Meditation As A Tool For Good Health And Longevity

Latest research indicates that meditation is more than an antidote to the stress of modern living; it’s an important tool for health and longevity.

Meditation may increase longevity. In a three year study carried out at an elderly care facility it was found that 80-year-olds who learned to meditate were not only happier, but were also much better adjusted and lived longer than non- meditators.

What is meditation?

Meditation is difficult to define because it has so many different forms and it is a very personal process and experience.

Broadly, it can be described as a mental practice in which you focus your attention on one particular subject or object. More specifically (and perhaps academic) the Collins dictionary describes it as, ‘to think about something deeply... to reflect deeply on spiritual matters...’

It has historically been associated with religion, but it can also be secular, and exactly what you focus your attention on is largely a matter of personal choice. It may be a mantra (repeated word or phrase), breathing patterns, or simply an awareness of being alive.

Some of the more common forms of meditative practices include Buddhist Meditation, Mindfulness Meditation, Transcendental Meditation, and Zen Meditation.

The claims made for meditation range from increasing immunity, improving asthma and increasing fertility through to reducing the effects of ageing. There is also evidence in the efficacy of meditation in treating psoriasis, type 2 diabetes, eating disorders and symptoms associated with cancer.

Precisely why meditation is so beneficial for such a wide variety of cases is unclear; it may be related to stress hormones. Just four months of regular meditation reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol significantly.

Although the exact mechanism of meditation is unclear but it’s becoming more obvious that we all can benefit from this practise. Perhaps its time to ponder over the significance of meditation as part of the healing process.

Read more:

http://www.thehealthierlife.co.uk/natural-health-articles/healthy-living/meditation-tool-health-longevity-71456.html

Living Too Long Now Considered a Problem: Beware of "Longevity Risk"

Don't live too long, or you might run out of money. That's the message from a Reuters article that documents the financial challenges of an 84-year-old woman who has lost half her life savings in the recent financial implosion.

What the story doesn't report, however, is that the party most concerned with Americans living too long is, in fact, the United States government, which must pay billions of dollars in benefits to people if they live long enough to collect social security and Medicare benefits.

How convenient, then, that deadly chemicals like synthetic fluoride are dripped into the water supply, huh? What a coincidence that the entire system of conventional medicine endorsed by the federal government is based on chemicals that kill people instead of nutritional therapies that extend life.

I'm not saying the government is trying to kill you. Then again, it can't exactly afford to keep you alive for too long. You're only useful to Washington as long as you work as a tax-paying wage slave. Once you stop earning an income from which taxes can be confiscated, you're no longer a useful member of society to the top bureaucrats, and you instead become a financial liability.

Ever wonder why they give out free vaccine shots to all the senior citizens every Winter? Because vaccines increase the death rate! (I dare you to try to refute this. Look at the studies and you'll see that vaccines are actually associated with a HIGHER death rate than placebo.)

Living a long time, you see, is now considered a problem. And for every such problem, the government has an answer: Die younger!

http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000539_longevity_social_security_senior_citizens.html

An ageing population means a ticking timebomb for governments

Like it or not we are all getting older. Not just you and me as individuals, but the populations of pretty much every country in the world.

Since 1950, the median age, which marks the point at which half the global population is older and half is younger, has risen from 24 to 28. The United Nations expects that by 2050, half of all people in developed countries like Britain will be over 40.

One in every 14 people in the world today is over 65 but by the middle of the century it is likely that one in six of us will be. And don't even ask about geriatric wards like Italy and Japan, where a fifth of the population is already in retirement. This signals a profound economic and social change, with big implications for businesses and investors. I've seen the future and it's Florida.

There's no secret about what's driving this ageing process. We are living longer and having fewer children. On top of those two long-term trends, there's another factor at play – the 20-year baby boom that followed the Second World War has distorted demographic statistics like a pig passing through a python.

That bulge has reached a critical point now, because the first boomers are about to retire. We have reached a financial, economic and social watershed, according to John Llewellyn who has written an impressive analysis of The Business of Ageing for Nomura. "The challenges are substantial" he says, "yet curiously few companies are prepared for this."

Ageing gets a bad press, although as the folksy title of a book I stumbled on recently puts it "Getting Old Sucks: But It Sure Beats the Alternative". Indeed, there's probably something to those annoying claims that 80 is the new 65. Studies of longevity and health show that the onset of chronic diseases is coming later in life even as our life-spans are extending. If age is measured in terms of health rather than years, then it is right to compare a 65-year-old in 1950 with an 80-year-old today.

That fact on its own explodes a number of myths about ageing and the economy and means that the usual pessimism about demographic changes might be somewhat unfounded. It means, for example, that increasing longevity will not necessarily lead to unsustainable healthcare budgets. Yes, healthcare spending will rise because an ageing population means more people are, by definition, in their final years, in which health costs often soar. But because the additional years are generally healthy ones, longevity itself is not a problem.

Conventional wisdom also says that ageing populations lead to slower economic growth and stretched pension schemes. Again there's truth in this, but likely policy changes mean it might overstate the problem.

The UN predicts that by 2050 the working-age population in developed countries will have fallen by almost 100m from 820m today. If that were to happen, GDP growth would indeed slump below the recent average and there would be a massive rise in the tax burden on those in work or a huge fall in the real value of spending on public pensions and health.

Neither will be politically acceptable, however, so we can expect policy-makers to encourage more of us to stay in the workplace for longer and remove incentives, such as those implicit in final salary pension schemes, for us to stop working even earlier than the official retirement age.

When the US Social Security Program started in 1935, the retirement age was set at 65 but the average life expectancy was 61. Today, if an American woman is still alive at 65 she can expect to live for another 20 years or more, so someone soon is going to have to bite the bullet.

If we are living longer and having to work longer (or indeed choosing to), then businesses face a challenge that few have yet grasped. The fact that everyone mentions B&Q's championing of older workers in this context shows how it is the exception not the rule. But if the proportion of over-60s in the workplace soars as predicted – from 2pc to 20pc in France, for example – then companies will face a long list of age-related issues.

Inter alia, they will need to rethink their work schedules to meet a desire for more flexibility, develop different training programmes and rewrite their compensation schemes. It will no longer be the case that everyone retires abruptly on their peak salary. A move to part-time working and lower salaries to reflect declining productivity may become the norm.

Spotting the companies that can grow old as gracefully as their workforces is one challenge for investors. Another will be assessing which can also rise to the challenge of ageing customers. Baby boomers represent a third of the populations of many developed countries. Against this backdrop, the cult of youth among marketers looks ever more anomalous. Especially as this is probably the first generation in history to be simultaneously old and wealthy.

Picking the winners in this ageing world will be doubly important if, as some economists believe, demographics provide an overall headwind for investors in developed markets. As the boomers shift their attention from accumulating assets to liquidating them in retirement, markets will find it harder to make progress than in the post-war generation's highest-earning and asset-gathering years in the 1980s and 1990s.

It's another reason why, this year's carnage notwithstanding, the young markets in the developing world are where the investment action will be.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/3526700/An-ageing-population-means-a-ticking-timebomb-for-governments.html

Caregiving Linked to Improved Longevity

New evidence suggests that caregivers may derive health benefits from their altruistic efforts. In a recent study, older people who spent at least 14 hours a week taking care of their disabled spouses lived longer than those who did not.

The study, which will be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, supports earlier findings that altruistic actions may improve health and longevity.

Researchers from the University of Michigan reviewed seven years of data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study. The analysis included 1,688 couples who were 70 years of age or older and living unassisted.

At the beginning of the study, participants reported how many hours a week their partners helped with everyday activities such as eating, dressing and preparing meals.

Most participants (about 81 percent) did not provide any living assistance to their spouses. Nine percent provided less than 14 hours of help per week, and 10 percent provided 14 hours or more of help per week.

By the end of the study, 909 people died. After controlling for health, age, race, gender, education, employment status and net worth, the authors found that those who provided at least 14 hours of care a week were significantly less likely to have died during the study than those who did not provide any care.

"These findings suggest that caregivers may actually benefit from providing care under some circumstances," said University of Michigan researcher Stephanie Brown, lead author of the study report. "Previous studies have documented negative health effects of caregiving. But the current results show that it is time to disentangle the presumed stress of providing help from the stress of witnessing a loved one suffer."

In 2009, Brown plans to conduct a new study that will examine how altruistic behavior affects well-being. This research, funded by the National Science Foundation, will focus on the neurological effects of altruistic behavior.

