Comments on: The Future of Aging

By: Hope

Hope — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:25:25 +0000

HBOT is definatley a revolutionary new way to slow the aging process. I know of a place in Larkspur CA right next to San Francisco and they are called Advanced Hyperbaric Recovery. Its an amazing center in a beautiful location. Definatley worth checking out.

By: Alan Hart

Alan Hart — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:16:12 +0000

Interesting show. It would be interesting to do a followup with Cambridge researcher Aubrey De Grey. He believes that the first humans to live 1000 years may already have been born (he says roughly a 50% chance).

De Grey is quite compellingly reasonable and a good speaker, but also the subject of much controversy. See for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Grey_Technology_Review_controversy

A debate show would be interesting.

By: DKehr

DKehr — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:36:34 +0000

Look at Jack Lalanne, he has had an amazing and healthy life. My Bro-n-Law is 79 and owns a construction co. he works 7 days a week, is up at 5 and in bed by 10. He like Jack, eats healthy, no coffee,no alcohol,no fast food, no smoking, and most people think he’s in his late 50’s early 60’s. The answer to a long healthy life has always been in front of us we just have to accept it. In many parts of Asia many people live long and healthy and look and act much younger than they are, because of good choices in food, nutrition and activities over their life. It’s great that science is helping to improve life and health, but all we need we already have.

By: Ellen Dibble

Ellen Dibble — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:42:29 +0000

Where I am at 62, sometimes I feel my mind and body bowing out, sort of refusing to gear up, which currently might be swine flu teasing my accumulated immunities but who knows. I can tell when the curtain is coming down, or I will be able to tell.
In terms of supplements, etc., there are super-green powders you can buy at health food stores, containing desiccated kale and about 40 other dried powdered fruits and vegetables. In winter, or when I’m too busy to shop appropriately, or when I need a boost, I put a few scoops on my cereal (yuck).
I am building a sort of alliance with a woman a decade older than I am, who now has stable (subsidized) housing and (welfare?) income and free time for the first time in her life and is, at long last, trying to find out who she really is and what she could become. I keep in the back of my mind that there are individuals who “make” themselves by the time they are about 26, 27, 28, and that “too late” really doesn’t apply.

By: Fred Silverman

Fred Silverman — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:05:11 +0000

I was listening to the show today and had a few other thoughts to add to the conversation. . .Having lived through my share of pain & pleasure in life when it came to relationships (marriages & divorces), I have discovered in the many years of dating in between that people have four kinds of ages. One being their chronological age (25-95), another being their emotional age (such as how difficult or easily they handle problems), another being their physical age (how many miles can I run or not run, or can I play a full court game of ball), and the last being their mental age (i.e. do they go through life with their thinking geared towards life as if they were a young person or a crotchety old man).

So beyond all of the interesting science discussion that was going on today, I thought it’d be helpful to add another side to the discussion.

By: June

June — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:36:17 +0000

Hormone therapy works, but the mechanism is so complex that enhancing a few hormones to be (short-term) physical/mental effective should be secondary to overall balance suitable for individual. I’m in a business to promote peptide hormones for research purpose, it’s still early for simple, direct human usage. My hormone profile may be 10-20 years younger than average, a consequence of my life style and diet.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:31:21 +0000

Gravity will one day take its toll!

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:29:31 +0000

millard-fillmore,
you raise another important point about extending life: the environmental impact!

By: jorge

jorge — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:17:45 +0000

I have been taking “Protandim” for 2 weeks only and have help me and my friends enormounsly, and it doesn’t need a prescription I order via internet. As you might now Oxidative Stress provides a foothold for more than 100 disieases. Now, direct Antioxidants theories have benn disproven. In my personal research, Ifound that PROTANDIM has have more than 20 University and Hospital – Independent research Studies. And it is not an Antioxidant supplement. The unique Phytonutrients in Protandim in Protandim signal the genes in your cells to produce special antioxidant enzymes which provide thousands of times more antioxidant power then any food or conventional supplements. Really, is the only therapy in the world clinically proven to reduce oxidative stress by an average of 40%. It has been featured in ABC Prime time Live, NBC TOday Show, PBS, 60 Minutes, 20/20 and many others. I love it. Soon, I’ll have more information to share. WE could live pass 130 yrs. without pain or illnesses.

