Read More at Well+Good It’s always a little nerve-wracking when you learn one of your favorite brands is under new ownership. That’s not the case with Patagonia, who recently made that big announcement, though. Their new owner? Mother Earth. Yvon Chouinard, the 83-year-old founder of the beloved outdoor retailer, announced on September 14 via an open letter on the company’s website that he and his family had transferred all ownership to two new entities: Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective. What does that mean? Every dollar that is not reinvested back into Patagonia will be distributed as dividends to protect the planet and help combat the climate crisis. That could add up to roughly $100 million each year. “Earth is now our only shareholder,” Chouinard says. “I am dead serious about saving this planet.” During a time in which…
The Differences Between Hypersexuality, Sex Addiction, and Compulsive Sexual Behavior, According to Sex Therapists
Read More at Well+Good Choose your words wisely. Semantics do, in fact, matter—especially when it comes to contentious issues surrounding hypersexuality, sex addiction, and compulsive sexual behavior. They’re not all the same thing, interchangeable as they may seem. With this in mind, we chatted with two sex and relationship therapists about everything there is to know about the often-confused, sex-adjacent behaviors and disorders. Hypersexuality vs. Sex Addiction vs. Compulsive Sexual Behavior While hypersexuality, sex addiction, and compulsive sexual behavior all have something in common, they do have different meanings, each with a bit of controversy to unpack, according to Rachel Wright, MA, LMFT, and Tammy Nelson, PhD. One of the main reasons why these terms are controversial and hard to define is due in part to the fact that they don’t appear in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-5), the American…
This Green Tea Pineapple Smoothie Is Packed With Brain-Boosting Catechins, a Powerful Antioxidant That Promotes Healthy Aging
Read More at Well+Good If you get bored of slicing up produce or munching on simple salads, whipping up a smoothie is a foolproof way to get in a variety of nutrients to support your energy, immunity, and overall well-being. Yet as customizable as smoothies are, we often fall into the routine of making the same blends time and time again, seemingly on autopilot—like pouring your go-to alt milk for a base and adding a banana for texture. To help you get out of your smoothie rut *and* get a quick fix of longevity-promoting antioxidants, we’d like to put this four-ingredient green tea pineapple smoothie by Nashi Food on your radar. I, for one, would have never thought to use green tea as a base for my own blends. But given that it’s one of the best drinks for longevity,…
Aging Diminishes Mucociliary Clearance of the Lung
Read More at Fight Aging! Countless processes operating in the body progressively fail with age, each one an inconvenience at the outset, and many turning from that to an ultimately fatal reduction in vital capabilities over the decades of later life. The defense against pathogens offered by innate immune functions, including generation of mucus to trap and expel pathogens, holds up relatively well with advancing age, in comparison to many organs, but it is nonetheless is reduced in capacity with age. Researchers note here that the mucosal systems of the lung suffer detrimental changes with aging, with the consequence of increased vulnerability to inhaled pathogens and particles. The lung is exposed to a myriad of substances with every breath we take. To protect itself from pollutants, dust, particulate matter, allergens, viruses, bacteria, and fungi that exist in the air around…
What You Should Know About Normal Aging of the Spine and Chronic Back Pain After 60
Read More at Sixty and Me Are you one of the millions of people living with chronic back pain? Have you been told by a medical provider your pain is due to arthritis? Or there is nothing that can be done about your back pain? Cases of chronic low back pain, which is pain lasting longer than three months, tend to increase with age. The message we hear the most often is that pain is due to structural changes within the spine. But research has shown that the risk factors for developing chronic pain aren’t related to injury or tissue damage. Let’s take a look at what the actual risk factors are and when you should seek medical advice if you’ve been living with chronic low back pain. Is There a Correlation Between Back Pain and Age? Approximately one in three…
SENS Research Foundation Annual Reports for 2022
Read More at Fight Aging! The SENS Research Foundation has published its annual reports for 2022, for those interested. SENS, the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, is both (a) a laundry list of forms of cell and tissue damage that cause aging, with supporting evidence from the past century of scientific research into aging, and (b) a laundry list methods of intervention that should produce rejuvenation. Aging is damage accumulation, and rejuvenation is repair of that damage. Funding for SENS programs, and initiatives to produce therapies based on the SENS view of damage repair, remain as relevant as ever. In fact, even more relevant now than was the case in the early 2000s, given the extensive evidence gathered over the past decade to support the SENS view on the role of senescent cells in aging. The view that accumulation of…
