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October 7, 2020 10:22 am
Is Aging a Disease You Can Reverse? A Look at the Science Behind the Longevity Movement
Source
Vogue Magazine
We all want to live longer, but is a prolonged life a healthy, happy one? One Vogue writer looks at the science that says it might be possible.
We all want to live longer, but is a prolonged life a healthy, happy one? One Vogue writer looks at the science that says it might be possible.
Black Scarf,1996, by Alex Katz.Photo: © Christie's Images / Bridgeman ImagesDAVE ASPREY, founder of the supplement company Bulletproof and one of the many Silicon Valley tech titans obsessed with lengthening their life spans, famously declared he wants to live beyond 180 years. That sounds, frankly, exhausting. Yet who wouldn’t want to take a languorous sip from the gerontological cup, assuming reasonable health and fitness?
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Therein lies the catch: A long life is something that’s desired and dreaded in equal measure. My uncle was a rocket scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. When I visited him in his final years, I did not recognize this once dynamic, brilliant man. He was confused, frail, vague. In 2014, Ezekiel Emanuel, a noted oncologist and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote a blunt essay for
The Atlantictitled “Why I Hope to Die at 75.” He argued that the “manic desperation to endlessly extend” life siphons resources and “robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world.” Emanuel stands by it. “You don’t want to wait until the end of your life and live it unconsciously,” he told me recently.
AdvertisementBut what if we could change not just the expiration date but the time leading up to it? Research shows that most people are ill with disease for five to eight years before they die. Must they be? A wave of scientists are saying no. They maintain that
agingis a disease—one that can be targeted, treated, and perhaps even reversed. Longevity—a quest as old as humanity itself—is the wellness world’s latest buzzword, appearing everywhere from specialty gyms such as Longevity Lab NYC to NutriDrip’s $600 “Nutriyouth” IV formula (which promises to “turn on ‘good genes’ ”) to the Victoria Beckham–sanctioned supplements Basis NAD+. Meanwhile, big-name investors (Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel) are backing companies that are designing drugs to stave off the impairments associated with growing old: Thiel’s Breakout Labs is intent on the modest goal of “reprogramming nature.” The longevity sector, according to some industry analysis, is on track to be a multi-trillion-dollar industry.
Aging can be considered a disease—one that can be targeted, treated, and perhaps even reversedONE MORNING THIS PAST SUMMER, I met Nir Barzilai, M.D., founding director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, at the entrance of the three-mile pedestrian path of the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which stretches across the Hudson River. Affable and bespectacled, the 64-year-old author of the new book
Age Laterhas suggested we exercise during our chat—exercise being one of the magic bullets for a long and vibrant life, or “health span,” as he and other experts term it. (When it comes to health span, Barzilai says, genetics account for only some 20 percent. The rest is environment and lifestyle.) On this morning, he has not yet broken his 16-hour life-lengthening
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daily fast. Research has also shown that “stressors” such as intermittent fasting can prompt your body to activate the genes that help repair broken DNA and protect chromosomes.As we walk, he takes me through his other practices: Along with his fasts and exercise, Barzilai takes a daily dose of metformin. An inexpensive diabetes medication that’s been around since the 1950s, metformin is thought to mimic the calorie restriction of fasting by limiting the amount of sugar the body absorbs (side effects are generally mild, among them abdominal pain, nausea, and loss of appetite). A 2017 study of more than 41,000 male metformin users found that it reduced—by a significant amount—the likelihood of
dementia, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. A growing number of doctors are prescribing it off-label, but Barzilai wants the medication to be FDA-sanctioned for every elder adult. He’s about to undertake a six-year national trial (called TAME, for “Targeting Aging With Metformin”), partially and anonymously funded by a noted tech billionaire.
AdvertisementIf fasting is not exactly your speed, diet is still tremendously important. As forwhatyou should eat, the gold standard remains the Mediterranean diet—one that is high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, and low on red meat—the only diet, says Barzilai, proven by clinical research to decrease cardiovascular mortality. A recent study in the medical journal
Gutfound that following it for just one year slowed the development of age-related inflammatory processes.David Sinclair, Ph.D., Harvard geneticist and author of the bestsellerLifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have To,says the Mediterranean diet essentially “tricks the body into thinking we’ve been doing exercise and fasting.” Of course, this is not a permission slip for bottomless bowls of rigatoni; too much of a good thing is too much. Dan Buettner, the National Geographic Fellow who helped popularize the idea of the “blue zones”—the five areas worldwide with the longest-lived denizens—says he follows a rule practiced by the residents of Okinawa, Japan, and stops eating when his stomach is 80 percent full. And perhaps consider occasionally skipping dessert: Research shows that sugar intake accelerates age-related inflammation. “The more sugar you eat, the faster you age,” says Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. (The American Heart Association recommends that women keep it under six teaspoons per day.)
October 7, 2020 1:05 pm
I have never understood why some people are so scared of aging. Some people, especially women will do anything to keep themselves looking younger than what they actually are. Botox, face lifts, neck lifts, fat reduction, veneers etc. While yes everyone wants to always look pretty but just because you don't necessarily "look" your age due to all the work done doesn't mean you still aren't the same age as you were before you layed down on the operating table. Of course I understand wanting to get some botox done here and there to get rid of the smile line, the wrinkles on the forehead etc but all the other stuff is just crazy! Not to mention even a little dangerous for people in that certain age group. Just because you have some wrinkles and don't look like you're 20 doesn't mean your beauty is gone.
Topic starter
December 6, 2020 3:05 pm
When a person begins aging, let's say at 65 it's scary to come to terms with that. Don't get me wrong but I do believe a person should do what will make them feel better. I will get plastic surgery and I have used botox and fillers over the years. I loved the look, not overdone.
If a person is in good health and wants plastic surgery I see nothing wrong with it. If a person loses a lot of weight and has very lose skin hanging it would be a good idea mentally and physically to have it removed. It is all up to the person contemplating which way to go
December 6, 2020 6:23 pm
I think it's important to be able to age gracefully. As you age, you also become more confident with who you are as a person and aging becomes something you realize is inevitable. Sure you can get botox, and plastic surgery to make yourself feel better and look better externally, but everything on the inside is aging as well. That's why its important to put good things in your body and take care of everything as a whole. It will also give you more confidence.
December 8, 2020 5:50 pm
I can definitely say that i have never heard aging referred to as a disease, and certainly not a curable or reversable disease. I think this thought process, along with a lot of the way the article highlights how people view age, is concerning yet intriguing. As I think about it, its understandable to read that people "fear" aging, I can completely see it from a physical/beauty standpoint. But reversing fine lines and deteriorating muscles won't do for the mind what it will for the body. Life adds up, the experiences and traumas and exposure and daily events wear us down mentally and physically (and physically mentally by deteriorating the brain). I dont know how much my physical appearance will matter to me when I'm 95.
December 8, 2020 5:54 pm
@gabriellemrasiectskin-com I agree with you! The crossover between not feeling confident and wanted to be 25 forever is kind of tough. I can see myself getting fillers or work done as i age if i want (because some under eye filler wouldn't be the worst thing right now) but I don't like idea coinciding with whether I felt worth it or confident. But looking 45 when I'm 95 will NOT make me more productive or able to physically endure what I could. I guess i'm stuck with the idea that age and aging is just supposed to happen.
April 4, 2021 11:04 pm
Aging is something that is inevitable were all going to experience it. I think that if there are lifestyles that we can to adapt to now while were young to try and help slow down or make this process for us easier I think it's a great thing. I myself would love to look more into the Mediterranean diet, a diet that tricks your body into thinking you're working out sounds like the most perfect diet to me.
April 4, 2021 11:08 pm
@amandamooreiectskin-com Yes I agree that the real way to help counteract again or maybe make is more graceful is being healthy on the inside. Diet is so important to so many different factors of our bodies. If you want to get plastic surgery or fillers or botox to help make you feel comfortable in your own skin I also don't see any problem with that either.
