Intro
In order to slow down the aging process, we must start with a new lifestyle. We must set goals, break bad habits, and then go out and live that lifestyle.
So if you’re anything like me, and by that, I mean you’re curious about the latest scientific and up-to-date information about why we age and how to slow or reverse the effects of aging, then you’ll be excited to talk about the biology of aging and the tools to intervene in that process.
You could view it as an intense dive into how to apply behavioral science principles to your own life and how those principles could influence a person’s life.
We will also discuss sirtuins and how they could impact longevity, healthy aging, and diseases that impact health. We can start by looking at how cells work at the most basic level and how those cells progress throughout life to become more mature cells.
What is the difference between longevity, anti-aging, and aging as a disease?
Some of the leading experts say that longevity is a more accurate word that describes the research scientist conduct. Anti-aging is not a good term because it has a bad reputation, but longevity, aging, and disease are valid ways to discuss this subject. Aging is a disease; it’s just not recognized as one yet.
Think about this; we ignore the primary cause of all these diseases. Aging is about 80 to 90% of the cause of many diseases like heart disease and Alzheimer’s. If we didn’t age, our bodies would remain youthful and vibrant while avoiding those diseases.
In fact, the latest research shows that if you turn the clock back on some tissues, those diseases go away. We are in an evolutionary period where we are trying to reverse aging, so instead of sticking band-aids on diseases that have occurred because of aging, we instead need to focus on stopping the disease process before it occurs. It’s never too late to begin the process of stopping diseases from happening.
Aging is a very general phenomenon. Scientists have yet to agree on one single cause of the process, but they do know that it’s not as simple as just losing cells or even becoming increasingly senescent, which happens in many of the other processes listed above. The most common cause is the accumulation of genetic mutations.
The breed of scientists that came along in the 1990s were saying that free radicals don’t do much for your longevity. That, as you can imagine, caused a whole commotion. So there was this competition for a Nobel prize that never took place. But then, fortunately, in the 2000s, the new breed rallied around this new map of aging, that’s the information in the cell that we call the epigenome.
The Epigenome
Aging is a process of information loss, just like when you print a thousand copies of a document, you’ll lose the information on that first copy. Just like some of the information, you send across the internet may get lost. Aging is the process of gradual biological change that makes you older, weaker, slower, and more prone to disease.
It is the gene regulatory region of DNA that contains the information that turns the genetic code on or off based on the state of our metabolism, the food we’re eating, our environment, and the physical activity we’re doing. It turns out that most of our future longevity and health are controlled by the second part, the epigenetic information, the control systems. Dr. David Sinclair thinks that DNA is like the music on a DVD or a compact disc. It’s something embedded inside us and helps define who we are and what kind of person we are.
Epigenetics is the study of all of those tiny, little things that can influence the way genes behave in each individual cell. Over time, aging is like scratching the CD or DVD. You’re playing the wrong songs, and the cells are messed up and don’t work well.
What are these scratches?
If you join your chromosomes together, you get 6 feet per cell, which means there’s enough to go to the moon and back eight times. It has to be wrapped in a certain way, but it’s not just wrapped up in a non-logical manner, and it isn’t just a bundle of string; it’s wrapped up very carefully in ways that dictate which genes are switched on and off. When we are developing in the embryo, the cells mark the DNA with chemicals that specify which gene is for a nerve cell, etc.
There are many different types of chemicals, including methylation, which will mark the songs that get played for the rest of your life. And there are others that change daily. But in total, what’s being said is that the body controls the genome through the ability to mark the DNA and then compact some parts of it, silence certain genes, don’t read some genes, and open others. And that pattern of genes that are silent and open is what dictates the cell’s type and the cell’s function. And then the scratches are the disruption of that.
Some genes that are supposed to be silent with a specific function start to come on in another part of the body, and scientists observe it happening, so it shouldn’t be in that part of the body, but scientists often see a gene that is shutting off over time get activated and vice versa. Over time, some of those cells lose their identity and structures and forget what they’re supposed to do. If we don’t replace or repair them, we end up with diseases.
What’s causing the scratches?
Dr. Sinclair’s lab has figured that one of the reasons is broken chromosomes; DNA damage particularly cuts to the DNA breaks. So let’s say you have an x-ray, or even if you go out in the sun and get your chromosomes broken, it accelerates the unwinding of the DNA loops previously mentioned. This has been done to a mouse.
Stress and massive cellular damage accelerate aging. When the mouse nerves were pinched in the lab, they saw that their aging process was accelerated. We know that growth hormone is pro-aging. You should pay attention to anyone taking growth hormones; they will often acquire these vitality characteristics, like improved skin smoothness, but their body shape often changes. They’ll feel better for a short time, they’ll build up muscle, and you feel great, but it’s like burning your candle at both ends. So ultimately, you want less growth hormone if you want to live longer.
Are there longevity genes in the body, and what activates them?
There are longevity genes in the body that come on and protect us from aging and disease. The group of genes that are showing lots of promise are called sirtuins. There are 7 of them. A science paper in 2005 showed that if you have low insulin levels and another molecule called insulin-like growth factor, those low levels turn on longevity genes.
