Category Archives: Human Longevity

Wain, a wombat living in Satsukiyama Zoo in Japan, is now recognized as the oldest wombat in captivity ever.

This cute creature was rescued from his mothers pouch after a car accident in November 1989.

As of 31 January 2022, Wains age is 32 years and 86 days that is the human equivalent of over 100 years!

Ikeda City, where Satsukiyama Zoo is located, is a sister city of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

In 1990, Wain (along with two other wombats, Wonder and Tia) came to Satsukiyama Zoo as one of three goodwill ambassadors to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the two cities' sister city relationship.

The average age of wombats in the wild is around five years; this is extended to about 20 years in captivity. According to a staff Satsukiyama Zoo, Wains longevity is phenomenal.

"Although he was seen by a vet in the past a couple of times, he never got sick in the past few years. We dont know why this is, but this nature-filled and quiet environment this zoo has may have something to do with it."

Typically, Wain wakes up when a staff member opens the door, eats breakfast, walks around the field, and then naps under the sun.

He gets up again for a walk in the evening as well. He has a habit of walking around in an anticlockwise direction. The staff says Wain is very likable, coming to see the staff when they are around.

Wain eats twice a day: in the morning, he has some grass and sweet potatoes, and in the evening, he eats grass, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins and apples.

Although Wain eats well, he is apparently not a big fan of carrots!

Even though he is in great health, the staff at Satsukiyama Zoo considers Wain's age.

They have already gotten rid of steps, so Wain doesnt need to climb them, and vegetables are cut into smaller pieces, so it's easier for Wain to eat.

The staff at Satsukiyama Zoo are delighted with Wains achievement.

"Wain got a lot of attention after receiving the official certificate, and we received congratulatory notes from zoos across the country. We also have more visitors to the zoo. All this tells us that Wain has achieved something extraordinary."

"Once Wain arrived at our zoo, he was part of the first successful breeding in Japan. And now, he is a Guinness World Records holder. Although Satsukiyama Zoo is the second smallest zoo in Japan, we have become a place known worldwide. Because we are a small zoo, we can look after each animal with meticulous care. We want people to come to visit our vital animals as many times as they like and it's free entry!"

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Meet the oldest wombat in the world, Wain, aged 32 - Guinness World Records

Guy Perelmuter is a Computer Engineer with a Masters in Electrical Engineering. He is also a deep tech investor through his venture capital firm, GRIDS Capital.

Below, Guy shares 5 key insights from his new book, Present Future: Business, Science, and the Deep Tech Revolution. Listen to the audio versionread by Guy himselfin the Next Big Idea App.

We should overthrow this myth that we are living in a period of change. The entire history of civilization is all about changeand, more than that, about technological change. This is what defines us as a species, and propels us forward. Change is coming faster and faster, and will likely accelerate even more.

It is not as if this is something new in our history. Progress is a relentless part of human nature. There are many technologies that will shape our world for decades to come and, because of the lightning-fast pace of their adoption, there seems to be confusion about what these technologies are and how they work.

Present Future is for anyone interested in understanding the technologies that are shaping industries, governments, and societies around the world. From a high school student to a PhD, from a trainee to a CEO, from a journalist to an engineer, from a lawyer to an athleteanyone with an interest in whats going on, how we got here, and where this path will likely take us.

What is remarkable about current technological changes is that they sit at the intersection of a set of extraordinary advances: faster microprocessors, cheaper digital storage, ubiquitous access to information, efficient algorithms, and an increasingly better understanding of the laws of nature. These ingredients, decades in the making, are key enablers of the Deep Tech Revolution.

Deep tech is where science meets technology. Its where PhDs and subject matter experts can apply their knowledge and transform it from intellectual achievements into systems, devices, prototypes, products, and methodologies. Deep tech companies are effectively building the future of the world economy, one technology at a time: robotics, biotech, nanotech, artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles, energy, aerospace, agrotechthe list goes on and on.

Did you know that by the end of the 19th century, electric cars accounted for one-third of the cars on US roads? Or that streaming has been around since the 1920s?

History doesnt repeat itself, but it often rhymes, said Mark Twain, explaining how we can use the past to try anticipating the future. If we can look to the past to see our future, then we will witness extraordinary changes over the next few decades. From law to engineering, medicine to journalism, entertainment to manufacturing, economics to educationno field of knowledge will be immune to transformations in processes, models, implementations, methods, and results. The future has always been present in our lives, because pretty much everything we live with today was once a part of someone elses vision of tomorrow. Even more new jobs, careers, companies, and empires will be created. Others will disappear or evolve into something completely different. The rate at which the world is going to experience these transformations is accelerating rapidly.

What will these new technologies be? How will they impact our lives, jobs, and homes? How are governments, brands, industries, and services going to react? How can we leverage the opportunities that will present themselves and avoid obsolescence? The challenges we will face in this rapidly changing world are enormous, and no industry will get through this evolution without significant changes.

Will technology improve or impair employment prospects? Throughout the history of civilization, new technologies have precipitated a range of responses in the workplace. When modern economic science was born, a practically answerless debate also began: does technological unemployment (the shortage of jobs caused by the substitution of human labor by machines) exist? Up to now, innovation has been the catalyst for so-called creative destruction, that is, jobs are not eliminated, but rather transferred to other sectorsfor example, from the agricultural sector to the services sector.

The onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has intensified the discussion around technological unemployment, given that a broad set of new technologies have simultaneously reached many industries. The mechanization and modernization of agricultural activity sent a significant portion of the labor force from the fields to the citiesless than one-third of the worlds labor force is in the fields, and in developed countries this figure is less than 5 percent.

New technologies are enabling ideas once confined to science fiction to gradually build a more present future: integration between artificial and biological systems, learning techniques for communication between machines and their parts, and the extension of physical reality into virtual reality. The unprecedented speed and depth of this revolution stems from an auspicious confluence of factors: the increase in computer systems processing power, the falling cost of data storage units, the decreased size of equipment and sensors, and the evolution of algorithms.

I try to focus on advances that are created to address inevitabilities, such as longer life spans, population growth, increasing energy demand, and ever more complex systems. Understanding how these technologies work and their remarkable origins is critical to fully appreciate their impacts on our futures, making sure their social and environmental impacts are not lost on us.

Take energy, for example. With our growing dependence on technology, the efficient use of energy and the development of equipment to produce, store, and distribute it are critical. Ever since the First Industrial Revolution (which began in the mid-1700s with the popularization of the steam engine) society has been increasing its demand for energy, thus raising pollution levels. Studies carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have indicated a rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on the order of 40 percent over the past 250 years, mostly owing to the combustion of fossil fuels. That is one of the primary causes of the greenhouse effect, which has been increasing the planets temperature with potentially devastating effects on biodiversity and the very future of humanity.

Another great example is longevity. The organisms decay process has come to be seen as a disease itself. Rising life expectancies move trillions of dollars in research, diagnosis, medical procedures, and medicine. Longevity has taken up a prominent position in research centers, universities, and privately held companies. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, in 2050 nearly 16 percent of the worlds population (about 1.5 billion people) will be 65 or older, compared with only 8 percent (525 million people) in 2010. Irrespective of country, social class, or sex, we are living longer.