For more information about caregiviging, please visit Natural Standard's Medical Conditions database.

Alabama man turns 112, still spends days drawing

Bent over or sitting at a table, gripping a ballpoint pen, marker or crayon, Frank Calloway spends his days turning visions from his youth into lively murals — and at 112 years old, the images of his childhood are a window to another time.

Drawn on sheets of butcher paper and sometimes stretching to more than 30 feet long, the works mostly show rural agricultural scenes, with buildings, trains and vehicles straight out of the early 20th century. And his colorful creations are gaining more attention in the art world.

The works by a man who has lived about half his life in state mental health centers will be part of an exhibit this fall at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. His caretakers have suspended sales of his artwork until after the show after finding out some of his drawings could sell for thousands of dollars.

"They are unique in that they are of a rural, agrarian South, and they speak to a time gone by," said Sara Anne Gibson, executive director of the Kentuck Museum in Northport, Ala., which hosted a monthlong exhibition of Calloway's works two years ago.

Calloway views art as his job and sits at a table by a window drawing for seven to nine hours a day, usually wearing blue denim overalls and a crisp dress shirt, said Nedra Moncrief-Craig, director of Alice M. Kidd Nursing Facility, a state home where Calloway now lives.

"He draws all day long except for the time that he spends in activity and eating his meals," Moncrief-Craig said. "That's what he loves to do."

He was born on July 2, 1896, and has lived in mental health centers since 1952, when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Moncrief-Craig said that patient confidentiality prevents her from discussing his condition in depth but did say he shows signs of dementia. He lives in the geriatric division of the home on the Bryce Hospital campus in Tuscaloosa.

Details about Calloway's youth are few. He says he remembers growing up with brothers and, as a "little, bitty, little boy," playing under the quilts his mother made as if they were tents. He has no known family left and there is no record of his ever being married. He talks frequently about working hard and mentions laying railroad rails, cutting lumber, farming and working for a blacksmith, but there are no records of his life before he entered the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation system.

"I couldn't get time to go to school much, stopped in the third grade reader, that's all I could get, third grade reader," Calloway said in a recent interview. "A school teacher put me to drawing a long time ago, drawing pictures."

But aside from the occasional drawing, his talent lay dormant until he took an art class in the 1980s and began to draw again, which has continued to this day.

Calloway still has a full head of closely cropped white hair, gets around on his own and goes on excursions and restaurant outings organized by the nursing home, Moncrief-Craig said.

"Most people see his age. You know, what I see is his ability, the beauty that he actually puts on paper, that comes out of him and his mind," she said.

Calloway's circle of admirers extends outside Alabama.

"There's a presence with him, I'm telling you, that feels angelic," said Rebecca Hoffberger, founder and director of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, which will borrow 18 scrolls from Calloway for an exhibit in October called "The Marriage of Art, Science and Philosophy."

Hoffberger said she was charmed by Calloway's personality when she met him earlier this year and equally impressed by his artwork.

"I was very dazzled by his choice of color," she said. "Also, there's a rhythm, maybe dictated by the long sheets of paper that he works on, that makes it seem like he's just going on and on, recording the memories of his life."

She said Calloway's work is a perfect fit for her museum whose mission statement describes visionary art as that "produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself."

Hoffberger called Calloway brilliant and described looking through notebooks full of numbers he keeps and noticing that there was a definite logical pattern to the strings of figures. There is "an instinctive attraction to math that is so inherent in his work," she said.

Rows of numbers line the edges of some of his artwork, and he sometimes stops in the middle of conversations to methodically recite multiplication tables.

Calloway is content being quietly absorbed in his work, but he also enjoys talking if people ask questions, Moncrief-Craig said. He listens intently and responds at length in a deep, gravelly voice as he rocks gently back and forth, often punctuating the end of a story with a soft chuckle and a huge smile that lights up his broad face that has very few wrinkles.

Though he frequently goes on day trips outside the nursing home, Calloway seems to live in a long-gone era, pulling images from that time for his drawings, Moncrief-Craig said.

Last year, after a trip to Alabama's Gulf Coast, Calloway decided to draw boats. But the boats are big old riverboats propelled by paddlewheels, not the modern ones he'd actually seen.

Several years ago, when people started showing interest in buying Calloway's art, Moncrief-Craig decided he needed a guardian. Since 2006, Zondra Taylor Hutto has filled that role. The attorney is the Tuscaloosa County guardian, conservator and administrator for several residents, including Calloway.

Calloway used to give away some of his creations or sell them for $50, but Moncrief-Craig and Hutto have stopped dealing the work since an appraiser said they could be worth thousands. They hope to have more of an idea how much the art should go for after the Baltimore show.

Calloway has few expenses that aren't covered by Medicaid, so any profits will go into a special needs trust in his name so he won't lose his benefits. The money can be used for items such as art supplies that aren't covered by the government. When he dies, the remaining money will go to the state or to the state Medicaid agency, which has provided his care all these years.

Plans are for Calloway to attend the opening of the Baltimore show. It will be his first trip on an airplane and likely the first time he's left Alabama. Hutto said she looks forward to sharing his work with a wider audience.

"His art overcomes boundaries," she said. "People may say, 'Well, he's a folk artist. I don't like folk art.' But if you ever meet him, there is such life in what he creates, and you can't look at one of his paintings without seeing that smile, without seeing that gentle man."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iZOFH1X_5E3ylepqBI97a9vNZmFgD921PCBGA

Youth Formula - What is the secret of the Youth Formula?

The commercial market has recognized the enormous potential of Human Growth Hormone releasers and has produced a flood of cheap imitations of our Formula. Unless they are formulated in the same way as our product they are, in effect, a waste of money, as they will not work. Our product the Youth Formula carries a patent based on proven science. No other product is licensed to use this patented formulation.

So, with a large number of cheap sounding substitutes on the market how can people make a reasoned choice? Only by understanding the unique power of the patented "Youth Formula". Please read on.

The proprietary Youth Formula is the secretagogue that encourages the pituitary to release its own human growth hormone in quantities similar to that of people in their mid twenties. Human growth hormone has been shown to support beneficial cellular activity and generation. The proprietary formulation is supported by the grant of US patent number 6,346264 (this can be viewed on the Web, US patent and full text Database). Do not be mislead by other products with a "Patent Pending"

Anyone can apply for a Patent, its easy, pending just means you have applied for one. Very few are ever granted. The Patent took 2 years to get and cost in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. This is the only Patent that has ever been granted for this process, anywhere.

This product uses only the purest pharmacological grade ingredients and production methods. Expense is not a consideration in the manufacturing process.

It is manufactured to Kosher/Pareve standard plus its ingredients are non-GMO (meaning non-Genetically Modified Organism). The production standards are exacting and constantly monitored. Additionally, every batch is randomly sampled for quality, content and conformity.

The product in question contains all those Amino Acids shown by research to be critical in combination for the release your own human growth hormone.

The company behind this product has established that 5000 mg plus of the formulation of amino acids (a serving of 6 capsules) is needed to be effective. Scientific research has shown that smaller amounts simply DO NOT WORK.

Our Medical Doctors insist on stringent quality control and repeated testing, both during, and after manufacturing. This ensures that the product formulation remains safe and effective.

It contains no artificial stimulants, fillers, worthless ingredients with scientific sounding names or bovine products; even the capsules themselves are plant based. Just the finest amino acid complex that money can buy.

The Youth Formula is made up to a standard, not down to a price. Each of its high quality ingredients are necessary and the amount of each critical. If the company wanted to produce a cheaper product it could do so by cutting back on amino acid quality, quantity and by substituting fillers for effective ingredients. But being dedicated to its customer's health and longevity it will not compromise principles for the sake of short-term profit.

Checklist for Competing Products

What is in the bottle? If there is not a list on the label with each ingredient shown - don't touch it. Vague descriptions such as "amino peptide complexes" say very little about the actual ingredients. When in doubt refer to your product fact sheet.

If the product contains GABA or DHEA or other chemical stimulants avoid them as these are added to some products to give an artificial feeling of well being. This also applies to amino-peptides and pepticle complexes. Indeed some of these stimulants have been banned in the US or Canada as potentially harmful to mind or body. We believe that the long term effectiveness of the “Youth Formula” is stimulus enough.

If the label suggests taking with meals the manufacturer shows a lack of understanding of the biochemistry entailed, as human growth hormone release will not be facilitated.

If the other product directions say less than 6 capsules per day (5352 milligrams) be suspicious. Don't you think that the company would cut costs if the same effects could be produced with less amino acids?

