Anti-Aging vs Living Longer, What? Not the Same?

No one sure fire plan but some basics: First of all, lets start with definitions, the obvious is best: there is aging and there is death. The longevity gurus are seeking to live to, well what I hear, at least 150 years young, the rest of us scare if you tell us we’re living much beyond 90, making that much assumed leap that living longer at that age, will not be living well. The theoretical limit is about 120 years old, that’s about the oldest we’ve ever established anyone can live, barring the occasional raised brow as to the actual birth date of some of these older individuals. At the turn of the century before last we lived to about 50, now about 80, 80.8 for women as of the latest statistics. But the average life expectancy was dramatically changed by prevention of infant and childhood mortality, antibiotics and vaccines primarily, we did nothing to promote the average longevity. Actually, contraception and prevention of fertility has changed our demographics so that’s why we have greater %s of older people. There are two strategies to the anti-aging research, one is figuring out how to get whole groups living closer to known maximum life span, the other is figuring out how to get the exceptional individual to live longer than the natural maximum life span. Since longevity studies in humans aren’t ethical we are in search of biomarkers of aging that we can look at to help us establish how to get us to living longer. Longevity is complicated, right now caloric restriction, genetic manipulation and dietary manipulation are the three strategies mostly in preclinical models (animals) being tried. Government study NCT00099151 tried the calorie restriction. These people got down to business, they were not fat, and then they were dieted down by eating 890 calories per day until about a 12% weight loss and then they were kept there and studied. And their physiology gradually changed to a “younger” mode. What is a younger mode of physiology:  Slightly colder, in other words a chronically lower body temperature, a gradual change in thyroid function, including,  decreased T3 (the more active thyroid), there is evidence of less oxidative stress and lower production of those biproducts that can harm healthy DNA or the in reactive oxygen species (ROS), you have decreased serum insulin, and what insulin you have works better called increased insulin sensitivity, and it's ability to signal improves , your metabolism at rest decreases, most notable when just sitting around to name a few of these physiologic changes. The generally applied medical definition of anti-aging is any strategy which can correct signs of again, or in other words, to prevent any natural physiological declines in function. For instance, older people loose skeletal muscle, if you exercise then your skeletal muscle is restored to what aging took away. Exercise only increases the average life span, not the maximal age of death, at least in studies so far. In order to live better we need to tackle the following problems immediately: correct presbyopia, fix the ability of our hearts to not reach as high HR, reverse bone loss that is due to aging. And, being someone who believes in maximums, eat less, do sit ups. I better get up and do a few.