Finally, consider that, according to the United Nations, the world population rose from under a billion in 1800 to 7.7 billion in 2019, while the percentage of the population living in urban settings rose from 3 percent to 55 percent. Population growth in urban centers as well as behavioral changes in society, including heightened environmental awareness and new ways of using goods, are systematically increasing demands for transformations. The nonprofit organization Population Reference Bureau estimates that by 2050 the percentage of the worlds population living in cities will grow to nearly 70 percent, with this figure reaching 75 percent in developed countries. This means a migration toward cities of nearly 1.5 billion peoplethats 50 million people per year, roughly the population of Colombia or South Korea.

Changes happen constantly, before our eyes. We dont notice the growth of our children because we see them every day, but it only takes someone who doesnt see us regularly to say, Theyve grown so much! and we are reminded of the relentless march of time. It is essential that we maintain a critical perspective and keep an eye on the developments of the exponential changes underway. These are essential abilities for us humans, who are surrounded by our own worksthe fruit of hundreds of generations of creators, dreamers, and inventors. The future is not only present. It is a present. Use it wisely.

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Present Future: Business, Science, and the Deep Tech Revolution - Next Big Idea Club Magazine

Australian crickets cup of grief is overflowing. The latest shocking news was former all-rounder Andrew Symondss death on Saturday night after the car he was driving crashed in Queensland. He was 46 and is survived by his wife and two young children.

Australian media quoted a police statement to say that the car went off the road around 11pm and rolled. Emergency services attempted to revive the 46-year-old driver and sole occupant. However, he died of his injuries.

Symonds played 26 Tests, 198 ODIs and 14 T20Is in an eleven-year career from 1998 to 2009. Born in Birmingham, he spurned the chance to play for England and picked Australia. His numbers could have been much more, but the free-spirited player was about impact, not longevity. And he often fell afoul of cricket officialdom, ending his Australia career early.

Also Read | Harbhajan Singh remembers good friend Andrew Symonds: He was someone who I could call at 2:30 in the morning

But the man nicknamed Roy wasnt just about numbers. He was an assurance like few others, as Ricky Ponting, who led him to two ODI World Cups in 2003 and 2007, and Adam Gilchrist, who featured in both those triumphs and many more, tweeted.

If Roy shook your hand, you had his word, thats the sort of bloke he was and thats why I always wanted him on my team, Ponting, coaching Delhi Capitals in IPL, tweeted in his tribute. Gilchrist wrote: Think of your most loyal, fun, loving friend who would do anything for you. Thats Roy.

Cricket Australia described him thus: The Queenslander was a larger-than-life figure who drew a widespread fan base during his peak years for not only his hard-hitting ways but his larrikin persona.

Australian cricket has lost a third important member of its fraternity in the last couple of months. Wicket-keeping great Rod Marsh, 74, died following a heart attack in Adelaide on March 4, and within hours came the shocking news of spin legend Shane Warnes death in a Thailand resort aged just 52. Its ODI stalwart in an era in-between, Dean Jones, 59, had died in September 2020 after a massive stroke suffered in a Mumbai hotel while doing TV duties.

Symonds was a key member of Australias great sides, especially ODIs, in the 2000s. It featured Warne, Matthew Hayden, Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Gilchrist and Michael Clarke. Symondss powerful batting in the middle-order, electric fielding and a bullet throwing arm, and brisk medium-pace and off-spin all made him a great package.

Also Read | Witness reveals desperate efforts to save Andrew Symonds' life after car crash: 'My partner tried to get him out of car'

His frequent run-ins with cricket bosses meant a slow start to his Australia career. Until he announced himself on the biggest of stagesthe 2003 World Cup in southern Africa where holders Australia, reeling from Warnes doping suspension, were 86/4 against Pakistan at Johannesburg in their opening game.

Symonds, never one for caution, came in at No 6 and settled the game by smashing 143* off 123 balls. Australia finished on 310/8, and won by 82 runs. His 2007 World Cup began midway after a wrist injury, caused by putting too much into a shot. He finished on the triumphant side at Kensington, Barbados.

His defining Test innings was a racy 156 in the Boxing Day Ashes Test against England in 2006-07. He bettered that with a career-best 162 in Sydney against India in 2007-08, but the home teams win came amid acrimony. Umpire Steve Bucknor turned down a caught behind appeal early in Symondss knock with Australia in trouble. Beyond umpiring controversies, the Test will forever be remembered for the charge brought against Harbhajan Singh that he racially abused Symonds by calling him a monkey.

Harbhajan was initially handed a ban by ICC match referee Mike Proctor. But amid Harbhajans denial, Indias threat to walk off the tour if the racism tag stayed, and skipper Anil Kumble announcing that only one team had played in the spirit of the game, the player was let off with a hefty fine for using abusive language.

The two players patched when IPL was launched, with Symonds bought by now defunct Deccan Chargers for $1.35 million. He played four seasons in the league, the final season, 2011, in Mumbai Indians with Sachin Tendulkar.

Symondss Australia career rapidly declined. In 2005, he was suspended for turning up drunk ahead of the shock ODI loss to Bangladesh at Cardiff. He then chose to go fishing instead of attending a team meeting ahead of a home series against Bangladesh. He eventually left the team after a suspension for breaking team drinking rules ahead of the 2009 T20 World Cup. It painted a picture of someone tough to control, but left one wondering if he was fully understood and whether it had to do with the Australia team culture.

In IPL, he scored 974 runs at a strike rate of 129.87 with one century and five fifties. After three seasons with the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, Symonds joined MI in 2011, playing 11 games and featuring in their Champions League win in 2011/12.

N Ananthanarayanan has spent almost three decades with news agencies and newspapers, reporting domestic and international sport. He has a passion for writing on cricket and athletics....view detail

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Andrew Symonds, the free-spirited Aussie all-rounder, dies in car crash - Hindustan Times

Majority of Americans say they want to live for a century, but only if they're living well

ST. LOUIS, May 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Edward Jones' and Age Wave's latest representative study of more than 11,000 North American adults, "Longevity and the New Journey of Retirement," examines the changing definition of retirement, the patterns of people's experience in retirement and the keys to thriving along the way. Despite Americans' worries about health care and long-term care costs in retirement, they still desire to live longer, and nearly seven in 10 Americans (69%) want to live to age 100.

Americans who want to live to 100 indicated that they hope to live longer because they want to spend more years with family and friends (35%), they are enjoying life and want to continue doing so (23%), they are curious about the future (19%) and there is so much more they want to do (18%). Only 6% said they wanted to live longer because they are afraid of dying. Additionally, retirees now say the ideal length of retirement is 29 years.

On the contrary, some Americans indicated that they would not want the extra longevity if they were suffering with terrible health (32%), if they became a burden on their families (29%), if they had serious cognitive loss like that of Alzheimer's disease (20%), or if they no longer had purpose in life (14%).

Not Your Parents' Retirement: A Whole New Chapter in Life

The definition of retirement has vastly changed from that of previous generations. Pre-retirees* and retirees view their parents' version of retirement as a time for "rest and relaxation." However, when asked about their own retirement today, only 27% see today's retirement as "a time for rest and relaxation," while 55% define it as "a new chapter in life."

"Today's retirees enjoy a growing array of opportunities to stay engaged, possibly reinvent themselves and enjoy the freedoms of this stage of life. This is definitely not their parents' or grandparents' retirement," said Ken Cella, Principal, Branch Development at Edward Jones. "At the same time, they face new challenges, especially around their health, their finances and finding a new definition of purpose."