If the capsules or content are not specified as beef- or animal-free you may not risk taking them.

Are the contents based on genetically modified plant sources? This company actively rejects such products.

If the product purports to contain Growth Hormone itself, do not take, the source may be animal. At best your own feed back loop, which ensures no overload, may be compromised. Constant testing of an individual's blood growth hormone levels may be required with such products.

If the product is an under tongue spray don't bother. The necessary molecules are too big to pass the buccal membranes. Larger even than those of insulin. Would not diabetics be able to take their insulin by this means if it was effective - thus avoiding daily injections?

http://www.fundednfree.com/youth-formula.html

Leafy Greens for a Long Life

Looking for another way to go green? Start with your salad — there is much more in the produce section than just iceberg lettuce. With benefits ranging from a healthy immune system to strong bones, dark leafy greens will add fantastic flavor to your salads — and years to your life.

Greens: A Great Source of Folate

There is no way to predict who will contract fatal age-related conditions such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease, but one way to lower your odds may be to raise your daily folate intake. Scientists have found that older people have a tendency to be deficient in folate, which enables vitamins B6 and B12 to aid in hormone secretion, synthesize DNA, and manufacture the protective coating around nerves.

These three tasks are considered to be major factors in our bodies' defenses against these diseases. Folate is found in numerous foods — spinach, kale, beet greens, chard to name a few — but it is destroyed by heat, so these foods must be eaten raw or lightly cooked. This is one rare instance in which the synthetic form of folic acid is more easily absorbed by the body than the natural one. For people over the age of 50, a dose of 800 micrograms per day is recommended.

Can't Beat Beet Greens

Beets are an all-in-one superfood! The colorful beets contain powerful nutrients that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and cancer, especially colon cancer. And studies show that beets protect liver cells from harmful chemicals with a compound called betacyanin, one of the flavonoid families of antioxidant nutrients. So while roasted and boiled beets are a tasty and nutritious addition to any salad, consider that the beet greens are more nutritious than the beets themselves!

Beet greens are delicious and are rich in vitamins and minerals as well as beta-carotene and lutein. They have almost twice the potassium of beets and contain high levels of folic acid, which can help ward off certain birth defects and lung cancer. Beet greens can be prepared like any leafy green vegetable — sautéed in olive oil, steamed on the stovetop, or thrown into soups to up the health content.

Spinach Makes Health a Cinch

Spinach — packed with iron, beta-carotene, and vitamins C and K — is an essential food for strong bones and a healthy immune system. And it is rich in the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect the retina from age-related macular degeneration, making spinach crucial for healthy vision.

Before using, swish the spinach in a bowl of cold water until all grit is gone. Curly spinach will require cooking but the more readily available flat-leaf spinach is sweeter and works well in salads. Baby spinach is tender and mild, making it great to use raw in salads. To get healthy benefits for your eyesight, sauté your spinach in a little olive oil, since fat can increase lutein absorption. Keep in mind that fresh spinach decreases dramatically in volume when cooked. One pound will cook down to 1 cup — but you will be getting a hearty helping of nutrients in this small portion!

Fine and Dandelion

Disdained by gardeners as a pesky weed, this leafy green has been revered by traditional Chinese medicine as a powerful liver tonic. Dandelion is said to enhance the flow of bile in your body, improving the function of your liver, and remedying liver conditions such as hepatitis, gallstones, and jaundice. A daily cup of dandelion tea is recommended for anyone who feels run-down, sluggish, and over-stressed.

Aside from its herbal merits, dandelion greens are also an incredibly healthy food — chock full of vitamin C, higher in beta-carotene than carrots and richer in iron and calcium content than spinach. Toss a few raw dandelion leaves in your salad to add a hearty flavor. For the bigger, bitter-tasting leaves, blanch in boiling water for 45 seconds to soften the bitterness. Or sauté them for about 15 minutes with onions and garlic in olive oil.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/14957/leafy-greens-for-a-long-life/

Coffee boosts longevity

A NEW study just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that people who regularly indulge in coffee may live longer than those who don't.

The authors of this study reviewed data from two large ongoing studies that have followed health professionals over more than twenty years, including their dietary habits - the Nurses' Health Study, and, the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

What they found was that people who drank at least five to seven cups of coffee per week had a significantly lower overall risk of dying from any cause compared to those who did not drink coffee; people who drank 4-5 cups per day or more seemed to have the strongest protection.

The effect was usually stronger in women than in men, and most of the reduction in death was due to a reduction in cardiovascular disease.

Women who consumed coffee in this study also had a small reduction in the risk of diabetes as well as chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis of the liver.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/07/03/13206_more-health.html

Longevity: The one tell-tale sign that suggests how long you will live

We all worry about how long we’re going to live, and doctors tell us that one important indicator is our BMI (body-mass index). But there’s another measurement that’s just as important, and which takes seconds to do.

Researchers have discovered that our waist circumference is just as vital as our BMI for predicting just how long we have to live. The crunch seems to be at 40 inches (102 cm) for a man, and 34.6 inches (88 cm) for a woman. If that’s your waist measurement or if it’s even higher, you increase by 20 per cent your chances of dying sooner.

Researchers from the National Institute on Ageing made the discovery when they analysed the BMI and waist measurement of 154,776 men and 90,757 women who, at the time, were between 51 and 72 years old.

They then checked back nine years later, and those with a large waist were 20 per cent more likely to have died, even after allowing for their BMI levels.

http://www.wddty.com/03363800372658790048/longevity-the-one-tell-tale-sign-that-suggests-how-long-you-will-live.html

hgh youth formula

Since the publication of a number of landmark studies on the hgh youth formula, it has been shown that if the body's growth hormone releasing pattern is mimicked more closely, the effects of normalizing levels are more profound and side effects are minimized.

The natural secretagogue in the hgh Youth Formula appears to offer the best opportunity for doing this in a natural and physiological way without interfering with the body's feedback loop.

Dr. Klatz, President of the American Academy of AntiAging Medicine (AW), noted in his book, Grow Young With HGH, that "some of the best HGH releasers were the amino acids. These, in combination with a dietary program and exercise, can offer results which are very significant."

HGH Youth Formula

The hgh Youth Formula recommended here contains the right amino acids in the correct proportions to contribute to HGH release, formulated in a proprietary and specific way to ensure its maximum effect as a dietary supplement. The hgh Youth Formula is not a drug!

The Secrets of Youth

Some amino acids can be made in the body from basic building blocks, but others (nine out of the twenty needed for protein building) are called essential amino acids, as the body is unable to manufacture them and they have to be supplied in the food that we eat.

Arginine is an amino acid important in creatine synthesis. Claims for Arginine include an increase in fat-burning and muscle-building, as well as strengthening the thymus gland by increasing its weight and activity and thereby boosting immunity. There are also claims in the literature that Arginine alone will promote healing of burns and wounds as well as enhance male fertility.

Arginine, along with Lysine, was one of the amino acids demonstrated in the 1981 study to cause HGH release when combined in specific proportions. Other essential amino acids contained in the product we recommend are Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine and Valine.

Lysine boosts the effectiveness of Arginine and is also said to affect growth as well as having immuneboosting properties of its own. Ornithine can be synthesized in the body and is now also known to help stimulate HGH release.

Glutamine can also be synthesized in the body but may not always be made by the body in sufficient quantities in times of stress. Dr. Klatz notes that the astrointestinal tract and the immune system"practically live on it", and that withoutsufficiently available levels, thegastrointestinal tract does not function as well, and nutrients are less well absorbed.

The other amino acids in the hgh Youth Formula contribute to the effects of the supplement and the amino acids listed above. This type of combination of amino acids is known as an amino acid stack. The patent pending formula offers the individual benefits of all of its amino acids and more. This formula is our effective means of increasing the body's natural production of HGH.

It is interesting to note that the body continues to make adequate amounts of HGH even into old age, at the same time the production of certain other hormones declines with age. Restoring HGH levels to those of youth levels meant finding products or supplements which would encourage thepituitary gland to release the HGH that it was already making. The combination has been shown to be able to do this: restoring those youthful levels for most of us without overstimulating our production or subjecting us to injections of the hormone itself.

The product we recommend works as the ultimate dietary supplement by assisting the body's ability to secrete HGH naturally in a manner which is safe and effective as well as being affordable.

Many individuals, when taking this dietary supplement, will notice an immediate effect with some of those improvements noted earlier. The scientific literature suggests that maximum effects occur over a three-to-si x- month time frame. It is suggested that when starting, it should be taken for a minimum of three months, preferably along with a dietary and exercise regime in order to ensure maximal benefits.