An Integrative Medicine Doctor Says Supplements Won’t Reverse Hair Loss—Here’s What They *Can* Actually Do
Read More at Well+Good I knew hair wellness supplements were having a major moment when my 70-year-old father texted me to ask my thoughts on Nutrafol. After an uptick in hair loss caused by COVID-19 stress, more and more people want to figure out how to get their hair back to looking its best—which explains why ads for “miracle-working” ingestibles may be clogging your social feeds of late. But according to Jessica Cho, MD, an integrative medicine doctor and hair restoration specialist, if you need to regrow hair from the follicle, pills, powders, and gummies aren’t going to cut it. “Hair vitamins are going to address the hair shaft problems like the hair texture, brittleness, and dryness—they can actually make the hair enriched and shinier,” says Dr. Cho. But if you’re experiencing hair loss at the follicle and need to…
The Surprising Way You Might Be Sabotaging Connections at Work, According to a Workplace Psychologist
Read More at Well+Good Showing up to work each day can feel like so much less of a struggle when you’re close with your coworkers. Having strong connections with people at work can make you more productive, engaged, and successful to boot. But sometimes, these kinds of work friendships can feel elusive, particularly if you’re the new member of a team…or you’re one of the few veteran team members left following a wave of turnover. In these scenarios, it’s easy to find yourself fielding additional work requests or overcommitting your time, which can leave you feeling disconnected from your colleagues. Psychologist Jacinta Jiménez, PsyD, vice president of coach innovation at virtual coaching platform BetterUp, calls this tendency boundary-less helping—or, saying “yes” to requests for help in a way that negates your work-life boundaries. “When it comes to altruism in the…
5 Foods To Avoid When Building Muscle
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health Building muscle not only can make you feel better about your appearance, but it’s really good for your health. Building muscle improves insulin sensitivity, reduces your risk of falls, and improves your heart health. We’ll look at which foods to eat and which to avoid to help you on your muscle-building journey. What to consider when making a meal plan for muscle gain If you’re setting out to build muscle, you should consider what your goals are. Your nutrition plan will vary depending on how intense you exercise. For example, a bodybuilder’s diet will look much different than someone who wants to get more toned in general. Remember that your diet alone isn’t enough to build muscle – muscle builds when its fibers are torn down and then repaired in…
Lower Body Power Blast
Read More at The Betty Rocker Today I’ve got a quick lower body blast that will build strength and endurance and get you all fired up! Why do resistance training? Resistance training (working your body against a force or load) increases your muscular strength. Strengthening your muscle tissue boosts your immune system, increases your fat burning potential, supports your joints, and can even improve your sleep! Why do plyometrics (explosive cardio)? Plyometrics are sometimes called “reactive training” as in how your body reacts to the ground. Explosive jumping moves like these in short bursts are a great way to load and strengthen your muscles and support your joint health – plus boost your cardiovascular capacity. If you happen to be a woman over 40, these 2 types of training are especially beneficial for you in supporting muscle development and fat…
The Aging Brain Benefits from Exercise
Read More at Fight Aging! Regular moderate exercise is well known and well established to be beneficial to long term health in many ways. Lack of exercise is actively harmful to long term health, on the other hand. Researchers here add another correlation between exercise and brain health, in that the size of functional areas of the brain is larger in those who do exercise, providing more of a protective buffer against the onset of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Which of the numerous mechanisms connecting exercise and brain function are most important in this effect remains an open question, though the data in this study suggests that increased blood flow is the dominant aspect. Exercise does boost blood flow to the brain, but also upregulates BDNF expression, which in turn increases neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons. Balancing the relative…
Cell Stiffness and Migration in Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! Looking at T cells, researchers here note correlated age-related alterations in cell stiffness and reduced capability for cell migration, which maybe involved in the declining capabilities of the immune system, the onset of immunosenescence. Many aspects of cell behavior change with age, as epigenetic changes characteristic of aging reshape gene expression. At this point in the development of aging research as a field, cataloging all of these changes should be a lower priority than working on ways to address causes of aging. Nonetheless, a great deal of aging research remains devoted to observing aging, in increasingly fine detail, rather than doing something about it. Age-associated changes in T-cell function play a central role in immunosenescence. The role of aging in the decreased T-cell repertoire, primarily because of thymic involution, has been extensively studied. However, increasing…