April 6, 2021 10:10 pm
@kaytlynmolinaiectskin-com i totally agree aging is inevitable so instead of dreading it we should try to enjoy the beauty of getting older. of taking care of yourself and taking pride in how you look remains important into old age but some parts of aging are just bound to happen, lets embrace it
April 6, 2021 10:10 pm
@kaytlynmolinaiectskin-com i totally agree aging is inevitable so instead of dreading it we should try to enjoy the beauty of getting older. of taking care of yourself and taking pride in how you look remains important into old age but some parts of aging are just bound to happen, lets embrace it
May 31, 2024 12:07 pm
@francescablackiectskin-com Me either. It's kinda hard for my mind to even go there. I'm thinking, if aging is a disease, then everybody just automtically has it. It's just strange to think of it in those terms.
June 4, 2024 8:32 am
I think that people aging is a good thing, sure it would be nice to have my prime time in my life extended. Yes I'm scared of getting old, but this poses as a source of many problems to deal with including the fact mostly wealthier people are going to have access more so than others. You've seen a million movies based on theories of what could happen if we lived longer and there are not as many hopes and outcomes of the movies I've watched that I have liked.
June 4, 2024 8:34 am
@kaytlynmolinaiectskin-com I think I would give the diet a shot, but that might only last for a week or more to be honest. The only aging prevention I'll be doing as of right now is just taking care of myself and using SPF.
June 4, 2024 8:38 am
@amandamooreiectskin-com I agree, aging gracefully is the goal, focusing too hard on curing the "disease" of aging I feel can have scientific advances but also use up all your time. I would rather focus on living my life and making the best out of it that I can.
June 4, 2024 8:44 am
This was a topic of discussion in my biology class as well. Reversing the signs of aging is more of a "yes, please!" for me. I know for a fact that I will do what makes me feel confident in my skin as I age. I do think we did talk about how aging is like a disease in that class. The Mediterranean diet, as mentioned in the article, is one that I have been told to do by multiple doctors actually.
June 4, 2024 8:46 am
@elianaaltamiranoiectskin-com Yes! We talked about that in my biology class. Just because we might be able to reverse aging and live longer doesn't mean its a good idea. How many more pandemics will we go through? Will our resources grow thin? What will the economy be like? Great response you had!
June 4, 2024 8:52 am
@deborahwatersiectskin-com I'm with you Debbie- I'll be getting Botox and fillers. Whatever gives me some confidence!
July 4, 2024 3:37 pm
@kaytlynmolinaiectskin-com I agree, I believe you can definitely help aging from the inside as well as the outside. I know that genetics can also play a role but living a healthy lifestyle is key.
July 4, 2024 3:40 pm
There is so much information out there to take in. The podcasts, Instagram, with people telling their tricks and tips, and some with actual tested facts about health, what we consume, how we exercise and when. It is impossible to do all the things that I hear about. I just have to choose what is realistic for me. I don't think there is any such thing as perfect but there are good choices to make.
July 26, 2024 11:32 pm
Aging is not something we can stop but wee can delay it a bit and I'm all for it... I love when I do treatments on myself. Always makes me feel so good.
July 26, 2024 11:34 pm
@melissalandersiectskin-com Yes we are on information overload when it comes to products and procedures to help us slow the aging process.
August 2, 2024 10:08 pm
I do think that it will be really hard to accept the fact that we are aging when we start because a lot of features change and etc. I do think though that women should be confident and take care of themselves. I always think that it is 100% okay to get Botox, plastic surgery, and etc to do whatever will make you feel more confident. I know that I will when I start aging.
August 2, 2024 10:09 pm
@melissalandersiectskin-com I agree doing whatever is necessary to keep yourself in good health and your body in good shape is important especially if you want to be more confident when you start to go through aging.
August 2, 2024 10:11 pm
@amandamooreiectskin-com Agreed taking care of your body as a whole is just as important as doing things to keep it young with cosmetic procedures.