This HGH Youth Formula has been prepared in capsule form for maximum ease of use as well as availability and absorption. Taken on an empty stomach, this is easily achieved by taking it half an hour before or two hours after eating. This ensures that it is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream to derive maximum benefit.

Men should take this product in a single serving of 6 capsules at bedtime and women in two servings of three capsules twice daily, on an empty stomach, to most accurately reflect the natural release of HGH in both men and women.

Men release most of their HGH in a large spike about 90 minutes after failing asleep while in a deep sleep. Where as women tend to release HGH in smaller spikes over a 24hour period.

Much of this information will be new toindividuals who are interested in anti-aging, a field which is just on the verge of exploding into the public domain.

Almost daily, articles appear in newspapers and magazines with regard to ways in which we may be able to slow down or even reverse the aging process. On December 14, 1998, a paper delivered at the American Society of CellBiology Convention in San Francisco by Professor Lee Sweeney, the leader of a team of geneticists at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, showed that age-related muscle loss in mice could be reversed by inserting a fresh copy of a gene for IGF-1 into cells. One day this may be used to treat muscle-wasting diseases aswell as preventing the weakness and shrinkage of muscles in old age.

This discovery was described by David Derbyshire in the British newspaper, "The Daily Mail" on Tuesday, December 15, 1998,as having the potential for "a magic bullet of youth."

hgh Youth Formula

Raising HGH levels increases IGF-1 levels. This can be achieved by the formula discussed here without the need for expensive injection therapy.

http://www.fundednfree.com/hghyouthformula.html

Intelligent people 'could live 15 years longer'

London (PTI): It seems there may be some truth in the old clich about being old and wise, for a new study has revealed that brainy people are likely to live 15 years longer.

Researchers at Calabria University in Italy have found that longevity is because the brains of intelligent people age more slowly -- thanks to the very gene SSADH which makes them clever actually.

According to them, those with the less "smart" variant of the gene, are unlikely to live beyond 85 but those blessed with a "good" version of the same gene could expect to live up to 100 years.

The Italian team came to the conclusion after analysing a research involving 500 elderly men and women. They asked 115 people within the sample, who fell into the 65 to 85 age group, to take cognitive tests.

Those with the less intelligent variant of the gene performed significantly worse confirming the earlier pattern.

The researchers also noticed that few of those with the "bad" version lived beyond 85 while those with the "good" form were likely to live to 100.

However, lead researcher Prof Giuseppe Passarino said that having two copies of the "bad" form did not automatically mean having a low IQ.

"There's no doubt lifestyle such as reading, having challenging work and enriching your cultural life is far more important than having the bad variant," the British media quoted Prof Passarino as saying.

Added Professor Robert Plomin of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in London, who first identified the cognitive effects of SSADH gene nearly four years ago: The findings are "significant".

"The two associations taken together tell a good story. Although the sample size is small, with only 115 taking the test compared with the thousands expected in today's studies, the reported associations with cognitive ability are significant and in line with our previous results," he said.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200806121322.htm

Alkaline Water - The Key to Longevity

It has been scientifically proven that many health problems occur due to the high acid content in our bodies. .

Drinking alkaline water helps our body dissolve acid wastes and make it easier for the body to dispose of them safely. Alkaline Water flushes the toxins from your body and disarms free radicals. An alkaline body has a healthy immune system where bacteria and viruses cannot survive.

I need to emphasize that water filters and water ionizers are NOT the same machines.

Water filters do NOT produce alkaline, energized water such as water ionizers do.

http://www.usfreeads.com/1282580-cls.html

3 tips for how to live to 100

Your behavior now makes a difference, says new research. Experts recommend these habits:

Get creative at work.

On average, a woman with a creative job has the cardiovascular fitness and other health attributes of someone six years younger, according to a recent study. What does “creative” mean? Acting, writing or painting are obvious picks, but any job can count as long as you find it interesting and it lets you develop new skills, experts say.

Make sure you cover the basics.

Eating five servings of fruits and veggies a day, being active, not smoking, and drinking in moderation could add 14 years to your life, according to new British research. Too tall an order? Tackle just the exercise part: A recent study by the National Cancer Institute found that older people who got at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week were less likely to die over the next seven years than those who didn't.

Do something fun.

Women who are feeling “happy, excited or content” have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6—two markers of inflammation linked to heart disease, a University College London study found. It may not take a Ph.D. to figure out that being happy is good for you, but this is one of the first studies to pinpoint a biological reason. So the next time you're feeling frazzled, make plans to do anything that'll get you smiling.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/3-tips-for-how-to-live-to-100-169823/

Royal Jelly, the wonder honey that increases longevity

As kids we are generally told a bit about the bees collecting honey from flowers. But what most of us may not know is that these industrious insects also produce an anti-aging medium that is based on honey and named as Royal Jelly.

Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) in Pune is credited for producing Royal Jelly, a variety of honey valued as nectar since it is said it increases longevity as well as possesses most extraordinary medicinal qualities.

Film stars and other celebrities also consume the Royal Jelly. It is being endorsed as the most effective solution for time reversal so as to let one enjoy a few more years of life.

"The royal jelly is secreted from the hypo-phaseal gland of the bee. The secretion is used to attract the queen bee. In man, the secretion from the glands deteriorates with age. On consumption of this jelly, the gland secretions are increased and brought to the normal level. The age factor is reduced and person can live longer," said Dr. Subbha Rao, a leading scientist with the Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) in Pune.

"Among VIPs Vasundhra Raje and Amitabh Bachchan use it," Dr.Rao added.

Other than its anti-aging abilities, it also stated to have the power to keep deadly diseases such as cancer and AIDS at bay.

The pollen collected by these bees is also a major source of protein and is a major help for those who are trying to shed a few kilos.

"The pollen is laden with proteins. The vitamins, minerals and enzymes required on a daily basis are found in it. It is good for those who do not wish to have extra calories. Apart from carbohydrates it has everything. Those who have a sitting job, more to do with using the brain, it is of good use for them. Generally, IT people use these pollen," said Dr. Lakshmi Rao, a Scientist with the CBTRI.

Many medical journals have documented the great qualities of Royal Jelly.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/246436.php/Royal-Jelly-the-wonder-honey-that-increases-longevity

New Hints Seen That Red Wine May Slow Aging

Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs.

The study is based on dosing mice with resveratrol, an ingredient of some red wines. Some scientists are already taking resveratrol in capsule form, but others believe it is far too early to take the drug, especially using wine as its source, until there is better data on its safety and effectiveness.

The report is part of a new wave of interest in drugs that may enhance longevity. On Monday, Sirtris, a startup founded in 2004 to develop drugs with the same effects as resveratrol, completed its sale to GlaxoSmithKline for $720 million.

Sirtris is seeking to develop drugs that activate protein agents known in people as sirtuins.

“The upside is so huge that if we are right, the company that dominates the sirtuin space could dominate the pharmaceutical industry and change medicine,” Dr. David Sinclair of the Harvard Medical School, a co-founder of the company, said Tuesday.

Serious scientists have long derided the idea of life-extending elixirs, but the door has now been opened to drugs that exploit an ancient biological survival mechanism, that of switching the body’s resources from fertility to tissue maintenance. The improved tissue maintenance seems to extend life by cutting down on the degenerative diseases of aging.

The reflex can be prompted by a faminelike diet, known as caloric restriction, which extends the life of laboratory rodents by up to 30 percent but is far too hard for most people to keep to and in any case has not been proven to work in humans.

Research started nearly 20 years ago by Dr. Leonard Guarente of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed recently that the famine-induced switch to tissue preservation might be triggered by activating the body’s sirtuins. Dr. Sinclair, a former student of Dr. Guarente, then found in 2003 that sirtuins could be activated by some natural compounds, including resveratrol, previously known as just an ingredient of certain red wines.

Dr. Sinclair’s finding led in several directions. He and others have tested resveratrol’s effects in mice, mostly at doses far higher than the minuscule amounts in red wine. One of the more spectacular results was obtained last year by Dr. John Auwerx of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Illkirch, France. He showed that resveratrol could turn plain vanilla, couch-potato mice into champion athletes, making them run twice as far on a treadmill before collapsing.

The company Sirtris, meanwhile, has been testing resveratrol and other drugs that activate sirtuin. These drugs are small molecules, more stable than resveratrol, and can be given in smaller doses. In April, Sirtris reported that its formulation of resveratrol, called SRT501, reduced glucose levels in diabetic patients.

