people who had been active but not "exercising" at age 60 had a 27 percent lower risk of heart attack and stroke over that time, and a 30 percent lower risk of death.
Most Americans spend the majority of their waking hours sitting still in front of a computer or television.

The most active people also had trimmer waists, and better and , considered risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

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What German Wisdom Can Teach The Rest Of The World About The Good Life

The people of Germany, with their reputation for having an industrial-strength work ethic, may not spring to mind as the happiest or healthiest people around. Yes, Germans are better known for their beer and brats than their wellness rituals. But at the same time, with their unique ways to relax, unplug, enjoy nature, and tap into the wisdom of their rich traditions, Germans have lot to teach the rest of the world about living the good life.

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100 Ways To Live To 100

Want to add more and better years to your life? Now is the time.

We're living longer than ever: The average American born in 2013 will be alive nearly four years longer than someone born 20 years ago. But until recently, it wasn't clear if the years we've added to our lives were good-quality years.

A recent study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School starts to answer that question. Researchers found that today, 25 year olds can expect to live "2.4 more years of a healthy life" and 65 year olds can look forward to 1.7 extra healthy years than people who lived two decades back.

However, those extra years are far from guaranteed. Childhood obesity and its associated diseases threaten to reverse the upward tick of American life expectancy, which is currently calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be just shy of 79 years.

Much of making it to your 100th birthday is beyond your control, as longevity is partly dictated by genetics and the medical history and health habits of your parents and grandparents. But there are also a handful (okay, a lot) of lifespan-enhancing practices that you can adopt today -- like taking your allotted vacation days, eating more leafy greens and getting enough sleep.

Full list here

End of aging within reach, experts say

Ethical Technology

Posted: Aug 5, 2013

Anti-aging activist Aubrey de Grey has identified medical advances that will eliminate much of the wear and tear our bodies suffer, as we grow old. Those who undergo continuous repair treatments, de Grey said in a Futurist Magazine article; could remain healthy for millennia without fears of dying from old age.

A growing number of researchers around the world support the belief that eternal health and youth can be realized. Aging is a destructive biochemical event, experts say, and scientists are on the brink of developing interventions for all of its life-destroying processes.

"Over 100,000 people die every day from age-related diseases," de Grey says; "but research ventures, some which are in beginning stages today, promise to one day end this carnage."

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What Hawaiians Can Teach The Rest of America About Living Better

Hawaii’s tropical island paradise isn’t the fountain of youth, but it’s close. Hawaiians not only live longer -- they’re less stressed and happier than residents of any other state.

Just how much longer are Hawaiians living? A 65-year-old in Hawaii will live another 16.2 years on average, as compared to another 10.6 years in Mississippi, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in addition to living longer lives, Hawaiians are getting happier as time goes on. For the past four years, Hawaii has taken the top spot in Gallup-Healthways' statewide well-being poll.

So what are the Aloha State’s secrets to happiness and longevity?

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8 Nutrients Every Person Needs To Boost Health

by Karen Foster
PreventDisease.com

IT’S IMPORTANT TO LEARN how to create a balance of protein, carbohydrates and quality fats with each meal. There are eight essential nutrients including protein, iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, B12, iodine and Essential Fatty Acids which are necessary to boost and optimize our health.

1. PROTEIN
A crucial part of any diet, the average RDA for women is 45 grams and for men 55 grams, which you can easily consume in the form of:

Beans, legumes, lentils and peas
Free range eggs
Raw milk, cheese and yogurt.
Nuts and seeds, which benefit from soaking in water or sprouting first
Non-dairy nut and seed milks

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The top five places to keep you alive and kicking:

If you are planning on living forever you may want to consider relocating to a new locale. Where? Well, Dan Buetter, author of “Blue Zones: 9 lessons for living longer from the people who’ve lived the longest”, has done the work for us. He has travelled the world tracking the 5 best places to live to increase your life expectancy.

The following places were outlined as the top five places to keep you alive and kicking:

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Wine Drinking Improves Longevity and Health

So, I did some research on the health benefits of MODERATE wine drinking and here is what I found:

IMPROVES LONGEVITY: A Finnish study of 2,468 men over a 29 period in 2007 proved that wine drinking improves longevity (versus indulging in beer and other spirits).
REDUCES RISK OF HEART ATTACK: A study of 12,000 people was conducted at Harvard to prove that wine drinking (moderate drinking that is) reduces the risk of high blood pressure and heart attack.
LOWERS RISK OF HEART DISEASE: Wine contains procyanidins which protect against heart disease
LOWERS RISK OF DIABETES: A study in Amsterdam which followed 369,862 people proved that wine lowers the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
LOWERS RISK OF STROKE: The possibility of suffering from a blood clot related stroke is lowered by 50 percent if you consume moderate amounts of wine.
REDUCES RISK OF CATARACTS: A study of 1,500 people in Iceland shows that wine drinking reduces the risk of cataracts by 43%.
REDUCES RISK OF COLON CANCER: Moderate consumption of wine reduces the risk of colon cancer.
SLOWS BRAIN DECLINE: Wine drinking slows the rate of brain decline.
WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: The co-creator of the South Beach Diet, Arthur Agatson, is a proponent of weight management. He claims that drinking wine with food slow’s the stomach’s emptying time, therefore less food is consumed at a meal.

