Lifespan: The New Science Behind Anti-Aging and Longevity that Can Help You Live to 100
Is aging a disease? David Sinclair, PhD, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School one of the world’s top experts on aging and…
Is aging a disease? David Sinclair, PhD, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School one of the world’s top experts on aging and longevity, thinks so.
His new book “Lifespan: Why We Age–and Why We Don’t Have To” covers the latest research on longevity and anti-aging therapies. I was excited to read this book after listening to Sinclair on a podcast.
Sinclair believes that aging is a disease — one that is treatable within our lifetimes. According to Sinclair, there is a singular reason why we age: A loss of information. The most important loss occurs in the epigenome, the expression of genetic code that instructs newly divided cells what they should be.
Aging is like the accumulation of scratches on a DVD so the information can no longer be read correctly. Every time there’s a radical adjustment to the epigenome, e.g. after DNA damage from the sun, a cell’s identity is changed. This loss of epigenetic information, Sinclair proposes, is why we age.
Sinclair believes this can be reversed because each cell has a stored copy of our ‘youthful’ epigenetic state. This hypothesis suggests we can directly target the origins and cure all symptoms and diseases of aging at once, instead of trying to find treatments for each individual disease.
Scientists have discovered “longevity genes” that have shown the ability to extend lifespan in many organisms. These include sirtuins, rapamycin (mTOR), and AMPK.
Sirtuins are a family of seven proteins that control cellular health. They keep kidney cells from acting like liver cells from acting like nerve cells, and vice-versa.
When the sirtuins leave their normal responsibilities they can sometimes get lost or return to other places. Cells stop doing what they’re supposed to do, wrinkles form, and aging occurs. The repeated shuffling of sirtuins and other epigenetic factors away from genes to sites of broken DNA is ultimately what causes us to age.
There are natural ways to activate these longevity genes: High intensity exercise, intermittent fasting, low-protein diets, and exposure to hot and cold temperatures. These stressors, or hormesis, turn on genes that prompt the rest of the system to survive a little longer.
Fasting: There is a strong correlation between fasting and longevity in Blue Zones such as Ikaria, Greece, where one-third of the population lives past the age of 90.
Low-protein: A decreased consumption of protein — in particular the amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine — is correlated with increased lifespan. We can consume less of these amino acids by decreasing our consumption of chicken, fish and eggs. This may explain why vegetarians suffer lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer than meat eaters.
Exercise: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) engages the greatest number of health-promoting genes. This means reaching 70–85 percent of your maximum heart rate. Exercise turns on the genes to make us young again at a cellular level, extending telomeres and boosting the activity of mitochondria.
A combination of fasting and exercise can lengthen your lifespan.
Hot and Cold exposure: Exercising in the cold turbocharges the creation of brown adipose tissue. Cryotherapy — a few minutes in a box superchilled to -166 degrees F — is an increasingly popular method of inducing this kind of beneficial stress or hormesis.
Heat is good for the body, too. A study of Finns who used a sauna regularly showed dramatically lower rates of heart disease.
Researchers are studying molecules that activate longevity genes — rapamycin, metformin, resveratrol and NAD boosters.
Resveratrol: A natural molecule found in red wine that has been shown to increase lifespan in mice by 20 percent. Found in grape skin, resveratrol is known to activate one type or sirtuin. More resveratrol is produced by grapes and other plants experiencing stress. The principle of “xenohormesis” says that stressed plants produce chemicals for themselves that tell their cells to hunker down and survive. Wines like Pinot Noir that are made from stress-sensitive grapes contain the most resveratrol.
NAD: A coenzyme found in all living cells, NAD acts as fuel for sirtuins. Sirtuins can only function in the presence of NAD. NAD levels decrease with age throughout the body. Supplementation with NAD precursors such as nicotinamide riboside (NR) or nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) increase NAD in the body and activate all seven types of sirtuins. Studies have shown that NMN can protect against kidney damage, neurodegeneration, and mitochondrial diseases.
Metformin: A drug that is prescribed to treat diabetes due to its effect on lowering blood sugar. There is evidence showing metformin may also prevent cancer, heart disease, and slow aging.
Metformin mimics aspects of calorie restriction, activates one type of sirtuin, and also activates AMPK. A study of 41,000 metformin users found the drug significantly reduced the likelihood of dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer and depression. But in most countries, metformin is not prescriptibile as an anti-aging drug. (In Thailand it’s available over the counter.)
Rapamycin: A drug that reduces immune response and is therefore prescribed for donor transplants to increase organ acceptance by the body. Rapamycin has been shown to increase the lifespan in mice by 9 to 14 percent. It is known to inhibit mTOR and is currently the only known pharmacological treatment that increases lifespan in all organisms studied.
These drugs, by creating the right level of stress, reduce the buildup of informational noise that causes aging.
NAD and Fertility: NAD booster NMN has been shown to restore fertility in mice that have gone through “mousopause.” Sinclair believes we’re moving toward a world in which women will be able to retain fertility for a much longer portion of their lives and possibly regain it if it is lost. Longevity molecules NMN and metformin have been shown to improve both ovulation in women and male fertility.
Sinclair believes these innovations will let us live longer and have less disease. He predicts that humans could live to 150 years of age in the near future, with average life expectancy rising from around 80 now to 110 or higher.
The best ways to activate your longevity genes:
• Be hungry more often — skip breakfast, fast periodically for longer periods, get lean
• Avoid excessive carbs (sugar, pasta, breads) and processed oils and foods in general
• Do resistance training — lift weights, build muscle
• Expose your body to hot, cold, and other stressors regularly.
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