The company plans to start clinical trials of its resveratrol mimic soon. Sirtris’s value to GlaxoSmithKline is presumably that its sirtuin-activating drugs could be used to treat a spectrum of degenerative diseases, like cancer and Alzheimer’s, if the underlying theory is correct.

Separately from Sirtris’s investigations, a research team led by Tomas A. Prolla and Richard Weindruch, of the University of Wisconsin, reports in the journal PLoS One on Wednesday that resveratrol may be effective in mice and people in much lower doses than previously thought necessary. In earlier studies, like Dr. Auwerx’s of mice on treadmills, the animals were fed such large amounts of resveratrol that to gain equivalent dosages people would have to drink more than 100 bottles of red wine a day.

The Wisconsin scientists used a dose on mice equivalent to just 35 bottles a day. But red wine contains many other resveratrol-like compounds that may also be beneficial. Taking these into account, as well as mice’s higher metabolic rate, a mere four, five-ounce glasses of wine “starts getting close” to the amount of resveratrol they found effective, Dr. Weindruch said.

Resveratrol can also be obtained in the form of capsules marketed by several companies. Those made by one company, Longevinex, include extracts of red wine and of a Chinese plant called giant knotweed. The Wisconsin researchers conclude that resveratrol can mimic many of the effects of a caloric-restricted diet “at doses that can readily be achieved in humans.”

The effectiveness of the low doses was not tested directly, however, but with a DNA chip that measures changes in the activity of genes. The Wisconsin team first defined the pattern of gene activity established in mice on caloric restriction, and then showed that very low doses of resveratrol produced just the same pattern.

Dr. Auwerx, who used doses almost 100 times greater in his treadmill experiments, expressed reservations about the new result. “I would be really cautious, as we never saw significant effects with such low amounts,” he said Tuesday in an e-mail message.

Another researcher in the sirtuin field, Dr. Matthew Kaeberlein of the University of Washington in Seattle, said, “There’s no way of knowing from this data, or from the prior work, if something similar would happen in humans at either low or high doses.”

A critical link in establishing whether or not caloric restriction works the same wonders in people as it does in mice rests on the outcome of two monkey trials. Since rhesus monkeys live for up to 40 years, the trials have taken a long time to show results. Experts said that one of the two trials, being conducted by Dr. Weindruch, was at last showing clear evidence that calorically restricted monkeys were outliving the control animals.

But no such effect is apparent in the other trial, being conducted at the National Institutes of Health.

The Wisconsin report underlined another unresolved link in the theory, that of whether resveratrol actually works by activating sirtuins. The issue is clouded because resveratrol is a powerful drug that has many different effects in the cell. The Wisconsin researchers report that they saw no change in the mouse equivalent of sirtuin during caloric restriction, a finding that if true could undercut Sirtris’s strategy of looking for drugs that activate sirtuin.

Dr. Guarente, a scientific adviser to Sirtris, said the Wisconsin team only measured the amount of sirtuin present in mouse tissues, and not the more important factor of whether it had been activated.

Dr. Sinclair said the definitive answer would emerge from experiments, now under way, with mice whose sirtuin genes had been knocked out. “The question of how resveratrol is working is an ongoing debate and it will take more studies to get the answer,” he said.

Dr. Robert E. Hughes of the Buck Institute for Age Research said there could be no guarantee of success given that most new drug projects fail. But, he said, testing the therapeutic uses of drugs that mimic caloric restriction is a good idea, based on substantial evidence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/health/research/04aging.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

Plant based mineral supplements

Plant based mineral supplements are available from various sources, some as colloidal (liquid) minerals and others are whole foods rich in organic minerals - such as blue green algae or the ancient but newly popular acai berry that grows on palm trees in the Amazon rain forest in Brazil.

The Importance of Organic Minerals

The importance of minerals in the diet is often overlooked. Life-sustaining minerals are necessary for 95% of the body's daily functions. Although the body can function without vitamins, it will die without minerals.

We naturally produce vitamins from our inherent mineral supply, so when that supply is depleted, the body suffers. Soil depletion, poor crop rotation, and loss of valuable topsoil due to flooding and over-irrigation has eliminated much of the natural trace mineral content from our modern food supply.

In fact, many of the fruits and vegetables we consume today contain only 8 to 12 minerals (organically grown produce may contain up to 20.)

Whole foods

When we improve our nourishment by eating quality food packed with the full spectrum of trace minerals, the body has a chance to be as healthy and energized as it is designed to be. According to Dr. Charles Northern, MD, "In the absence of minerals, vitamins have no function. Lacking vitamins, the system can make use of minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless." Blue Green Algae contains almost every organic mineral in trace amounts, which is what the body needs to function well. Trace minerals can literally mean the difference between buoyant good health and serious disease. They are absolutely vital to our health and well-being.

http://www.fundednfree.com/plantbasedmineralsupplements.html

Longevity To-Dos for Your 70s

Add Years to Your Life

People's health in their 70s varies a lot. Some people are completely healthy and others have multiple illnesses. No matter what your condition, there is a lot you can do to improve your health, prevent illnesses and keep your brain sharp. Here is a list of longevity To-Dos that will have you feeling better now and living longer. Pick one or two a month and make some progress.

1. Live With Purpose

One of the things in common about the world's longest-lived people is that they have a strong sense of purpose as they grow older. Much of this is because of the role of elders in traditional culture. Unlike the U.S., older people are respected and looked up to for wisdom and advice. We have a challenge in this regard. Your job is to find a way to feel a strong sense of purpose in your life, despite the messages our culture send about aging. Religion, family, volunteering and more can help you feel connected and needed.

http://longevity.about.com/od/inyour20s30sand40s/tp/Longevity-To-Dos-for-Your-70s.htm

HGH youth formula

Much of the information will be new to individuals who are interested in anti-aging, a field which is just on the verge of exploding into the public domain.

Almost daily, articles appear in newspapers and magazines with regard to ways in which we may be able to slow down or even reverse the aging process.

hgh Youth Formula - the better more natural way:

Until recently, growth hormone therapy was very expensive and available only through injections with the added difficulty of needing constant monitoring. Prices ranged from $800 to $2,800 US per month, depending on the source, the supply and levels of monitoring. These prices remain out of range for most people.

HGH Youth Formula - it's not an injection, and it's not a drug

The ground-breaking research by Isidori, et al, at the University of Rome in 1981, and particularly that of Dr. Daniel Rudman in 1990, has led to the development of dietary supplements which have the ability to trigger HGH release from the human anterior pituitary gland.

Since the publication of several landmark studies, it has been shown that if the body's growth hormone releasing pattern is mimicked closely, the effects of normalizing levels are more profound and side effects are minimized.

The natural secretagogues appears to offer the best opportunity for doing this in a natural and physiological way without interfering with the body's feedback loop.

Dr. Klatz, President of the American Academy of Anti Aging Medicine (AW), noted in his book, “Grow Young With HGH“, that "some of the best HGH releasers were the amino acids. These, in combination with a dietary program and exercise, can offer results which are very significant." the product in question -- the HGH Youth Formula -- contains the right amino acids in the correct proportions to contribute to HGH release, formulated in a proprietary and specific way to ensure its maximum effect as a dietary supplement. It is not a drug!

Some amino acids can be made in the body from basic building blocks, but others (nine out of the twenty needed for protein building) are called essential amino acids, as the body is unable to manufacture them and they have to be supplied in the food that we eat.

Arginine is an amino acid important in creatine synthesis. Claims for Arginine include an increase in fat-burning and muscle-building, as well as strengthening the thymus gland by increasing its weight and activity and thereby boosting immunity. There are also claims in the literature that Arginine alone will promote healing of burns and wounds as well as enhance male fertility. Arginine, along with Lysine, was one of the amino acids demonstrated in the 1981 study to cause HGH release when combined in specific proportions. Other essential amino acids are Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine and Valine. Lysine boosts the effectiveness of Arginine and is also said to affect growth as well as having immuneboosting properties of its own.

Ornithine can be synthesized in the body and is now also known to help stimulate HGH release. Glutamine can also be synthesized in the body but may not always be made by the body in sufficient quantities in times of stress. Dr. Klatz notes that the gastrointestinal tract and the immune system "practically live on it", and that without sufficiently available levels, the gastrointestinal tract does not function as well, and nutrients are less well absorbed.

