About Longevity + Healthspan
Please note that this post is shared to inform and inspire only - not provide medical advice.
Longevity has been a hot topic in the health and wellness field the past few years. Well, who doesn’t want to experience as many years of good health as possible? I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of individuals who are able to thrive in life and age gracefully. In this post I want to share some ideas I have learnt recently. Please remember that I’m relatively young so the ideas are mainly from people who have gained inspiring life experience and or have studied this topic.
This is not to shame anyone because I do understand that certain things in life are out of our control and we can get ill or injured even if we live a very healthy life. And what is the definition of health anyway? Health is something highly individual because we all come with our individual genetics, backgrounds and stories. Health is not a goal - it’s a resource to support you in your daily life on this planet. It includes all aspects of your life, such as physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social wellbeing. Even with sickness or illness anyone can certainly have as valuable and meaningful life as anybody else.
The human life expectancy has significantly increased during the past hundred years. The number of centenarians is constantly increasing - yet, the propotion is smaller. More years does not automatically mean more healthy years in life. Unfortunately, many chronic diseases are often regarded as a “normal”, inevitable part of becoming older, and that’s something that I’m very worried about - especially when the vast majority of them are completely reversible. Something is deeply, deeply wrong with this world. The solution are not pharmaceutical products or expensive procedures. The primary keys to health are in your own hands.
Overall, aging is a very complex process like everything in life. Trying to fix and solve aging with medicine or health tech is absolutely absurd and never going to work out well. Instead we should focus on optimising our bodies and minds both in the short and long-term, and this should be done in a holistic way by balancing all areas of life such as food, health, physical activity, stress management, relationships, personal development, spirituality, finances, and so on. Everything is connected on this planet. Instead of being obsessed with living as long as possible or forever, I think it is more important to focus on finding deep purpose and meaning in life and have a life well-lived so that you do not need to regret on your deathbed not bringing real value to this planet and not sharing more love and compassion to others.
It seems the older we get, the larger individual differences will become. Some stay super sharp, fit and vital - whereas others are barely surviving. Clearly, our chronological (the number of years a person has been alive) and biological (how old a person seems) age and do not always go hand in hand.
What Causes Premature Aging?
I recently read the book Lifespan - Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To by David A. Sinclair, PhD. I want to emphasise that I do not agree with all of his ideas and beliefs like describing aging as a disease. However, he has been studying the topic for over two decades and thus, I thought it’d interesting to deepen my knowledge and to better understand what scientists are currently researching and trying to develop.
The longevity topic is easy to ignore when you are young and have zero or very few diseases but aging begins long before we notice it. As Sinclair notes in his book, even though average lifespans have increased, our healthspans have not kept up. There’s a lot of scientific discussion in his book but Sinclair also goes through common things in our daily lives that are well known to accelerate the aging process. There’s no one single cause of aging. There are genes that impact the symptoms of aging - as well as genes that control the body’s defences against aging. Therefore, with a healthy diet and lifestyle we want to turn on the good protective genes and turn off the harmful ones.
We can’t prevent all DNA damage that speeds up aging but we want to prevent extra damage. Firstly, toxic chemicals are on the top of the list of things to avoid. Tobacco products are full of harmful chemicals. DNA damaging chemicals are also lurking in plastics, cosmetic products, processed foods, pollution, cleaning products, etc. Secondly, natural and human-inflicted radiation can lead to DNA damage like strong UV light, X-rays, Gamma rays and radon. Obviously, it’s impossible to avoid all radiation but it’s a good idea to at least try to minimise your exposure. Sinclair didn’t mention anything about EMFs, but that’s probably something you want to consider and reduce your exposure to…
Nature vs. Nurture: The Case of Epigenetics
Epigenitcs is the idea that outside factors, such as our behaviour, environment and lifestyle affect how our genes express themselves. Therefore, we need to consider our physical and social environments. We all have a set of genes that are unique to us and some of them may predispose us to certain genetic disorders, like cancer, but through healthy nutrition and lifestyle, you can literally nurture your genes toward health and longevity instead of disease. Therefore, you have control over your genes: you can literally turn them on and off. The foods you eat can literally rewrite your gene expression. If your are undernourished or don’t nourish with foods that help you thrive you are at increased risk for developing all sorts of awful disease such as Alzheimers, diabetes, obesity, or cancer.