A very important one is called SIRT1. But by having high levels of insulin all day, being fed means your longevity genes are switched off. So, in other words, you’re falling apart; your epigenome, your information that keeps your cells functioning over time, Just degrades quickly. In other words, your clock is ticking faster.
The other thing that might be happening by always being fed is that it’s not allowing the cell to have periods of rest and re-establish the epigenome. This also contributes to the acceleration in that direction. There are plenty of other reasons as well that are not as profound, such as having low levels of glucose in your body will trigger your major muscles and your brain to become more sensitive to insulin and absorb the glucose out of your bloodstream, which is good.
Is hunger beneficial for longevity?
There’s an interesting experiment that was published maybe a couple of years ago by Rafael De Cabo down at the NIH. He took over 10,000 mice and gave them different combinations of fat, carbohydrate, and protein. The experiment’s goal was to figure out what was the best combination. He also cleverly had two groups, one that ate as much as they wanted, and the other was only given food for an hour a day.
All the mice ate roughly the same amount of calories. In the course of 1 hour, the mice that only ate for 1 hour were stuffing their faces. It turns out it didn’t matter what diet he gave them; only the group that ate within that window lived much longer. So the conclusion is that mice are similar to us metabolically. It tells us that it’s not as important what you eat; it’s when you eat during the day.
Are there benefits to fasting longer than 3 days?
Regarding self-healing, we have a system called the autophagy system, which digests old and damaged proteins to keep healthy. There’s a natural cleansing happening when you’re hungry. So, the short answer is yes. At Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Ana Maria Cuervo discovered a deep cleanse called the Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy, which starts on day 2, but you start to get rid of the deeper proteins on day 3. You can prolong the life of a mouse by using this process.
How are glucose and the sirtuins actually tethered to one another?
The longevity genes talk to each other, and because they’re all talking to each other, if you pull one lever, the other one moves. The way to think about it is that there are systems set up to detect what you’re eating. So the sirtuins will mainly respond to sugar and insulin.
There’s another system called mTOR, which senses how much protein or amino acids are coming into your body. They also talk to each other. You can essentially pull one and affect the other and vice versa.
But together, when you’re fasting, you’ll get the beneficial sirtuin activation, in the lack of amino acids, particularly Leucine, Lysine, and Valine, the body will down-regulate mTOR so that the regulating of the sirtuin up and MTOR down, turns on all of the body’s defenses, like digesting damaged proteins, improving insulin sensitivity, giving us more energy, and repairing cells. These two pathways seem to be the most important for longevity at the current moment.
What are some supplements that are good for normalizing blood sugar levels?
Berberine has been shown to help regulate blood sugar and boost insulin sensitivity. In fact, it was used by NASA to test astronaut food! It’s a proven weight loss supplement. Berberine works as a weight loss agent. As an anti-diabetic, Berberine lowers blood sugar levels and helps control appetite. Berberine can also help reduce body fat, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.
Metformin is a biguanide that helps regulate blood sugar levels by blocking glucose absorption and reducing the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream. It is typically used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is only available with a doctor’s prescription if you live in the United States. It can be purchased over the counter in most other countries.
What are some supplements that are good for longevity?
Resveratrol
A powerful antioxidant found in red wine has been shown to support heart health, boost brain function, fight cancer and reduce inflammation.
Resveratrol is commonly referred to as the “superfood of life” and has been shown to be one of the most effective antioxidants found in nature. Its powerful anti-aging properties include its ability to inhibit the production of DNA damage, increase cell energy production and inhibit tumor growth. Resveratrol has been linked to the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN)
There is scientific research showing that people who take NMN regularly have the following: Increased energy, enhanced immune system, lower blood pressure, improved cardiovascular health, aids in cancer therapy, protection against diabetes and obesity, promotion of organ health, enhances the maintenance of DNA repair, improves fertility in women and improved muscle function, etc.
What has been shown in labs is that NAD levels are really important for keeping sirtuins and defenses at a useful level. You can give a lot of resveratrol, but if you don’t have the fuel, you’re basically accelerating a car that doesn’t have enough gas.
Are there other predictors of how long a person will live?
Dr. Peter Attia, MD, who is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan, said back in 2016 that optimal nutrition, exercise, sleep habits, hormone optimization, stress management, a sense of purpose, social connection, avoidance of harmful behavior were eight drivers of longevity.
Now in 2022, Peter lumps these drivers into five buckets:
Nutritional biochemistry, exercise physiology, sleep physiology, everything that goes into improving emotional health (techniques for increasing distress tolerance, enhancing mindfulness, etc.), and exogenous molecules.
Conclusion
In order to have an impact on your lifespan, start eating healthy and exercising daily. Lifestyle, nutrition, supplementation, vitamins, herbs, meditation, and exercise which has been shown to increase your lifespan and decrease your risk of cancer. All of these play a big role in the aging process.
The last thing is to make sure to test all of your blood markers regularly to make sure that your longevity protocol is within the healthy range.
I hope this article was helpful, thank you.