"Amino Acid Stack": The HGH Youth Formula

The other amino acids contribute to the effects of the supplement and the amino acids listed above. This type of combination of amino acids is known as an amino acid stack. The patent pending formula offers the individual benefits of all of its amino acids and more. This formula is our effective means of increasing the body's natural production of HGH.

It is interesting to note that the body continues to make adequate amounts of HGH even into old age, at the same time the production of certain other hormones declines with age. Restoring HGH levels to those of youth levels meant finding products or supplements which would encourage the pituitary gland to release the HGH that it was already making. This supplement has been shown to be able to do this: restoring those youthful levels for most of us without overstimulating production or subjecting us to injections of the hormone itself.

Maintain a Young Quality of Life - All Your Life

The HGH Youth Formula works as the ultimate dietary supplement by assisting the body's ability to secrete HGH naturally in a manner which is safe and effective as well as affordable. Many individuals, when taking this dietary supplement, will notice an immediate effect with some of those improvements noted earlier. The scientific literature suggests that maximum effects occur over a th ree-to-six-month time frame. It is suggested that when starting, it should be taken for a minimum of three months, preferably along with a dietary and exercise regime in order to ensure maximal benefits.

It (the HGH Youth Formula) is formulated in capsule form for maximum ease of use as well as availability and absorption. Taken on an empty stomach, this is easily achieved by taking it half an hour before or two hours after eating. This ensures that it is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream to derive maximum benefit. Men should take this product in a single serving of 6 capsules at bedtime and women in two servings of three capsules twice daily, on an empty stomach, to most accurately reflect the natural release of HGH in both men and women. Men release most of their HGH in a large spike about 90 minutes after failing asleep while in a deep sleep. Where as women tend to release HGH in smaller spikes over a 24-hour period.

In the August 1 6th, 2000 journal of the "American Medical Association," Dr. Eve Van Cauter, one of the leading medical researchers in the world on HGH from the University of Chicago, published a paper in which she discussed the relationship between the declining HGH levels in men to their poorer sleeping patterns. As men age they secrete most of their growth hormone at night, as opposed to women who secrete it throughout the day. This might explain the longer life spans of women as shown by statistics.

Older individuals may need to start with just one capsule per day and gradually increase dosage to a full serving by adding an extra capsule every 5 to 7 days. It is formulated from natural ingredients and contains no animalderived products in its proprietary formulation, ensuring maximum benefits for all, without risk or side effects.

http://www.fundednfree.com/hgh-youth-formula.html

No Evidence of Gene Influence on Longevity

A group of spanish researchers did not find evidence that certain genes influence on longevity, said the magazine Journal of Gerontology in its latest edition.

Researchers of the Genetic Center of the University of Barcelona studied several deceased centennials and did not find proof that genes were related to their long life.

The team took off from the hypothesis that longevity of the eldest, who lived 114 years, and members of his family, was due to his excellent bone health.

Bones of the man and his brothers did not show curves and never suffered any fracture, one of the causes that accelerate the death of persons over 90 years of age.

"We know that for many people over 90, a hip or femur fracture accelerates their mortality," said one of the work´s main authors, Susana Balcells.

Investigators started by analyzing the bone mass of centennial elderly and the genetic factor it is thought to play a key role in longevity.

Only a gen called KLOTHO has been related to a good density of the bones.

That gen was investigated in the 114 year-old elderly and his centennial relatives, without discovering a significant mutation related with so long a life.

They did not observe either changes in the gen LRP5, linked to strong bones.

Depite these results, scientists do not discard the possibility that some genes had influenced on longevity with good life quality of the elderly and his relatives.

The 114-old deceased lived in Menorca, had an excellent physical and mental health and up to his 102 birthday, besides riding a bike he took care of the family orchard.

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B00798B7B-8E6A-4196-AD32-F8C7A02914ED%7D%29&language=EN

Griffin: The many gifts of longevity

“In fewer than one hundred years, human beings made greater gains in life expectancy than in the preceding fifty centuries.”

This sentence opens the book “The Longevity Revolution” published last month by Robert Butler, M.D. It calls attention to a reality that has already profoundly changed the lives of people who live in the United States and other industrialized countries.

And it will bring about further changes of great significance.

From the year 1900 until now, we have gained some 30 years of life. When my parents were born, in 1898 and 1899, average life expectancy was only 47 years. Now it has reached almost 80.

Of course, statistics like this do not mean that everybody lives long. Regrettably, some of us die before reaching 20. I still mourn the loss of a nephew at that age.

But most Americans now, given the breaks, can anticipate living long lives. In fact, we can expect to last as many as six decades more than those who lived back in the Stone Age.

The nation’s leading geriatrician, Dr. Butler deserves to be a household name. Among his many accomplishments, he established the first American hospital department of geriatrics, at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

In 1975, he published a book that won the Pulitzer Prize. Titled “Why Survive,” it called attention to the plight of old people in this country.

In that same year, he became the founding director of the National Institute on Aging, the federal agency that sponsors research on issues of aging. In 1990, he opened the International Longevity Center in order to focus attention on worldwide aging and to work for the well-being of people who have reached later life.

He uses “revolution” in the title of his newest book to indicate what a powerful influence our gains in life expectancy have been and will continue to be. As the increased number of older people takes hold, almost every area of national and international life will be affected.

To me, the increase in life expectancy inspires awe and deserves to be hailed as one of the greatest achievements in history. Making it happen took marvelous human ingenuity and the pooling of many talents.

Most Americans now have a much longer time in which to lay hold of the experiences that life offers. Having seven, eight or more decades at our disposal allows us to lead more varied and productive lives.

However, the New York Times last week published accounts of new and disturbing research. Studies show that some Americans, rather than gaining in life expectancy, are actually losing ground.

Researchers at Harvard have identified 180 U.S. counties where life spans for women have declined. The greater number of these women live in the southern parts of the country, and many suffer from the effects of smoking, obesity and hypertension.

This further sign of the divide between haves and have-nots comes as a disturbing reality and shades the rosy picture presented above.

And, for some of us who do live long, the extra time can bring us more grief. We may find ourselves confronted with diseases, disappointments and unexpected debacles of one sort or another.

However, much as I regret what some of my age peers have to undergo, I feel thankful because so many of them, and I too, have had extra time. I feel glad to have seen things happen that a short life would have made us miss.

For me, seeing my daughter advance into adulthood rates as the number-one benefit. As a relatively late-life father, I sometimes feared not living long enough to see this happen.

I also feel glad for a long marriage, rather than one cut short by my not surviving middle age.

Seeing my extended family stretch further also counts as a notable plus. Getting to meet the children of the younger generations comes as a pleasure worth waiting for. A recent dinner shared with my wife’s nephew’s charming children, for instance, reinforces this feeling.

Having had scope for several careers, rather than just one, also pleases me greatly. I have been given world enough and time to know what it is like to live in a variety of roles. My time in religious ministry proved gratifying; so has secular work later on as a consultant and writer.

This phenomenon of changing jobs has become routine now among Americans. On average, we are said to hold at least nine different jobs in our lifetime, and several careers as well. These “encore” experiences bring satisfaction to many people as we discover new interests and skills.

I also welcome the opportunity to see new inventions. The stupendous changes brought about by the computer are a phenomenon I would not have wanted to miss.

The changes in my lifetime have been extraordinary, and to be able to take the long view is an unexpected gift.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/lifestyle/columnists/x2118735708/Griffin-The-many-gifts-of-longevity

Lifestyle biggest role in life span, researchers find

By Jennifer Harper - So granny didn't live to be 101? Not to worry. Longevity is not necessarily a family trait.

We may live long regardless of our genes, according to researchers who studied the world's oldest man — he made it to 114 — only to conclude that diet, exercise and personal contentment have more to do with survival than the mysterious workings of DNA.

Joan Riudavets was no geezer — still riding a bike, tending an orchard and sporting snappy Lacoste cardigans after 10 decades of optimistic life on the same street in the same village on the same sunny Mediterranean island.

"Keep moving, keep going forward," he once told journalists eager to hear his secrets of long life.

"Live calmly and treat other people well," Mr. Riudavets said, adding that he still liked to dance the fandango and have a shot of sherry. He died in 2004.

This supercentenarian drew the interest of Dr. Adolfo Diez Perez, a geneticist at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona who studied the bone mass and analyzed the genetics of Mr. Riudavets, along with his 101-year-old brother, two daughters and a nephew — all octogenarians.

The research team found no variations in LRP5 — the gene associated with longevity — in any of them. They eventually concluded that family traits most likely had nothing to do with the long-lived group.

"The results of the research do not rule out the possibility that other genetic mutations could positively influence longevity," the study said, ultimately crediting "a Mediterranean diet, the temperate climate of the island, a lack of stress and regular physical activity."

The research was published in the Journal of Gerontology, an academic publication.

"We've forgotten this kind of lifestyle. But our grandparents would recognize it," said Dan Buettner, author of "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest," which was published last month.

"There's something magical about living to three digits, so to speak. These people become great icons for good living. Genes may account for 10 to 20 percent of how long we live, but the biggest variable is lifestyle. We may not all make it to 100, but the average American can live a dozen extra years if they just optimize good lifestyle," Mr. Buettner said.

"This gentleman could walk, bike, visit an orchard. He had a daily reason to go out and keep moving and keep social. All of us can at least emulate that," Mr. Buettner said.

His own research — funded by National Geographic and the National Institute on Aging — has revealed five longevity "pockets" around the planet where people live long, healthy lives. Mr. Buettner found that cheerfulness plays a definitive role in spots such as Singapore, Denmark and Sardinia where productive aging is common. A kind of tribal sociability, sensible eating and strategic calm moments also help.

He leaves for Tahiti next week to investigate what may well be the sixth "pocket."

The medical community has a longstanding interest in the field. Founded in 1992, the Chicago-based American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine has grown to a membership of 20,000 physicians and researchers who condone sensible lifestyles, along with powerful diagnostic tests, appropriate interventions and the practice of hormone replacement for men and women.

Longevity pays off, the group says, citing a University of Chicago Graduate School of Business study, which calculated that the U.S. economy would enjoy an extra $2.4 trillion a year if average citizens lived an extra six years, due primarily to increased productivity and lessened medical care costs.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/NATION/839877085/1002

The new status symbol for baby boomers: longevity

Forget monster homes or sleek condos, tech toys or even upscale vacations; longevity is the new status symbol for baby boomers.

As author Michael Kinsley says in a recent essay on the subject in the New Yorker, "the last boomer game is about to start - the game of competitive longevity."

The only contest that matters in the end, he argues, is about life itself. "And the standard is clear: Mine is longer than yours."

It stands to reason that as the boomers turn 60, they should be thinking exhaustively, aggressively and even obnoxiously not just about how to stay young (soy milkshakes and Botox), but how to stay old.

We've been on the aging-well kick for some time now, turning seniors' residences into all-inclusive wonderlands and visions of retirement into walking-the-beach utopias.

We've heard about divorce at 70, sex at 80 and even, I'm sure somewhere, skydiving at 90. But all that quality-of-life stuff supposes you're around to enjoy it in the first place.

And longevity can be an alarming concept: If you're going to live longer, which many of us apparently are, you'd better have ample financial means, not to mention toned trapezoid muscles that will allow you to get off the couch occasionally.

In a new book The Blue Zone, Minnesota author Dan Buettner, expanding on a series he did for National Geographic magazine, offers secrets of living to 100, from what he calls "pockets of longevity" around the world, places where there is a higher-than-average concentration of centenarians.

Mr. Buettner says our genes account for only 25 per cent of why some live long and healthy lives. The other 75 per cent of what determines life expectancy is based on lifestyle and "everyday life choices."

The author discovered that folks who live to 100 have a lot in common, whether it's a shepherd in Sardinia, an elder in Okinawa or a Seventh-day Adventist in Loma Linda, Calif.

They thrive on gentle, everyday exercise, a plant-based diet (little red meat), a strong social network, a reason to get up in the morning (religious faith plays a part in this), and a feeling of being valued as they age. They also put their family - or any loved ones - first in their lives, which brings them sustenance as they grow old.

Then there is "Vitamin S": smiling. According to one researcher, people over 40 tend to get less happy with age until they reach 80, and then they're happy again. (Thank God.) Thriving elders, Mr. Buettner writes, are "not worried about getting something in the future or sad about having missed something in the past."

After I read the book, I went online to take the Blue Zone Vitality Compass test, which estimates your life expectancy based on 35 questions, including whether you have cancer, diabetes or heart disease; how sad or angry you are; and how satisfied you are with your marriage.

The Vitality Compass told me that I am biologically seven years younger than my actual age, that I have a life expectancy of 95.3, and that I can expect to stay healthy until 86.

By living a healthy lifestyle (I've never smoked), I've added 11.5 years to my life expectancy, it said.

I probably could have come up with the same estimate without the quiz. My maternal great-grandmother and grandmother both lived until 96, my mother until 90. So far, I have no experience with the big three: heart disease, cancer and stroke.

And so I have the guardedly optimistic sense that I am headed for a long life. When I was younger, longevity used to be, for me, a newspaper picture of a gnarled old face from somewhere in the world with a headline saying: "Oldest woman celebrates 106th birthday." A grotesque curiosity rather than a role model. Nothing for me to emulate.

But now, because I have arrived in middle age, the idea of longevity has become for me a poignant awareness of its antithesis: Some of us are dropping out of the marathon early. Not too long ago, I attended the memorial service for a beloved colleague, exactly my age, and felt stunned into sadness that because of a virulent cancer, she was no longer alive and vibrant in this world.

There was nothing she could have done to prevent her early death, and so I think I won't pore obsessively over these longevity manuals. There are no guarantees.

Besides, I prefer the live exhibits: Not too long ago, my husband and I accompanied three elderly women out to dinner - their combined ages totalled 257, with the eldest of them, at 93, deservedly being called a babe. She looked gorgeous and fashionable - they all did - and all three yakked for hours about culture and politics and life.

By 11 p.m. I began surreptitiously looking at my watch, yearning for bed. But they were still going strong. Finally I sent my husband to get the car. It wasn't until after we'd seen the ladies safely off that I realized I'd had the only lesson in longevity I needed.

Keep going, with gusto, until they take you home.

Dan Buettner's 9 secrets to longevity

Move naturally. Don't be a weekend exercise warrior. Be active without having to think about it - climb stairs, walk, garden, do gentle aerobics.

Hara hachi bu. A Confucian saying reminding you to stop eating when your stomach is 80-per-cent full.

Eat four to six vegetable servings a day and avoid meat and processed food.

Drink red wine (in moderation).

Have a strong sense of purpose.

Take time to relieve stress. Whether it's observing the Sabbath, for the religious, or meditating or having a siesta for the rest of us, we need to downshift on a regular basis.

Belong. Participate in a spiritual community.

Put loved ones first. Make family a priority.

Join the right tribe. Hang with others who practise a healthy lifestyle.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080429.wltimson29/BNStory/lifeMain/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

12 ways to look and feel younger than your years and peers

Michael Roizen, M.D., cofounder of RealAge.com, has done an exhaustive review of more than 35,000 medical and scientific studies about aging in humans. He has uncovered many of the mysteries of how and why we age, and shares the simple things we can do to make our "real age," which can be older or younger than what the calendar says, younger. Here are his tips to help make a woman's real age younger in as little as 90 days.

1. An aspirin a day after age 40: Taking one 325 mg tablet of aspirin per day can lower your real age by as much as 1.9 years.

2. Floss your teeth: Flossing and brushing daily can make your real age 6.4 years younger.

3. Know your blood pressure: A person with low blood pressure (115/75 mm Hg) is as much as 25 years younger than a person with high blood pressure (greater than 160/90 mm Hg).

4. Reduce stress: In highly stressful times, your real age can be as much as 32 years older than your calendar age. By building strong social networks and adopting stress-reduction strategies, you can erase 30 of those years.

5. Take your vitamins: Regularly taking vitamin C (1,200 mg/day), vitamin E (400 IU/day), calcium (1,000-1,200 mg/day), vitamin D (400-600 IU/day), folate (400 mcg/day) and vitamin B6 (6 mg/day) can make your real age 6 years younger.

6. Quit smoking, and avoid passive smoke: Smoking makes your real age 8 years older.

7. Be active: Even a small amount of exercise — two 20-minute walks per day — can make your real age nearly 5 years younger.

8. Wear your seat belt: Regularly wearing a seat belt and driving within 5 miles per hour of the speed limit can make your real age as much as 3.4 years younger.

9. Fill up on fiber: Getting 25 grams of fiber per day in your diet can make your real age 2.5 years younger than if you included only 12 grams of fiber per day in your diet.

10. Monitor your health: People who are proactive about seeking high-quality medical care and managing chronic conditions can have a real age as much as 12 years younger than their peers who do not.