Edward Jones and Age Wave also found blurred lines around what people think marks the beginning of retirement. The top milestones that pre-retirees and retirees view as the "start" of this chapter include stopping full-time work (34%), receiving Social Security and/or a pension (22%), leaving one's job/career (17%) and achieving financial independence (17%). Only 10% said the start of retirement meant reaching a certain age.

This changing definition is reflected in pre-retirees' and retirees' retirement plans, as a majority (59%) want to work in some way during their retirement, with 22% looking to work part time, 19% hoping to cycle between work and leisure and 18% wishing to work full time.

Uncovering Four New Retirement Stages and Four Different Journey Paths

Edward Jones and Age Wave's research defined the four new stages of retirement: Anticipation (0-10 years before retirement), Liberation/Disorientation (0-2 years after retirement), Reinvention (3-14 years after retirement, and Reflection/Resolution (15+ years after retirement). Each stage presents unique expectations, priorities, challenges, hopes and helpful planning for retirement.

In the heart of retirement (Reinvention), the study further identified four distinct journey paths characterized by people's attitudes and ambitions, retirement preparations and their level of enjoyment of life in retirement. By examining the trajectory of these paths, the researchers also uncovered how decisions and strategies for living throughout the early and middle years of life can impact the retirement years both negatively and positively.

The four paths identified in the research include:

"We are witnessing the birth of a new retirement with unique stages and journey paths for everyone," said Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., psychologist/gerontologist and founder and CEO of Age Wave. "Successful retirees have enjoyed a mostly positive, satisfying life and are looking forward to the years ahead. Their emotional intelligence and hard-earned resilience can provide invaluable guidance as tomorrow's retirees contemplate how to best plan to fulfill their hopes and dreams for retirement."

Early Action Is Key to Successfully Navigating the Retirement Journey

While everyone's experience of retirement is different, one thing is clear from the research: Retirees who report better quality of life took more steps decades in advance to prepare and plan across all the four pillars of Finances, Purpose, Family, and Health. From saving early and consistently and developing healthy habits to communicating with close family and discovering passions and interests, there are several steps pre-retirees and those early in retirement can take to make the most of their retirement.

The value of financial foresight cannot be underestimated, as the traditional "three-legged stool" for funding retirement pensions, Social Security and personal savings has become even more wobbly, and unexpected expenses can arise in retirement. Working Americans must double down on the third leg of the stool: saving. According to the study, retirees say they started saving for retirement at age 38 on average, but in retrospect, they should have started saving nearly a decade earlier, at age 29. In addition to saving, other key pre-retirement actions to take include tending to ongoing health and preventive care, discussing retirement plans and goals with family and friends, beginning or expanding volunteering activity and working with a financial advisor, who can be instrumental in interpreting current market conditions and developing a holistic financial plan to better financially prepare for a 100-year lifespan, as well as the expenses that come with it.

"Edward Jones' century of experience guiding clients through periods of immense volatility and waves of economic and societal change give us the benefit of hindsight to help current and future clients," added Cella. "Understanding the way people today view retirement, and what changes retirees wish they could have made, improves our ability to serve them in a human-centered way and help them each achieve what's most important to them and their families."

In addition to these findings, the complete report dives deeper into the stages of retirement, highlights the four distinct journey paths in retirement and unveils how to achieve the best quality of life in retirement, leveraging the preparation actions and behaviors of those who are thriving in retirement as a benchmark. To access the report and for more details on Longevity and the New Journey of Retirement, please visithttps://www.edwardjones.com/newretirement.

*Pre-retirees are defined as those ages 45 or older, planning to retire within the next 10 years.

MethodologyThis report is based on a large-scale investigation to better understand how to live well through the new journey of retirement. The study was conducted by Edward Jones in partnership with Age Wave and The Harris Poll.

The study began with qualitative research consisting of a three-day online forum conducted Sept. 28-30, 2021 (n=40) and six 90-minute online focus group discussions conducted Oct. 5-7, 2021 (n=36). The online forum and online focus groups included adults age 45+ from the U.S. and Canada who were retired or within 10 years of retirement.

Nationally representative surveys of more than 11,000 people were conducted online in January and February 2022. The main survey included roughly 6,000 U.S. adults and 1,000 Canadian adults age 45+ who are retired or within 10 years of retirement. Additional omnibus surveys included over 4,000 U.S. adults age 18+. Results were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

AboutEdward JonesEdward Jones, a Fortune 500 firm, provides financial services in the U.S. and through its affiliate in Canada. The firm's nearly 19,000 financial advisors serve more than 8 million clients with a total of $1.7 trillion in client assets under care. Edward Jones' purpose is to partner for positive impact to improve the lives of its clients and colleagues, and together, better our communities and society. Through the dedication of the firm's 50,000 associates and our branch presence in 68 percent of U.S. counties, the firm is committed to helping more people achieve financially what is most important to them. The Edward Jones website is at http://www.edwardjones.com, and its recruiting website is http://www.careers.edwardjones.com. Member SIPC.

About Age WaveAge Wave is the nation's foremost thought leader on population aging and its profound business, social, financial, health care, workforce and cultural implications. Under the leadership of co-foundersKen Dychtwald, Ph.D., andMaddy Dychtwald, the firm has provided breakthrough research, compelling presentations, award-winning communications, education and training systems, and results-driven consulting initiatives to over half the Fortune 500. For more information, please visitwww.agewave.com.

About The Harris Poll The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S., tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963 that is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that delivers social intelligence for transformational times. The firm works with clients in three primary areas: building twenty-first-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking and earning organic media through public relations research. Their mission is to provide insights and advisory to help leaders make the best decisions possible. To learn more, please visit http://www.theharrispoll.com.

SOURCE Edward Jones

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Rising Longevity and the Desire to Live Well in Retirement Influence Americans' Priorities and Planning, Edward Jones and Age Wave Research Finds - PR...

Marti Shoemaker and her husband, Julien, are off on one of what she likes to call their little adventures. Theyre cruising kind of slowly on their beach cruiser-style bikes with the 20-inch wheels they chose because the bikes are lighter and closer to the ground if we fall, she says. They chat amiably as they wend their way down a paved trail past the occasional jogger near their Williston, Vermont, home.

Shoe, as his friends call him, says Martis a good listener and hes an overly good talker. But the truth is that, even after 65 years of marriage, they happily report they havent run out of conversation topics or gotten sick of getting outside and doing things together. They walk pretty much daily and sometimes take overnight trips to Boston to visit their daughter and friends or simply see something new.

Shoe is ready to go anywhere at any time I come up with wacky ideas. Lets go here and look at the backyards of peoples gardens on view and little things likethat, says Marti, 86, of her 91-year-old mate. He always says yes.

This year, she lost way too many of her close friends to age, she says, so shes adopted a motto that centers on the word now. Do it. Wear it. Now.

Research says the friends the Shoemakers have made, the family relationships they nurtured and other personal interactions have helped them achieve their long lives. Those who study lifespan say relationships matter more than genetics when it comes aging well and living long.

Over the past few decades now, growing evidence shows people who are more socially connected live longer and people who are more isolated or lonely are at increased risk for early mortality, according to BYU psychology professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad. Shes found that in her own research, too, including in a very recent 2022 studypublished in the Annual Review of Public Health.

Marti and Julien Shoe Shoemaker of Williston, Vermont, love to bike and walk the paved trails. After 65 years of marriage, they havent run out of good conversation, says Marti, 86, of life with her husband, who is 91. Research says that good relationships like they have including those with family, friends and others has a lot to do with longevity. More, even, than genetics.

Holt-Lunstad isnt talking about a few trickles of evidence. Research on how social connection impacts longevity forms an ocean of proof.

In 2010, she did a meta-analysis of 148 studies on the topic. Not long ago, other researchers considered 276 studies. And there have been additional studies published since that review, she said, noting the finding is solid and has been replicated repeatedly.

Though measurements and methods vary, the answer is always the same: Relationships impact how well and how long people live.

And the more kinds of relationships people have, the more resources they have to draw upon for a variety of types of needs, according to Holt-Lunstad. Partners, pals and the people in the neighborhood can all contribute to both mental and physical health.

Longitudinal evidence is especially strong that social relationships predict better physical health outcomes.

We have evidence that social connectedness is linked to immune functioning, to susceptibility to viruses and an ability to mount an effective immune response to vaccines, as well as health-related kinds of behaviors, said Holt-Lunstad.

Sleep is a prime example. People who have good relationships sleep better, while those who feel isolated or lonely they are not the same thing have poor sleep.

Researchers have controlled for lifestyle factors to show the link is both real and really derives from social connections, not something else, Holt-Lunstad said. A longevity benefit from relationships isnt instead just an outgrowth of ones age or weight or whether one drank or smoked or had diabetes or other health issues.

I think thats particularly important to know because there may be the assumption that people who are healthier are more likely to be social and people who are unhealthy might be more likely to be isolated, she said. This evidence is really part of a long-standing body of research that suggests humans are social beings and we needed to rely on others throughout human history for survival. So social connections themselves count.

Of the unhappiness people felt during the pandemic and the long periods of being away from others that resulted, she said, That level of distress is in essence our biology signaling an unmet need. If left unchecked, that can lead to poor health if experienced chronically. I think it shows how important our relationships are to our health. And that we need to prioritize relationships.

Perhaps the most famous long-term study of the impacts of having or lacking relationships developed over time from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which started following 268 Harvard sophomores in 1938 and continued to track them. They also studied inner-city teens recruited from poor neighborhoods.

The surprising thing is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health, Robert Waldinger, study director, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvards medical school, told The Harvard Gazette in 2017. Taking care of your body is important, but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care, too. That, I think, is the revelation.

As time passed, study directors retired, passing the task to new generations of researchers, and the study added children and wives of participants. The children of the original subjects have reached late middle age.

They learned that it is close relationships, not money, intelligence or ones genetic makeup, that creates lifetime happiness. This wasnt just identified among the Harvard elite; findings proved true across the board for the inner-city participants, too.

In fact, relationship satisfaction at age 50 better predicted physical health better than did cholesterol levels. And those with good social support had less mental deterioration as they aged than those who lacked it.

Good relationships dont just protect our bodies; they protect our brains, said Waldinger in a 2015 TED Talk that has been viewed 42 million times.And those good relationships, they dont have to be smooth all the time. Some of our octogenarian couples could bicker with each other day in and day out, but as long as they felt that they could really count on the other when the going got tough, those arguments didnt take a toll on their memories.

That doesnt mean relationships are the only difference-maker.

In the book Aging Well, Dr. George E. Vaillant listed factors that predicted healthy aging for the Harvard men: physical activity, not smoking or abusing alcohol, being able to cope maturely with lifes ups and down, healthy weight and a stable marriage. The same was true for the inner-city men, with the addition of education.

The more education the inner-city men obtained, he wrote, the more likely they were to stop smoking, eat sensibly, and use alcohol in moderation.

Waldinger summarized the Harvard study findings for CBS This Morning:

Waldingers advice for building good, close relationships? Giving people our full, undivided attention is probably the most valuable thing we have to offer, but its really hard to do. Our attention is always being pulled away and fragmented, said Waldinger, who said the payoff is worth the fact its hard work that takes time.

Other studies outline the benefits of strong social bonds.

A 2020 study in the Journals of Gerontology found socially integrated women had a 10% longer lifespan and 41% higher odds of surviving to age 85 than did those who were socially isolated. That was true even after the researchers adjusted for health behaviors and depression.

A 2015 study in Clinical Psychological Science by Waldinger and others found that elderly heterosexual couples who were securely attached to each other were likely to be more satisfied in their marriages, have less depression and less unhappiness. For women, greater attachment security predicted better memory 2.5 years later.

If you always assumed that how long your parents lived would provide a clue to your own longevity, youre not alone. So its not surprising that a 2010 study by Ancestry.com and Calico Life Services in the journal Genetics that involved millions of people caused a genuine stir. It quantified the role of the genes one inherited on ones lifespan at 7%, not the 20%-30% of previous estimates.

The researchers analyzed 54 million public family trees that included 400 million people on Ancestry.com.

They said assortive mating choosing a mate based on clearly seen characteristics like having the same religious beliefs, or shared ethnicity or a similar profession counts for more of the link to longevity that genes do.

In its report on the study, Statnews quotedCatherine Ball, Ancestrys chief scientific officer and the studys senior author, who said, Youre more likely to have a lifespan similar to that of your in-laws than to an equally unrelated stranger. She added that because people choose spouses who are like themselves in some way, they give their children something akin to a double dose of factors that can impact longevity but have nothing to do with genetics.

Its rare for a teetotaler to marry a party girl or an ultra-marathoner to marry a couch potato, she said.

The Shoemakers are surprised for a moment to hear that genetics might not be as significant as they thought to their longevity. Then Shoe notes that maybe its not so surprising, really. His dad was in his early 60s when he died; her mom not quite 60.

But not all aging is the same, and genetics may be more important to super-longevity, according to a 2012 study in the journal Frontiers in Genetics. It reiterated previous studies findings of a strong familial component to extreme longevity among those who live 100 years or more.

The New England Centenarian Study at the Boston University School of Public Health published research in PLoS Onethat said centenarians typically have just as many genetic variants linked to increased risk for a host of age-related ills Alzheimers, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer, among others as those who do not live that long. Researchers believe the centenarians tremendous survival advantage could spring from genetic variants that somehow cancel out or at least protect somewhat against the negative effects of those disease-associated genes.

But whatever longevity advantage their genes might provide doesnt necessarily offer the well-being and happiness provided by relationships. They, too, need good relationships.

As for the Shoemakers, theyve built strong connections to other people and to the communities where they lived ever since they married in 1957. They raised their three children in Boston and their connections there remain strong.

Though Marti says she never was much of a joiner, she sang with a chorale into her late 70s, happily traveling and socializing with the group. And Shoe was always happy to go along. The camaraderie of the group was a great thing, she says.

When they got to Vermont, they led a Compassionate Friends bereavement support group for a decade. One of their sons died when he was 20, but they never leave him out of their story, Marti says. Their relationship with him helped shape them, too.

They have loved very well. And they have the years to prove it.

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How to live longer: Research says relationships matter more than genetics - Deseret News

Living longer these days isn't as challenging as you might think. We all know diet and exercise is key to maintaining overall health, but there's many other positive lifestyle changes that make a big difference and can add years to your life, according to experts we spoke with. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Yale R. Smith MD, with The Center for Antiaging, Aesthetic and Rejuvenation Medicine says, "Eat a healthy diet, based on the Mediterranean model. This will lower your risk of diabetes and the cortisol that inhibits insulin production. If an immediate change won't work for you, begin with small changes. Start by substituting one fast food meal a week with fresh fish (not fried) and vegetables. Continue replacing unhealthy foods with more healthy foods."