By: Gerald Fnord

Gerald Fnord — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:14:04 +0000

This _should_ strike a chord of disagreement: many believe that we were made by a superior intelligence with an indwelling purpose (telos), which includes growing older and dying.

As I believe that we are made exclusively of matter, which can be rearranged as we will, limited “only” by physical law and our cleverness, I don’t see any interesting reason why mine can’t be rearranged such that my body works as well as it did when I was twenty-one. (‘Not smart enough yet,’ is the opposite of ‘interesting’.) Similarly, exercise does not do anything to your body other than the actual wear-and-tear induced thereby—it is the body’s reaction to exercise that builds muscle, improves memory, u.s.w., and there’s no reason an enormous number of nano-tweezers couldn’t do the same tweaks on command.

Matter, folks, matter: it is our limitation and our liberation. You are absolutely free.

By: millard-fillmore

millard-fillmore — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:40:06 +0000

“I work with the elderly. I question the value of increasing lifespan if we do not also enhance the quality of those final years. An extra five years of dementia added to the end of my life doesn’t seem all that appealing.”

Or figuring out a way to increase the resources they’ll consume.

By: MIchael

MIchael — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:58:03 +0000

would have been nice if you had these guest on your show about fat people a few weeks ago.

Your guest have been very informative and i hope others notice exercising is better than taking a pill in it’s place.

By: BHA

BHA — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:53:35 +0000

The genetic comment is right on. My father-in-law is one of 5 children. As he is ‘only’ 84 at the moment, he is the only one to not reach 90+.

All have/had different lifestyles and levels of exercise, the older 4 were ALL very healthy to at least 89, including mentally. The oldest brother got bone cancer at 89 and died before his 91st birthday but he was dancing, and I don’t mean swaying back and forth, with my young daughters at 89. The oldest sister (breast cancer survivor) lived to 96, though dementia started around 93. The other brother is on the decline, he is 93. The other sister is 91 and you would guess her to be a decade or more younger and quite healthy for that age. You would think the same of my father-in-law.

By: maryann

maryann — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:51:00 +0000

My mother is 96 and still driving, her sister is 101 – yet I would certainly say neither was a health nut. My mother had high blood pressure, high blood glucose levels and certainly did not exercise. My aunt was always overweight and certainly did not follow any exercise or good eating regimens – she loves sundaes. And, their brothers all died at reasonable ages 68-80. Not sure what it all means.

By: Bruce Mansfield

Bruce Mansfield — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:45:41 +0000

I’m curious about the implications of people living longer and general population problems of the world. If people live longer will we need to be more on top of population growth? Will it have an impact on world food availability?

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:44:56 +0000

There is no Fountain of Youth. Just live your life for as long as it lasts; and, along the way, learn to accept the fact that you’re gonna die some day.

By: Ken Brooks

Ken Brooks — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:43:00 +0000

I’m one of the volunteers in the CALERIE Study at Tufts. I’ve been very compliant, and I’ve lost 30 pounds since starting one year ago. I’ve changed my relationship with food, and thus changed my life. I’ll be 50 in February, and, but for my skin, I’m in better shape than I ever have been in my life. I weigh what I did at 25, and I look forward to aging well. It’s not about starving yourself–it’s about feeding yourself well. VERY well.

Like your car, your body is a machine, and food is fuel. Would you put sugar in your gas tank?

Cheers!
Ken Brooks
CALERIE Volunteer

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:40:11 +0000

My question is how many calories should we be getting on a calorie restricted diet? If a middle aged sedentary woman should get 1600 calories a day, then how much should she get on this restricted diet?

By: Rex

Rex — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:39:42 +0000

I believe many of these anti-aging myths come from the habits of Europeans. We look at their diets and think that is the key, when it is their lifestyle that fends off heart disease and such. Americans think of all of this stuff as a miracle cure but it means nothing if we work at high stress jobs and don’t take care of our minds and bodies.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:37:21 +0000

Do you know anything about the supplement maca? My boyfriend was given a bottle by a South American friend who claims that it is a “cure all”.