11. Laugh: Laughter reduces stress, strengthens the immune system and can make your real age as much as 8 years younger.

12. Become a lifelong learner: People who remain intellectually involved throughout their lives have a real age as much as 2.5 years younger.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2004002009_12things11.html

World's oldest person set to turn 115

American Edna Parker, the world's oldest known person, will celebrate her 115th birthday on Sunday, defying mind-boggling odds.

Her achievement was recognised by Guinness World Records last August after the death of a Japanese woman four months her senior.

Edna Parker

There are only 75 people alive - 64 women and 11 men - that are 110 or older, according to the Gerontology Research Group, a California-based organisation that verifies reports of extreme ages.

Mrs Parker, who was born April 20, 1893, has been a widow since her husband Earl died of a heart attack in 1938.

She has also outlived her two sons - Clifford and Earl Jr - but is far from lonely with five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren to keep her company.

"We don't know why she's lived so long," said Don Parker, her 59-year-old grandson.

"But she's never been a worrier and she's always been a thin person, so maybe that has something to do with it."

Scientists who study longevity hope that Mrs Parker can help unlock the secrets to long life.

Two years ago, researchers from the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University took a blood sample from Mrs Parker for the group's DNA database of supercentenarians.

Her DNA is now preserved with samples of about 100 other people who reached the 110-year milestone, and whose genes are being analysed, said Dr Tom Perls, an aging specialist who directs the project.

"They're really our best bet for finding the elusive Holy Grail of our field - which are these longevity-enabling genes," he said.

A smiling Mrs Parker looked on as relatives and guests released 115 balloons into the sky to celebrate her milestone.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/19/wold119.xml

Mine Is Longer than Yours - The last boomer game.

At first, I thought I was alone in the pool. It was a sparkling blue gem, implausibly planted in the skyscraper canyon of downtown Los Angeles, as if David Hockney, heading toward Beverly Hills, had taken the wrong exit on the I-10 freeway. This fine pool was the consolation and only charm of the Soviet-style complex where I had rented an apartment so that I could walk to work at the Los Angeles Times. It was early, not even 6 A.M. I had finished my laps and was enjoying the emptiness of the pool, the faint sounds of downtown gearing up for the day, and the drama of the looming office towers. As we learned on September 11th, they really can fall down on top of you. But they wouldn’t on that day. I felt healthy and smug.

Then what I had thought was a ripple in the water turned out to be—no, not a shark with hectoring John Williams music pulsing from a boom box in its stomach. It was a tiny old man in a tiny black bathing suit. He was slowly, slowly completing a lap in the next lane. When, finally, he reached the side where I was resting and watching, he came up for air. He saw me, beamed, and said, “I’m ninety years old.” It was clearly a boast, not a lament, so I followed his script and said, “Well, isn’t that marvellous” and “You certainly don’t look it” and on in that vein. He beamed some more, I beamed, and briefly we both were happy—two nearly naked strangers sharing the first little dishonesties and self-deceptions of a beautiful day in Southern California.

Perhaps sensing some condescension in my praise, he then stuck out his chest and declared, “I used to be a judge.” And I started to resent this intruder on my morning and my pool. Did I now have to tell him it was marvellous that he used to be a judge?

What was so marvellous about it? What was his point? But, even as he said this, a panicky realization of its absurd irrelevance seemed to pass across his face, and then a realization of its pathos. When he was a judge—if he had been a judge—he had not felt the need to accost strangers and tell them that he was a judge. And then he seemed to realize that he had overplayed his hand. He had left this stranger in the pool thinking the very thought he had wanted to dispel: the old fool is past it. And finally (I imagined, observing his face) came sadness: he had bungled a simple social interchange. So it must be true: he was past it.

On an airplane seven or eight years ago, I turned and discovered Robert McNamara in the next seat. He is ninety-one now, so he must have been more than eighty at the time. I asked him why he was going to Denver. He said that he was meeting a female friend at the airport and heading for Aspen. It seems that when his wife died he had commissioned in her memory one of a chain of primitive huts on a trail between Aspen and Vail. Now he was going to ski the trail and stay in the huts with his lady. He told me this, then beamed, like my friend in the pool.

Well, life is unfair, but let’s not get carried away. Longevity is not a zero-sum game. A longer life for Robert McNamara doesn’t mean a shorter life for you or me or the average citizen of Vietnam. He’s done that damage, and at his age he won’t be doing more. In fact, he seems to have been spending the gift of a long life trying to make amends—mainly, as he described his recent agenda to me, by flying around the world to conferences where the world’s suffering is deplored. Nevertheless.

Still, to get to that view of things, I had to suppress an irrational feeling that McNamara had won big in a game he shouldn’t have been entitled to play. Yes, life is unfair, and never more so than in how much of itself it gives to different people. Deaths of young adults are mourned with special pain, and the very, very old are celebrated. But any age between about sixty and ninety doesn’t rate a second glance as you flip through the obituaries. Anywhere in there is a normal life span, even though the ninety-year-old got fifty per cent more life.

What’s more, of all the gifts that life and luck can bestow—money, good looks, love, power—longevity is the one that people seem least reluctant to brag about. In fact, they routinely claim it as some sort of virtue—as if living to ninety were primarily the result of hard work or prayer, rather than good genes and never getting run over by a truck. Maybe the possibility that the truck is on your agenda for later this morning makes the bragging acceptable. The longevity game is one that really isn’t over till it’s over.

Between what your parents gave you to start with—genetically or culturally or financially—and pure luck, you play a small role in determining how long you live. And even if you add a few years through your own initiative, by doing all the right things in terms of diet, exercise, sleep, vitamins, and so on, why is that to your moral credit?

Extending your own life expectancy is the most selfish motive imaginable for doing anything. Do it, by all means. I do. But for heaven’s sake don’t take a bow and expect applause.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04/07/080407fa_fact_kinsley

Healthy teeth an indicator of longevity - study

The importance of looking after your teeth shouldn't be underestimated. Danish researchers say people who still have most of their teeth at age 70 live longer.

Having few or no natural teeth at the age of 70 may be an early indicator of accelerated ageing, Danish researchers suggest.

"It is important to take poor dental health seriously in that these people may be at greater risk of general physical and/or cognitive decline," Dr Poul Holm-Pedersen, of the Copenhagen Gerontological Oral Health Research Centre, said.

The finding in this study that tooth loss appears related to the onset of disability and mortality in old age raises important clinical issues for disease prevention and geriatric care, Holm-Pedersen and colleagues note in a report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The researchers assessed the number of teeth remaining intact among 573 non-disabled men and women who were 70 years old and living in Copenhagen in 1984.

At the start of the study, fewer than 20 per cent of the elders had 20 or more teeth, and more than 40 per cent had no teeth.

The investigators determined the onset of disability among study participants through follow-up assessments conducted 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-years later; and assessed their mortality over the subsequent 21 years.

Compared with elders maintaining 20 or more natural teeth, those with no or few teeth at age 70 were significantly more likely to report mobility problems such as difficulty walking or climbing stairs within the next 5 or 10 years.

Toothlessness at age 70 was also linked with greater mortality over the study period.

These associations remained strong when the investigators accounted for other factors potentially associated with disability and death, such as health-related problems and education.

"Tooth loss may be related to complex behavioural and socioeconomic factors," Holm-Pedersen said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10501590

A hope note

One of the most fascinating studies on health, happiness and longevity in our time is being conducted by Dan Buettner. National Geographic has sent him around the globe to study "blue zones," places where people not only have more years in their life but more life in their years.

Buettner's travels have taken him to the Italian island of Sardinia, the Japanese island of Okinawa and the Nicovan Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Men in Nicova make it to their 100th birthday four times more often than men in the United States, even though their medical bills are only about 7 percent as much.

We're not surprised by his findings that the people in these "blue zones" are physically active throughout life, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and little meat, and drink a glass or two of red wine every day. We've been hearing for 50 years now that poor eating habits and little exercise are killing us.

Buettner has observed two things that are not so widely known. One is that people who live both long and large place a high premium on family, friends and religion. A bottle of diet pills or vitamins probably doesn't contribute as much to longevity as having a caring, supportive community around us.

Two, those who live long and large talk freely about purpose in life. In Okinawa, for example, there is no word for "retirement." There is another word that roughly translates to "that which makes life worth living." Men there have one-fifth as much cancer as Americans and one-quarter as much heart disease.

Buettner's new book from National Geographic is titled "The Blue Zone." Take his "vitality compass" at www.bluezones.com and learn how long you're likely to live given your current life habits.

http://www.corydondemocrat.com/Articles-i-2008-04-01-205998.114125_A_hope_note.html