Dr. Smith emphasizes, "The biggest threat to your health and longevity is excessive cortisol levels caused by stress. Have your doctor check your cortisone level if you are under stress, then test to rule out other diseases. If stress and high cortisone levels are present and likely causing your physical problems, work with your doctor to identify the cause of your stress and develop an individualized plan to lower your stress."

Dr. William Li, physician, scientist, president and medical director of the Angiogenesis Foundation, and author of Eat To Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself shares, "Moving your muscles regularly, even walking, keeps your body's health defenses working as you age. Physical activity improves your circulation, activates your stem cells to keep regenerating your organs, improves your health, gut bacteria that help your immunity, and lowers body inflammation."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Dr. Li suggests, "Getting good quality sleep for 8 hours a night. Don't eat too close to bedtime which can interfere with deep sleep. Stop watching your screen for an hour before going to bed because the blue light from devices will make it harder to get deep high-quality sleep. Even though you may not be physically in motion during sleep, your body is highly active during deep sleep. This activity is recharging your health defenses, everything from your health gut bacteria to your immune system. Your brain actually expands and opens up a cellular sewer system during deep sleep to dump out the toxins it accumulated during the day."

Dustin Nabhan, VP of Health & Performance with Canyon Ranch adds, "Nighttime sleep and naps both reduce stress, which may be a reason that sleep appears to boost longevity. Create a sleep routine that works for you. This may include turning notifications off on your phone an hour before bedtime, reducing screen time, meditating to unwind, or incorporating blackout curtains. If you are still struggling with achieving quality sleep, talk to your doctor about a sleep study. There are also many smart devices that track how well you are sleeping and offer recommendations for improvement."

Gail Saltz MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry The New York Presbyterian Hospital and host of the "How Can I Help?" podcast from iHeartRadio says, "The earlier the treatment the more quick the resolution of clinical depression or anxiety disorders. We know that ongoing depression carries an increased risk of death by suicide as well as impact on the cardiovascular and the brain which decreases life expectancy. Similarly chronic high anxiety causes increased cortisol levels that harm multiple body systems."

Dr. Saltz recommends, "Practicing daily relaxation methods, such as paced deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, etc. High stress leads to burn out, illness, shortened lifespan. Having a daily routine that decreases internal stress daily can decrease ongoing stress levels."

Lisa Richards, a nutritionist and author of the Candida Diet explains, "Longevity is highly connected to diet and lifestyle. Protein is essential to life. It is one of the three macronutrients that fuel the human body providing energy, muscle building, and much more. When it comes to protein, animals are not the only source that should be considered. Many plant-based foods provide protein that can meet the complete amino acid needs of the body, some individual and some through proper pairing. Plant-based protein sources are superior to most animal-based sources based primarily on their fat content. Animal proteins are typically high in saturated fat, excluding most fish, which is detrimental to heart health. Plant-based protein combinations that contain all nine essential amino acids are known as complete proteins. Some common complete protein combinations include whole grain brown rice and black beans, whole wheat bread and peanut butter, pasta and peas, chickpeas and tahini (which are in hummus). Quinoa and soy are both plant-based complete proteins on their own. An added bonus of switching to plant-based sources of protein is the addition of anti-aging, and reversing in some cases, antioxidants present in many plant foods."

Trista Best, MPH, RD, LD reveals, "Intermittent fasting may be an excellent way for those over 50 to lose weight and also improve their longevity. The intermittent fasting approach is typically done in a 16 hour fasting window with an 8 hour eating and drinking window. Alternate day fasting requires the dieter to fast one day and eat / drink the next. Twenty-four hour fasts are done once or twice a week, rather than alternate days like the previous. For periodic fasting the individual will fast multiple days, three or less, once a month. Dry fasting is said to have weight loss and immune support benefits. Weight loss is attributed to the decrease in food while the immune benefits are from specific cellular processes that occur. Damaged cells are more easily removed from the body during this time as the digestive tract can focus on this process alone and the immune system is essentially reset."

Roxana Ehsani, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and National MediaSpokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics shares,"Red meat and processed meats like sausage, bacon, deli meats, are high in saturated fat, which is pro-inflammatory, and can cause plaque buildup, which increases risk for both heart and neurodegenerative diseases. Processed meats also contain high amounts of sodium, which negatively impacts our heart health. For longevity, it's best to swap out the red meat for lean cuts of protein and plant protein choices such as beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds. They are highly nutritious containing vital vitamins, minerals and are a good source of dietary fiber and protein.. Nuts and seeds also contain heart healthy and anti-inflammatory essential fats. They can be made into bean or lentil or nut burgers, added to salads, stews, chilis,sandwiches, wraps, added to grain dishes, and can be blended up into dips or spreads (such as hummus, almond butter). The US Dietary Guidelines recommends 1 cups of legumes per week and 5 oz of nuts and seeds per week."

Ehsani says, "Dark leafy greens are one of the most nutrient rich foods! They are packed with vitamins, such as vitamin K, A, and C, they are rich in folate, iron, and contain a few grams of both dietary fiber and protein. Research has shown that individuals who eat dark leafy greens daily, had a slower rate of cognitive decline. Eat them raw, in a salad, add greens to smoothies, stuffed them into sandwiches, wraps or try them lightly sauted. The US Dietary Guidelines recommends 1 cups of dark leafy greens per week."

Jean Connors, M.D., medical director in the hematology division of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Scientific Steering Committee member for the World Thrombosis Day campaign says explains,"Blood clots are one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide. In fact, 1 in 4 people are dying from conditions caused by thrombosis (commonly known as blood clots), according to the World Thrombosis Day campaign, and sudden death is the first symptom for nearly 25% of those who develop the condition. (WTD/CDC) The below health tips drastically decrease one's risk of developing a blood clot and can effectively add to your lifespan when followed closely.

Emily Gold Mears, a former lawyer turned citizen scientist, healthcare advocate and author of Optimizing Your Health explains, "We are exposed to a vast amount of toxins every day. As we accumulate more and more toxins, our ability to remain healthy declines. The body burden of toxins is an undeniable factor in most, if not all chronic diseases. Increase your lifespan by eating organic food when possible, refer to the EWG (Environmental Working Group) for the cleanest and the most pesticide laden produce, filter your water, invest in an air filter, replace plastics with glass, ceramic or stainless steel, replace toxic cookware with non-toxic brands, replace toxic cleaning products with vinegar and water, invest in a non toxic mattress, replace personal care products with non toxic brands and stop using pesticides."

Mears states, "As we age, lung function and capacity declines. This results in the absorption of less oxygen. Proper breathing is associated with nearly every aspect of good health and longevity. There are many different methods of proper breathing but the easiest include breathing through your nose instead of through your mouth. Another easy method to adopt is "Box Breathing". This is taught to Navy Seals, athletes and others. Inhale through the nose for a count of four seconds, hold the breath for four seconds, exhale through the mouth for four seconds and hold the exhale for four seconds."

Mears says, "As we age, the water content of our bodies decreases. All biological systems depend on water. We have heard for years that we should drink 8 glasses of water a day. This turns out to be just an average because the goal is to replace the amount of water that we lose throughout the day. Optimal amounts will depend on what climate you live in, how active you are, your age, your size, how much you sweat and how frequently you urinate. An easy way to monitor your fluid balance is to check your urine output. The darker the color of your urine, the more dehydrated you are, and the optimal color should be that of light straw."

Teresa Cowan Jones, Director of Spiritual Wellness with Canyon Ranch says, "Studies show that purposeful living is linked with lower risk of heart attack and stroke, less inflammation (and therefore reduced risk for chronic diseases) and diminished rates of Alzheimer's. Additionally, when we find a sense of meaning in our daily life we become more resilient, motivated, and better able to tackle obstacles."

Jennifer Baker-Porazinksi, Physician with Canyon Ranch says, "Family doctors are in a unique position because they get to follow their patients throughout their lives. From this vantage, we see firsthand how lifestyle choices impact health. Approximately 80% of chronic diseases are caused by modifiable risk factors, which means that simple changes can both prevent and slow their progression. For optimal health, I encourage people to engage in physical activities that they enjoy, to make healthy food choices, to avoid tobacco, to moderate alcohol intake, and to prioritize sleep. I also emphasize how important it is to connect with others, to manage stressors and to get outside in nature. This is my prescription for a happy, healthy life."

Stephen Brewer, Medical Director with Canyon Ranch states, "Live your life in moderation. Extremes of anything are generally not good. Extremes in exercise to overeating to working excessive hours have all been shown to be detrimental to our health. One needs to push ourselves on a regular, manageable basis. Overdoing it does nothing but result in breakdown of the body through overuse syndrome, disordered eating habits, and unnecessary stress from maintaining unsurmountable expectations. One needs to find a happy, manageable balance. This is where moderation is key."

Deirdre Strunk, VP of Spa at Canyon Ranch says, "We are all busy. It's the nature of the world we live in today. But making time for self-care should rank up there with that work deadline or what to eat for dinner. Self-care can be as simple as taking the longer route home because you enjoy the view more, getting lunch with a friend, playing music you enjoy while you do your daily skincare routine, or putting a face mask on during any of your mundane daily tasks. Find something that works for you that makes your day or week a little more fun, then make sure you prioritize that time for yourself. Increasing time for yourself in ways that you enjoy will reduce stress and contribute to a happier, longer life."

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These Simple Tricks Will Add 10 Years to Your Life Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

CARLSBAD, Calif. (PRWEB) May 05, 2022

NAD3 is a multi-patents-pending nutraceutical containing a unique Wasabi Japonica extract, Theacrine and Copper(I)-Niacin complex. Preliminary pre-clinical and human studies suggest that NAD3 upregulates enzymes that boost the conversion of NAD+ precursors, such as niacin, niacinamide, nicotinamide riboside (NR) and/or NMN to NAD+, while also suppressing the activity of proteins that deplete and consume NAD+. Collectively, these data support the use of NAD3 in combination with any NAD+ precursor or booster (as an ideal companion) for amplifying net cellular NAD+ status.

Recently published in the prestigious journal Physiologia, human data from the ENHANCE Trial revealed that 12 weeks of oral supplementation with NAD3 decreased various independent cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., VLDL, TAGs, LDL-C and Total Cholesterol) by 16% to 19%. In the same study, beneficial changes in the NAD+/NADH ratio were noted despite the fact that NAD3 does NOT contain an appreciable dose of an NAD vitamin precursor. Taken together, the data provide a strong basis for including NAD3 as part of a comprehensive plan to optimize cardiometabolic health and longevity.

While its still the "early days" for NAD3, and much about how NAD+ influences human health and the biology of aging remains to be studied, JUVN3 Holdings continues to invest heavily in NAD3 research. JUVN3 is an ingredient incubator specializing in human longevity. Its NAD3 pipeline of mechanistic, pre-clinical science and human clinical research is well underway. They are committed to providing a solid body of clinical evidence that pushes the forefront of science, advances the field of longevity, and makes a positive impact on human healthspan for society.

While previous studies have demonstrated increases in NAD+ levels using supplement precursors (e.g. niacin, niacinamide, nicotinamide riboside (NR), NMN), NAD3 is the first nutraceutical to demonstrate an improvement in NAD+ status without utilizing a precursor. Its also the first NAD ingredient to show clinical benefits in humans.

NAD3 is distributed exclusively by Compound Solutions, Inc. (CSI) on behalf of JUVN3. Compound Solutions is the go-to company representing and distributing unique, patented nutraceutical ingredients that improve the health and performance of individuals. CSI supplies effective, science-based ingredients to wellness brands, sports nutrition, functional food and nutraceutical manufacturers. CSI is committed to building and maintaining long-term relationships with our global customers and suppliers.

*ENHANCE Trial: Effects of NAD3 on Hallmarks of Aging and Clinical Endpoints of Health in Middle Aged Adults: a subset analysis focused on blood cell NAD+ concentrations and lipid metabolism.

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Washington [US], May 11 (ANI): As the global elderly population grows, it is socioeconomically and medically critical to have diverse and effective means of mitigating the impact of aging on human health.

A recent study has demonstrated the effectiveness of using cytomegalovirus in mice as a gene therapy vector for two age-protecting factors to prolong life up to 41.4% of ones age. It extended the median lifespan of treated mice without increasing cancer risk, while improving ageing-related biomarkers, including glucose tolerance, exercise performance, body mass loss, hair loss, telomere shortening, and deterioration of the mitochondrial structure.

The two age-protecting factors, namely, are enzyme telomerase reverse transcriptase and the protein follistatin.

The goal of achieving a healthy lifespan remains a difficult topic in biomedical science. It has been well established that ageing is associated with a decrease in the number of telomere repeats at the ends of chromosomes, partly as a result of insufficient telomerase activity. Importantly, the biological functions of the telomerase complex rely on telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT).

TERT plays a major role in telomerase activation, which in turn, lengthens the telomere DNA. Because telomerase supports cell proliferation and division by reducing the erosion of chromosomal ends in mitotic cells, animals deficient in TERT have shorter telomeres and shorter lifespans. Recent studies on animal models have supported the therapeutic efficacy of TERT in increasing healthy longevity and reversing the ageing process.

Telomere shortening also increases the risk of heart disease. The follistatin (FST) gene encodes a monomeric secretory protein that is expressed in nearly all mammalian tissues. In muscle cells, FST functions as a negative regulator of myostatin, a myogenesis inhibitory signal protein. FST overexpression is known to increase skeletal muscle mass in transgenic mice by 194 to 327% by neutralizing the effects of various TGF-b ligands involved in muscle fiber breakdown, including myostatin and activin inhibition complex. FST knockout mice have smaller and fewer muscle fibers, show retarded growth, skeletal defects, and reduced body mass, and they die within a few hours after birth. The acceleration of these degenerative trends post FST knockout underscore an important role of FST in skeletal muscle development.

Aged mice have exhibited loss of motor unit function with impaired neuromuscular junction transmission. It has been shown that follistatin expression in aged mice not only increased muscle mass but also improved the neuromuscular function. These findings strongly implicate the therapeutic potential of FST in the treatment of muscular dystrophy, muscle loss, and impaired neuromuscular function caused by ageing or microgravity. Based on this evidence and supporting assumptions, TERT and FST are among prime candidates for gene therapy protocols directed to improve healthy lifespans.

As more longevity-supporting factors are discovered, it is natural to explore potential large capacity vectors for delivering multiple genes simultaneously. Unlike adeno-associated virus (AAV), lentiviruses or other viral vectors now commonly used for gene delivery, cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) have a large genome size and unique ability to incorporate multiple genes. Further, cytomegaloviruses do not integrate their DNA into the host genome during the infection cycle, thereby mitigating the risk of insertional mutagenesis. CMV infections are usually asymptomatic in most healthy adults, but can become problematic in neonates or transplant patients. Human CMV (HCMV) has been proven to be a safe delivery vector for expressing therapeutic proteins in human clinical trials (20). Mouse CMV (MCMV) and HCMV are similar in many aspects, including viral pathogenesis, homology, viral protein function, viral gene expression, and viral replication.

Cytomegalovirus vector has been proven to be a potent delivery vector for delivering foreign genes and is utilized in different immunotherapies, including cancer, tuberculosis (TB), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), malaria, and many others. Using MCMV as a viral vector, the researchers examined the therapeutic potential of TERT and FST gene therapy to offset biological ageing in a mouse model, and demonstrated significant lifespan increase, as well as positive metabolic and physical performance effects. The researchers believe further studies may elucidate the full CMV cargo capacity and effectiveness. Translational studies are required to determine whether the findings can be replicated in human subjects. (ANI)

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Experiencing the myriad of natural and entirely normal effects of aging is what one could describe as a bit of a contradiction. On the one hand, the very fact that you are aging and maturing means that you are lucky enough to be in fine proverbial fettle and that you are likely to be around for many years to come.

On the other hand, however, aging can understandably be somewhat frustrating, upsetting, and in some peoples cases, downright devastating, to start to experience the effects of aging as it makes one confront reality and indeed, their own mortality.

With this in mind, here for your information and to hopefully provide at least some positive consolation to getting older, are some top tips, techniques, and pieces of advice for handling the effects of aging.

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One of the most noticeable signs of aging, especially to yourself when you look in the mirror of a morning, is that your skin may have started to display signs of wrinkles, frown lines, crows feet, and/or furrows on your forehead.

There is a wide plethora of both more affordable and incredibly expensive lotions, potions, and creams whose taglines claim to, quite literally, reverse the signs of aging and at the risk of catastrophic revelation, these claims are really not worth the paper they are written on.

However, having said that, it is true to say that making a thick, non-sticky, and water-based moisturizer part of your daily and ideally evening as well, skincare routine is well worth it, especially as most moisturizer brands contain a certain SPF along with their other ingredients.

For men and especially those men whose father, brother, and/or uncle began to lose their hair in their early forties, it is most likely that they will also follow the same trend. Some men who are experiencing hair thinning, balding, or a general receding of their hairline are more than happy, quite rightly, to embrace their natural baldness and own it.

However, if you are not one of those men and instead feel as if losing your hair also signifies losing part of your identity, character, and overall personal style, there are several options you may want to consider.

There are two principal prescription drugs, both of which are designed for treatment, prevention, and combat hair loss, called Minoxidil and Finasteride, the latter of which must never be prescribed to women as it can be dangerous to females.

Alternatively, a more permanent, pricey yet ultimately far more effective option to combat baldness is to research hair transplants, as not only does such a procedure result in an incredibly natural looking hairline but it also encourages new hair growth in and around the treated area.

You will no doubt remember your grandma or grandad complaining of aching joints or holding their back after standing up for too long. You probably and quite understandably laughed at their protestations that this happens when you get old.

Muscle, joint aches and pain can happen at any age and is sometimes only the result of an injury or sprain, in which case such symptoms will dissipate over time, but if you have recently started to feel particularly achy and uncomfortable, there are a number of things you can do in an effort to combat this:

Additionally, ensure you are eating enough fresh fruit and vegetables and drinking enough water, not just for the health of your joints and muscles, but also for the physical health and wellbeing of your entire body.

As with every single other organ of the human body, everyone is entirely unique and individual and therefore it is entirely likely that if you stood one hundred thirty-five-year-old people in a line and rated their eyesight, you would receive widely conflicting data and results.

There is a multitude of factors that can affect the strength of your vision and act as a catalyst for the decline of your eyesight.

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If your job involves staring at a computer screen for hours upon hours on end, or if you are one of those people who are glued to their smartphone or tablet at every given opportunity, then over time this may result in dry, itchy, tired and strained eyes.

Start taking regular, five-minute breaks away from the screen whenever possible approximately every hour, move your screen further away from your face and improve the level of the lighting on your desk to try and reduce the glare from the screen.

Everyone in the world knows and understands by now that smoking cigarettes and cigars is not only bad for your lungs and heart, but also bad for your eyes as well.

Smoking drastically increases the risk of such eye issues as diabetic retinopathy cataracts ad glaucoma and if you are a smoker, this is yet another reason to give up immediately.

Another, perhaps slightly less widely known, factor that can influence the quality and longevity of your vision is when you are not consuming the right kinds of foods.

Try and improve your general daily diet by eating more of the following:

Warning signs that you may have a problem with one or both of your eyes include, but are not limited to, the following issues:

If you are experiencing any of the above signs and symptoms, it is best to make an appointment with your medical doctor as soon as possible, just in case there could be a more serious underlying problem.

As a person gets older, the levels of strength and stamina naturally decline, and there is no better explanation than obviously, the older you are, the more use your legs, arms, and back have had and therefore the more worn out they may become.

Whereas the strength of your arms and legs is both measurable and easy to see, the concept of stamina is far harder to measure and therefore less practical to build, however, both strength and stamina are equally as important in your quest to stave off the natural signs of aging.

Consistent exercise is one way to steadily build your stamina levels, although if, prior to reading this article, you rarely, if ever, engage in physical exercise, then it is crucial to both stretches before you start your exercise session and to work your way up slowly. Along with physical exercise, another way to ensure your body has the strength and stamina it needs is to ensure that you are always sufficiently hydrated, so put down the soda and instead invest in a funky and aesthetically pleasing water bottle that you can carry around with you both at work and around the house.

There are a wide plethora of benefits to drinking more water, not just for your physical health, but for your emotional wellbeing as well, which include, amongst others:

Another key way in which your body starts to show signs of aging and more importantly, an element of your physical health that you need to start keeping your proverbial eye on, is your blood pressure reading.

If you currently believe your blood pressure to be slightly too high, the best thing to do is to book an appointment with your medical doctor, or at the very least with a quality blood pressure monitor so you can take your blood pressure at regular intervals at home.

Luckily, if you do find your blood pressure to be high, or else you are concerned that if you dont change some of your bad habits and adapt your lifestyle then this could be the result, there is a myriad of ways in which you can reduce the level of your blood pressure to a normal and acceptable level.

Such ways to keep your blood pressure in check include:

General awareness and the acceptance of diabetes as a serious and potentially even fatal disease of the body has only, in recent years, started to enter the mainstream media and publics conscience and it is absolutely imperative that you avoid contracting diabetes as much as feasibly possible. The main way to avoid diabetes entirely is to reduce your sugar intake.

Diabetes is essentially when the glucose, or sugar, levels in your blood are too high. As blood glucose is the primary source of energy to fuel your entire body, the food you eat directly affects the amount of sugar in your body. If your pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to transport the sugar into your cells, it stays in the blood and causes a whole host of problems.