Hormesis - The Positive Kind of Stress
So, how to promote longevity and health? You may have heard the term hormesis. It refers to the positive type of stress that helps your body to ramp up growth and repair mechanisms. Remember, like with everything in life, moderation is key - get close to, but not beyond, the edge because too much stress can damage our cells - the very thing that you want to avoid. In the hormetic state our longevity genes (sirtuins, mTOR, AMPK) are activated, and these genes regulate things like growth and metabolism.
Sinclair promotes things like intermittent fasting or calorie restriction (without malnutrition and starvation of course!), exercise that pushes you to your edge and cold exposure. I agree that we should give our digestive systems some rest because we can’t digest and cleanse at the same time. Yet, I wouldn’t promote longer-term fasts for younger women and those with lean body types. Women are not small men and our bodies are biologically (hormonally in particular) very different. People in larger bodies, post-menopausal women and men are categories of their own. Exposing the body to less-than-comfortable temperatures is certainly something that everyone can try and experience the benefits. Studies have shown how cold exposure activates longevity genes and revs up brown adipose tissue (aka brown fat). You can do this by exercising in the cold, wearing fewer layers, leaving your window open, sleeping with a light blanket, turn off the heater, or by taking cold showers.
Lifestyle For Healthspan
We can learn a lot from the longevity hot spots, now known as Blue Zones - the places where people live the healthiest and longest, and where centenarians are not uncommon. The bestselling author Dan Buettner has studied and written books about the Blue Zones. I don’t live in the Blue Zone area and you don’t need to live there either to have a fabulous and happy life. There are several proactive steps you can take to improve the quality of your life.
Invest in a group of friends who share your values and who are passionate about the things they are doing in life. In this community you lift each other up. Be generous and remember to listen what your friends have to share. Social connectivity is highly correlated with health. Social circles have a big role in all Blue Zones. Similarly, spirituality is linked to better health. This does not mean that you would necessarily need to belong to a religious community to get the benefits.
You also want be physically active. Most of the world’s centenarians don’t actually exercise; they are just active throughout the day. The more you’re able to move your body during your regular day, the less you need to spend time on intentionally exercising. This is highly important if you have a typical office job. Of course, taking things to extremes, like running ultra-marathons and taking HIIT classes every single day can lead to premature aging and injuries simply because your body won’t have enough time to recover. The goal is benign stress or tolerable level of stress for the body to become stronger and more resilient - and not to burn out.
People in the Blue Zones have traditionally eaten mainly plant foods, like vegetables, legumes, whole grains, healthy fats and only small amounts of animal products. They do not obsess or stress over what they eat. They don’t count calories or have restrictive meal plans. And why would they? When you eat real, whole-foods it becomes a mission impossible to gain weight and there’s no need to stress about the components of food your are consuming. To put it simply: eat more of different types whole foods and the entire rainbow to get antioxidants and phytochemical to fight against free radicals that cause cell damage. The right foods will transform your body from the inside, out! Furthermore, in the Blue Zones eating is a social event with friends and families.
The other thing to keep in mind is to eat less often. I’m not advocating starvation or malnutrition or longer fasts. What I’m saying is that there’s nothing healthy about constant snacking for several reasons. And it certainly does not help you to stay youthful and slim. We need to give our digestive systems a rest because digestion is a very energy intensive process and that energy is away from other bodily functions such as rebuilding and generating new, functional cells. Recent studies have also shown that high blood sugar can also speed up the epigenetic clock. We live in the world of over-indulgence and forget the value of nourishing food. Healthy levels of hunger is a good reminder: not only does it help to keep you better tuned in with your body but also serves as a kind reminder how essential and sacred nourishing food and clean water are for our existence on this planet.
Lastly, to have a sense of purpose in life can add more healthy years to life. In Japan they call that ikigai, which often translated as “that which life worth living” or reason for being. Examples, of purpose, could be things like having a meaningful work, family life, volunteering, or exciting hobbies. Therefore, we should never undervalue the power of positive thinking and optimistic outlook in life!
Lots of Love!
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Books:
Lifespan - Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To by David A. Sinclair, PhD
The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From The People Who’ve Lived The Longest by Dan Buettner
Articles: