10 ways to hyper extend your life
While that may seem like a tall order, science and technology are accelerating at a remarkable pace, and that includes medical science, especially in the area of longevity. And, as we write in our futurist tech book Super You, that acceleration is accelerating. So what used to take 10 years to be developed, now takes five. What used to take 5 now takes 2.5. And for every year that goes by these improvements are arriving at a logarithmically faster rate.
Whether you want to live longer or forever (or not) is a personal choice. When the topic comes up, people’s biggest fear is that they will have a hyper extended life in a decrepit body. Some are afriad they will not have enough health and wealth to live an extended life.
However, life extension through science and technology comes with the certainty that you will be able to not only heal your body as you age but also reverse the unwanted effects of aging. (This is outlined in detail in our new book Super You: How Technology is Revolutionizing What it Means to Be Human) We can’t help you with your wealth, but these guys can.
That means you will be able to rewind your health, your looks and your body’s biological age through gene therapy, cell protection and restoration techniques and the ability to use your own stems cells to refresh your body to a younger state. Will you be able to rewind to your 25-year-old body with a 150 year old brain and avoid your own funeral? The answer appears to be yes.
There are some fundamental secrets to ensuring an extended life, with actual actions you can take today…so here is how to live longer – 10 ways to hyper extend your life.
1. Live as long as you can to…live longer
This may seem like a counter-intuitive longevity extending action, but do whatever you can to extend your life, because for every year that goes by, breakthroughs in science and technology are increasing. These bring new methods to stay healthier, new treatments to prevent and fight disease, and new breakthroughs in even food production so we stay healthier. The “To Do” item here is to avoid dangerous or risky occupations, stay mentally well (avoiding depression and, obviously, suicide), avoid obesity, avoid stress, avoid weapons (guns kill a lot of people by accident in the U.S.)
The bottom line if you can live to 2030 (about 13 years), there is a very good chance that you can benefit from gaining a year of longevity for every year you live. This according to our friend Ray Kurzweil. We delve into this in depth in Super You, so be sure to grab a copy. You may also get a freebie if you have immediate family members that live a long time. Longevity is a genetic factor.
If your family has all dropped dead in their 50s and 60s, never fear, it accounts for only 20% to 25% of your longevity. Still, if your great grandma and great grandpa are still playing tennis, you’re in luck. After 75 or 80 genes play a more important role in extending your life.
2. Eat your vegetables…and sometimes pork
A diet that favors plant-based food appears to provide a longevity boost for most people. Yet full vegetarians or vegans do not necessarily live the longest lives. Moderate or light meat eaters that also favor nuts and vegetables in their diet live well and longer. The life extension protein of choice – if you choose to eat animal based protein – appears to be pork. And as we say in the book Super You, that doesn’t give you an excuse to eat an all-bacon diet.
3. Drink a little, not a lot, and please no smoking
A glass or two or wine or the occasional alcoholic drink, including beer, seems to help with a longer life. Or so goes the research. However that has been recently dispute and moderate drink may increase the risk of cancer.
So what is the truth? People who drink moderately likely have characteristics that are protective against heart disease, is one theory. (more on this here) That could be making alcohol consumption look healthier than it is. Of course, excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol abuse, as with illicit drug use, will hurt your chances of living longer. And forget smoking, it’s been proven to shorten your life one way or another unless you happen to have super-genetics that protect you. It’s not going to help you by any stretch.
That said, back at the bar, red wine, especially French wine, especially from Bordeaux region, appears to contain high levels of resveratrol, which could account for the so called “French paradox”, where steak and butter eating French people have 1/3 less incidence of heart disease compared to their American brethren.
4. Take key supplements, including aspirin and resveratrol
There are several supplements you can take to help potentially boost your longevity. Let’s start with…
Resveratrol
Resveratrol, a red grape skin component, is thought to rev up one of a sirtuins called SIRT1. Sirtuins are enzymes in the human body that manage metabolic processes. They regulate cell replication and slow processes down so that less errors are made. Think about when you make photocopies. No two copies are identical. Some have more ink than others. Copies are close but not exact. When it comes to DNA copying errors can cause disease.
Mice put on large doses of resveratrol appear to protect them from the nasty impact of high-fat diets. And more health benefits have been attributed to SIRT1 activation in a large volume of research (100s of trials), including several small human studies.
Resveratrol occurs naturally in red grape skins, raspberries, blueberries and some other berries types. It also occurs in nuts, such as almonds and peanuts. There is significant research that supports that it promotes the ability to extend the life of human cells. However this is not definitive and some contrarians say it has no longevity extending capabilities at all.
Regardless of the controversy, proponents (we interviewed resveratrol researcher David Sinclair in Super You) consume high potency resveratrol supplements , as do two of the authors of Super You. This is the brand of resveratrol authors Andy and Kay take daily. Andy and Kay also take daily fish oil supplements for brain function.
NAD
Another compound called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD for short, also fuels the activity of sirtuins, including SIRT1 — the more NAD there is inside cells, the more beneficial SIRT1 is. SIRT1 is known to trigger a similar benefit to low-calorie diets, which can also slow DNA replication.
NAD induces the creation of new mitochondria (the cell’s energy centers). It can also activate SIRT3, which is thought to keep mitochondria ticking along nicely. Sinclair is part owner of a company called Elysium Health that is making a NAD supplement called Basic, which runs $50 per month.