The most prolific and noticeable signs and symptoms of diabetes include the following:

Contracting diabetes is by no means a life sentence for constant pills and drugs. However, if diabetes is not handled correctly, it could lead to more serious health issues:

You will no doubt struggle to find a single person who can honestly claim that they have never entered a room and immediately forgotten why they went in there in the first place. These tiny lapses in memory are as laughable as they are insignificant.

However, it is true to say that both men and women of any age and of any particular situation and lifestyle should always look after their minds. They need to protect the quality and durability of their cognitive brain functions.

There is often talk, both casually amongst friends and in more serious news articles in the newspaper, online, or on the television, about the importance of keeping your brain young, and frankly, this should be adhered to.

Proven-to-be effective ways of training your brain and ensuring it is in as good a condition as it possibly can include:

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Mara Martinn-Torres says that her book Homo imperfectus reflects the chaotic way that her mind works. The volume explores what makes humans imperfect by weaving scientific details with literary references. The 48-year-old paleoanthropologist, originally from Ourense in northwestern Spain, heads the National Center for Research on Human Evolution in Burgos. Her background in medicine allows her to see the diseases we suffer as chapters in a story that explains what Homo sapiens is like today.

Question. The book is like a culinary deconstruction of the human being, a journey through the ingredients of our evolution to the dish we are now.

Answer. I try to identify what ingredients were made of and how they are mixed. It is very difficult to separate the ingredients. In some places, we find a taste, like an evolutionary advantage, but in other places, we find other textures, like other stages of life or a disease. I like to describe it from the point of view of imperfection, which has always been reviled. We want to be perfect creatures, but the reality is that we are full of imperfections, and that gives our species its richness.

Q. Our diversity made us indestructible.

A. Exactly. The law of nature does not prioritize the individual, but the collective. Individually, we have to deal with many problems and vulnerabilities, but that personal suffering does not interfere with our success. And therein lies the key. Natural selection is not concerned with happiness, health or well-being. Those are human issues. Natural selection is concerned with survival, and humans are concerned with living well. The history of our species is collective and social, and therefore we end up dealing with individual suffering.

Q. Will the pursuit of happiness ever be an evolutionary advantage?

A. Natural selection is an unstoppable filter. When there is a crisis or an important change in the environment, the varieties that are better adapted will prosper or have more children, period. Where does it make the cut? In the traits that can harm our reproductive success. Everything that happens after reproduction is our business. Cancer, which usually appears in old age, is a real issue, but it has no impact on reproduction. Happiness and wellness are the same. If we are capable of generating environments of greater happiness, that contributes to prosocial behavior, and that matters to us. Although happiness is not really a characteristic that is going to be favored by natural selection, it is reached when we put into action the prosocial characteristics that have been positively selected throughout evolution. Our strength is not individual. It is always as a group. This allows us to welcome and compensate and protect individual weaknesses or frailties. The weakest individual is not the one who is physically frail or sick, but the one who is alone. Natural selection favors many characteristics that allow for connection, including longevity: we live longer not to have children, but to take care of others. Natural selection favors us being a long-lived species to take care of highly dependent individuals, who need others from very early and until very late. Rather than being a disadvantage or a weakness, dependence is the reason why we live so many years.

Q. Are we programmed to protect the vulnerable?

A. This is our hallmark as a hypersocial species, the consequence of one of our most useful weapons, which is empathy. Our brain allows us the incredible experience of living our life and imagining that of others, which gives us great advantages in our survival, because we can recognize friends and anticipate enemies. This is reflected, for example, in the care for the vulnerable. Most of our characteristics, even the negative ones, lead us to seek acceptance by the group. We feel most protected and fulfilled when were part of a family, a group, a club or a tribe. I believe that the portrait of the human being as ruthless, opportunistic and selfish is not really our true nature. Natural selection favors altruistic and prosocial behaviors for our success. We have to get rid of the clich that human beings are bad and selfish. There is very little margin for individualism in this species.

Q. Did other extinct species, like Neanderthals or Denisovans, fail due to lack of empathy?

A. In the case of the Neanderthals, I dont think it was that, because they were a compassionate social group. They buried their dead, they had symbolic thought, they also had a sophisticated behavioral capacity, they controlled hunting, they knew their environment. In the case of the Neanderthals, it has been a demographic issue. There were very few of them and ice-age Europe was a harsh and arid environment. They had great abilities, they were well adapted, but they were very isolated and their population was decreasing. We, on the other hand, were at a peak moment, fully developing our capabilities, and we entered Europe when they were already disappearing, because of something that is fundamental to the human species: diversity. Neanderthals, being an isolated group, were probably also a very homogeneous group genetically. They had less to work with when new threats such as infections appeared. Sapiens, however, were more diverse. The diversity and flexibility of behavior is the key to the strength of a species, because you have a greater repertoire with which to face a greater number of dangers.

Q. In the book you mention that 90% of the people who have lived have had a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Is that a determinant?

A. When we look back at the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens, since it appeared on Earth 200,000, almost 300,000 years ago, we see that we have been living as a hunter-gatherer species much longer than in cities and towns. This is new. Our biology has been shaped over hundreds of thousands of years to adapt to a lifestyle that suddenly, in this last tweak of the last 10,000 years, has changed radically. But biology has other rates of change, and a mismatch occurs, because our adaptation is much slower than the speed at which we are capable of transforming the world. We have created a completely new world, of routines, of diet, of interactions, of sexual relationships, of exposure to new toxins that have nothing to do with what has happened in 90% of our history as a species.

Q. Is our understanding of our past biased?

A. There has always been a lot of bias. For example, I always say that we do not give the Neanderthal version of events. When we study the brain of Sapiens and Neanderthals, we immediately think about what we can do that Neanderthals did not. These poor Neanderthals went extinct because they had less working memory than Homo sapiens, we say. And I say, if they had the same brain size, there will be something that they did have more developed than us and we dont know what it is. Maybe they were much sharper visually, maybe they were more empathetic, more expressive. Perhaps they communicated with greater nuance and with greater expression. We have a hard time imagining what they could have that we didnt have. One of the great biases is to see ourselves as a prototype of the perfect species that has things that others do not have. We always tell our story in terms of success.

Q. We read evolution as if our destiny is to become the kings of creation.

A. Natural selection is humbling: the same rules of evolution apply to us, to cauliflower, to pine trees and to viruses. I dont think we are better adapted than tulips in Holland or an eagle flying in the sky. They are different types of adaptations to different worlds. Were not doing badly, but there are still many adjustments to be done. Illnesses are a reflection that there are still many nuts to tighten throughout evolution.

Q. Have we learned many new things about sapiens?

A. In recent years, the image we had of ourselves as a uniform category, a perfect lineage that triumphantly advanced and colonized the world, has changed. Now we see that the key to the success of our species is to have room for exceptions, for crooked lines, for asterisks. This has allowed us to adapt to such different environments. We have not come forward as a uniform species, quite the contrary. And that includes our mixing with other species.

Q. So going back to the sapiens recipe, we are more like croquettes that have been made with food from different places.

A. Well, yes, and thats very good on an evolutionary level, discovering that we are a mixture and that this mixture has given us advantages. Most of the genes that have been positively selected from our mix with Neanderthals have to do with the immune system. We are a croquette with a lot of ancestors, but also with a lot of flavor and a lot of history.

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Mara Martinn-Torres: The weakest creature is not the frail or the sick, but the one who is alone - EL PAS in English