(mouseover to enlarge) Devraha Baba Age 250+ <\/p>\n
Site Contents:<\/p>\n
\"And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died,\" from Genesis 5:5. According to the Bible subsequent progeny lived for hundreds of years, with some in excess of nine hundred years. Are biblical references to a long life span allegorical or statistical facts? Todays human with an average life span under eighty years may have difficulty comprehending how a human could live so long. But, perhaps a life span into the hundreds of years is not that far-fetched. What if sometime in the future medical science was able to eliminate most diseases, what then would cause people to die? Accidents and wars aside, how old could old age be? How long could the life span of a human be? Hundreds of years? Why not? <\/p>\n
Much research has been done and is being done on aging and how to prevent it. Some observations and theories have evolved. One observation has been that animals with a slow metabolism tend to live longer than animals with a fast metabolism. Shrews, for example, have a fast metabolism. They live only a year or two. Turtles have a slow metabolism. The giant tortoise lives nearly 200 years. Studies done on meditators have proven that metabolism slows down during meditation; heart rate and breathing slows down. Results of a study measuring the physiological differences between subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation and just simply taking rest were reported in American Psychologist 42: 879881, 1987. The article stated that Transcendental Meditation produced a significant increase in basal skin resistance compared to eyes-closed rest, indicating profound relaxation. Deep rest and relaxation were also indicated by greater decreases in respiration rates and plasma lactate levels compared to ordinary rest. The implication is that practicing meditation may extend one's life span. <\/p>\n
Another theory suggests that hormones play a role in the aging process. In 1989, at Veterans Administration hospitals in Milwaukee and Chicago, a study indicated that a growth hormone produced in the pituitary gland plays a critical part in aging. As one ages, production of the growth hormone declines. Injections of a synthetic version of the growth hormone were given to a small group of men aged 60 and over. There was a dramatic reversal of some signs of aging. The injections increased muscle mass, reduced excess fat, and thickened skin. But, when the injections stopped, the men's new strength decreased and signs of aging returned. Also, older people have reduced levels of estrogen, testosterone, melatonin, thymosin, and DHEA; reductions of which also have an effect on aging. <\/p>\n
Still another theory of aging is the free-radical theory. According to this theory, free radicals, which occur during the natural course of metabolism, also act randomly and indiscriminately to damage cell components. Free radicals are chemical compounds that possess one or more unshared electrons as part of their structural configurations. To become stable they aggressively seek out another electron with which to pair. In so doing they attack molecules, such as lipids, proteins and DNA which make up the cell's membrane. Cells have an internal defense system of creating antioxidants to fight against the harmful effects of free radicals. However, their defense mechanism is insufficient to prevent the damage caused by the actions of free radicals over a cell's lifetime. This cumulative cellular damage may contribute to the aging process. Pharmacologists demonstrated that by augmenting the cell's antioxidant defenses with certain synthetic enzymes they were able to reduce the action of free radicals, and thereby lessen cellular damage that the free radicals caused. By administering synthetic enzymes to worms the pharmacologists were able to extend the average life span of worms by 44%. Using this same pharmacological intervention on humans may lengthen the human life span as well. <\/p>\n
Caloric restriction is another approach scientists have discovered which extends longevity. Researchers studied the effects of reducing food intake by 30% to 70% on a variety of life forms, from yeast to mammals. The researchers found that they were able to increase the life span of various creatures up to 40%. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied yeast and found that when the energy of a cell drops off (which occurs under conditions of caloric restriction) an enzyme called Sir2 is activated. When activated, Sir2 causes a cell's genes within its chromosomes to be silenced. This reduces the production of extrachromosomal DNA circles, or Ecs. Ecs are toxic to cells and decrease longevity in yeast; they self-replicate, accumulate, and compete with the yeast's genome for vital enzymes and other cellular materials. For this reason reducing Ecs results in extending the life span of yeast. Since Sir2 has been found in humans, the research findings on yeast appear to be applicable to the human aging process as well. <\/p>\n
What if a person does not eat at all, but is able to switch his body metabolism into living directly off of sunshine, can he prolong his life? Recent studies made on behalf of NASA, as well as other prior scientific research studies, have proven that humans can live without food. They do not understand why or how, only that it is possible for humans to do so. One such recorded case is of Giri Bala, a woman who had not eaten for 56 years. <\/p>\n
Here is a dialogue between of Paramahansa Yogananda and Giri Bala, excerpted from Yogananda's book, Autobiography of a Yogi. <\/p>\n
\"If I felt a craving for food, I would have to eat.\" <\/p>\n
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