Aspirin or Vitamin “S”
Andy takes a low dose aspirin every other day as well. Aspirin, also known as a derivative of salicylic acid (it is called acetylsalicylic acid), which is a compound found in willow bark, and in other plants. It defends plants and trees against bugs and promotes healing and is a potent anti-inflammatory compound. High levels of salicylic acid can be found in organic fruit and vegetables. Some people refer to it as Vitamin “S”.
5. Take Metformin, a low-cost drug as a supplement
Metformin is a low cost drug that lowers blood sugar. Typically it is prescribed to people to prevent or treat type II diabetes. Dr. Nir Barzilai, a researcher at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York, has shown that it has anti-aging properties. In a UK study , metformin was compared with other anti-diabetes drugs, and demonstrated a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease.
This has been supported by additional studies. Mouse studies show longevity extending effects. And numerous epidemiologic studies show an association of metformin use with decreased risk of cancer and decreased cancer mortality rate. Metformin’s potential protection against cancer has garnered a lot of attention. Over 100 active studies relating to metformin and cancer have been registered on the U.S. government website Clinical Trials.gov. Metformin is very safe and has been around along time.
Researchers say it works because it inhibits oxygen consumption in mitochondria (the power plant in cells). It turn down the cell’s metabolic thermostat. When a furnace burns fuel, it heats up, but the excessive heat also uses the furnace more resulting in the need to replace it sooner. That said your furnace lasts longer if you use it less by keep the thermostat down.
Learn more about using metformin off-label as a longevity supplement with this free download: Metformin off label FAQ for longevity.
6. Exercise, but you don’t have to be a gym rat
If you are groaning that you really don’t want to go to the gym or run a marathon, then take heart that you don’t have to be an athletic dynamo. Sure get in shape or get in better shape. Just be active. Get a dog and walk it every day. Go for long walks. Learn to hike.
The famed long-living farmers of Okinawa in Japan do not run marathons and yet many are centenarians and supercentenarians (they live to 100 and beyond). They do stay active. They tend gardens. They walk. They lift things. They don’t plop into a La Z Boy at 55 and watch reruns for four to five more decades.
Moderate exercise or an active lifestyle is perhaps the best longevity treatment you can do for you body and heart health, however alone it won’t get you there if you live like a hermit, eat poorly and stress yourself out. Stress is a huge killer and leading an active lifestyle helps you manage it effectively.
7. Stay married, and marry a younger woman if you are a man
Men who marry and stay married live longer than men who divorce or stay single. Why? It could be that it is because their wives take better care of them, feed them properly, and ensure they get the medical attention they need, when they need it. A major survey of 127,545 American adults revealed that married men are healthier than their counterparts who never got married or who got divorced. (Or became widowers).
Married men live longer than men without spouses. And men who marry after the age of 25 get better longevity protection from their union than those who marry when they are younger. And there is one more bonus – the longer a man stays married, the greater his life extension advantage is over his unmarried peers. Some good material here on the topic of the life extension benefits of marriage.
People living with unmarried partners also do better than those that live solo, but men that live with their wives enjoy the best health. The jury is still out for same-sex married couples. There’s not enough data to demonstrate an advantage yet. although there is a growing consensus that any marriage is good for longevity. And finally, men should marry younger wives to live longer. The younger his wife, the longer a man lives. As for women? Read on…
8. Marry a same age man, if you are a women…and stay married
As for a woman’s life expectancy, marriage appears to have less significant benefit (compared to men), however married women still get a boost in their health and longevity when they marry. Women also fare better than their husbands if their spouse dies. Bereavement is not good for a man’s life expectancy when his wife predeceases him. But for a woman, she has a better chance of living beyond her husband if he pre-deceases her. As for the age gap, a woman that marries a same or similar aged man lives longer than women who marry old or younger. In fact, the greater the age difference from her husband, irrespective of whether she is younger or older than him, the shorter her lifespan. And marrying a younger man does not extend a woman’s life, as it turns out. More fascinating data here on this topic
9. Live in a supportive community
People who live in a supportive community live longer than those that don’t. The benefits are obvious. Tight communities come together to solve problems. They support child-rearing taking pressure off parents. They provide emotional support for each other at difficult times in life. Relieving stress is likely the key benefit here.
10. Practice your faith…or have purpose to your life
People of faith see a benefit in their longevity because they typically believe they have a purpose for being on the planet, and that their god has a plan for them. So it was with people who had a strong faith in the German concentration camps. They survived their situation because they lived with purpose. The agnostic or atheists among them had less resiliency.
Women of faith saw the most benefit for their longevity. Men still got a boost from their religion, but less so than women. A research study gathered at data on almost 75,000 American female nurses (part of the the Nurses’ Health Study). The participants answered questions about whether they attended religious services regularly every four years between 1992 and 2012, and about other aspects of their lives over the years.
Learn more about how to live longer
If you’d like to read more about how to live a longer life, download a free chapter from our book on hyper longevity. Or simply buy the book (it’s available as a paperback or as a ebook), which we would love you to do. You’ll discover not only how to live a long life, but how the emerging technology revolution – which is in progress – is going to make human life so much easier, better, and healthier for so many people.
Where to buy Super You: How Technology is Revolutionizing What it Means to Be Human