Et Voila! C’est magnifique!

My final advice – life is about enjoying each and every moment and DOING WHAT YOU WANT. If you have “imaginary rules” toss them out once and awhile, throw caution to the wind, do what you want and just SMILE.

Oh yes, and don’t forget to have a sip or two of that oh-so-beautiful wine and like our Parisian friends toast to a bonne sante!

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Scientists discover salamander secrets to regrowing limbs and organs | Death is Obsolete

Thanks to startling new research on immune cells in salamanders, medical science may be able to help humans one day regrow their limbs and regenerate their organs.

The key? Salamanders’ immune systems hold the secret to regrowing limbs. It could also help them regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, researchers have discovered.

Scientists from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University found that immune cells — known as macrophages — are removed in salamanders, the amphibians lose their capability to regrow a limb. Instead, their bodies formed scar tissue.

Head researcher Dr. James Godwin says this brings scientists closer to understanding the biological conditions needed to regenerate body parts in humans.

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Has Science Cured Gray Hair?

Gray hair -- one of the classic signs of aging that can lead to a midlife crisis for some -- may some day be a thing of the past, much to the chagrin of hair-dye manufacturers and Corvette salesmen.

A team of European researchers claims to have found not only the root cause of gray hair, but also a treatment for the condition. Additionally, their treatment may help people with vitiligo, a condition that causes the loss of pigment in patches of skin, they say.

It's been known for years that hair turns gray due to a natural buildup of hydrogen peroxide in hair follicles, which causes oxidative stress and graying. (Hydrogen peroxide solutions have been used for years as a cheap and easy way to "go blonde.") (8 Tips for Healthy Aging)

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Science Finds Fountain of Youth Brain Region That Slows Down Aging

Eternal or even elongated life is an idiotic thing to wish for. You don't want to get old, and then tack on 50 more years of wrinkles and Metamucil. But prolonged youth? Full body youth? More time being young and nubile and beautiful? Absolutely. And the key to that could lie right inside your brain.

Scientists have for the first time found a region of the brain—a signaling pathway in the hypothalamus—that can slow down or speed up the aging process in mice. Their lives and youthful vigor were extended by about 20 percent by a combination of blocking a protein complex with a distressingly long name (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, or "evil magic") and injecting the brain with a hormone ("good magic", or gonadotropin-releasing hormone [GnRH]) that is blocked by that protein.

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Foods That Make You Happy

The taste of beer -- without the inclusion of alcohol -- may be enough to trigger the release of a pleasure hormone, dopamine, in the brain, according to a study released yesterday.

"We believe this is the first experiment in humans to show that the taste of an alcoholic drink alone, without any intoxicating effect from the alcohol, can elicit this dopamine activity in the brain's reward centers," the study's lead author, David Kareken of the Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a statement.

In this particular study, 49 men were given sips of beer that were small enough to taste, but not large enough to cause an effect with alcohol. The researchers evaluated fluctuations in neurotransmitters, finding that just a taste was enough to increase levels of dopamine. Dopamine is associated with feelings of well-being and also with memory and decision-making.

But beer isn't even close to the only food that triggers the brain's centers for reward and pleasure -- a distinction that isn't just reserved for alcohol. Here are some health foods that can also help:

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Mediterranean-style diets found to cut heart risks (Update)

In this Thursday Jan. 17, 2013 file photo, a woman buys fruit at a market in Barcelona, Spain. Mediterranean diets have long been touted as heart-healthy, but that's based on observational studies. Now, one of the longest and most scientific tests suggests this style of eating can cut the chance of suffering heart-related problems, especially strokes, in older people at high risk of them. The study lasted five years and involved about 7,500 people in Spain. Results were published online Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 by the New England Journal of Medicine. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Pour on the olive oil, preferably over fish and vegetables: One of the longest and most scientific tests of a Mediterranean diet suggests this style of eating can cut the chance of suffering heart-related problems, especially strokes, in older people at high risk of them.

The study lasted five years and involved about 7,500 people in Spain. Those who ate Mediterranean-style with lots of olive oil or nuts had a 30 percent lower risk of major cardiovascular problems compared to those who were told to follow a low-fat diet but who in reality, didn't cut fat very much. Mediterranean meant lots of fruit, fish, chicken, beans, tomato sauce, salads, and wine and little baked goods and pastries.

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The Science of Aging