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 12th 2022
Read More at Fight Aging! Fight Aging! publishes news and commentary relevant to the goal of ending all age-related disease, to be achieved by bringing the mechanisms of aging under the control of modern medicine. This weekly newsletter is sent to thousands of interested subscribers. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the newsletter, please visit: https://www.fightaging.org/newsletter/ Longevity Industry Consulting Services Reason, the founder of Fight Aging! and Repair Biotechnologies, offers strategic consulting services to investors, entrepreneurs, and others interested in the longevity industry and its complexities. To find out more: https://www.fightaging.org/services/ Contents Arguing for an Expansion of the Hallmarks of Aging Germline Stem Cells in Ovaries and Female Reproductive Aging Much Yet to Establish Regarding the Role of Regulatory T Cells in Immune System Aging The Hevolution Foundation Plans to Fund Aging Research and the Longevity Industry The Benefits of Exercise…
How To Get Started With Hybrid Training—If You Want To Build Strength and Endurance
Read More at Well+Good An age-old question in the fitness world is whether you should split up running and strength training or do them together. Running advocates say that strength training adds extra muscle mass that impedes your running, while those for strength training argue that endurance cardio kills your gains in the gym. Though strength training and high-intensity cardio (like running, HIIT, and plyometrics) are indeed different types of exercise, the truth is that combining them to create a hybrid training program is a potent recipe for success in achieving your health and fitness goals. A 2019 study published in the peer-reviewed PLOS One found that a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training resulted in lower blood pressure, increased lean muscle mass, and enhanced strength and cardiorespiratory fitness. Moreover, these findings suggest that combining running with strength-building activities is…
Caring for Your Tattoo the Wrong Way Can Lead to Fading—These Products Will Keep Your Ink Fresh for Years To Come
Read More at Well+Good After months of hard deliberation, you’ve decided to tattoo some dainty on your wrist or a few meaningful words on your ribs. Once you’re inked, your artist will likely tell you to clean it with a mild soap (like Dial) and keep it moisturized with something simple (like Aquaphor) for the first few weeks. And while these products get the job done, they’re not all that exciting or sophisticated in their formulations. Slowly but surely, tattoo aftercare is becoming its own skin-care category, with brands like Mad Rabbit, Hustle Butter, and Billy Jealousy creating products designed to help those stars heal and keep them looking shiny and fresh as time goes on. “If you’re a tattooed person, what you’re putting on your skin every day is extremely important,” says Oliver Zak, co-founder of Mad Rabbit, a…
What Foods to Eat and Avoid When Taking Anastrozole
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health The effectiveness of medications depends on the diet we eat, when we take them, and many other factors. If you’re going to be taking anastrozole, you’re probably wondering how to modify your diet and what foods you should eat and avoid. Read on to learn more about the anastrozole diet and other useful info about this medication. What is anastrozole? Anastrozole is a hormone treatment mainly prescribed to women who develop breast cancer after menopause. Sold under the brand name Arimidex, anastrozole was patented in 1987 and received FDA approval in 1995. It is also available as a generic medication. Numbers show that in 2019 alone, doctors issued around 3,338,664 anastrozole prescriptions, meaning it’s the 176th most commonly prescribed drug in the United States. Anastrozole is available in the form…
TRIBUTES POUR IN: Former POTUS & FLOTUS Barack & Michelle Obama Celebrate The Life & Legacy Of Queen Elizabeth II
Read More at The Young, Black, and Fabulous® The tributes for Queen Elizabeth II are pouring in, following an announcement that the British monarch has died at the age of 96. See what former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama wrote about the Queen inside… It’s the end of an era. Earlier today, it was reported doctors were “concerned” about Queen Elizabeth II’s health following an evaluation. Hours later, it was reported Britain’s longest-reigning monarch had passed away at the age of 96. According to Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for 70 years – died peacefully this afternoon at Balmoral Castle, her beloved summer estate in the Scottish Highlands, where she was surrounded by her family. View this post on Instagram …
Power Walking Just 10 Minutes Daily Can Add Years to Your Life—Plus the Step Counts Linked to the Greatest Longevity
Read More at Well+Good Now that the 10,000 steps a day myth has officially been busted as the benchmark for boosting your fitness (TL;DR: there’s not a lot of solid science behind that figure—and honestly, it depends on what being “fit” means to you), many of us are left wondering: How many steps a day do we really need take to be healthy? Well, when it comes to living longer, we have a better idea, thanks to a recent study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, which looked at how power walking for longevity can be beneficial. The massive study followed 47,000 participants over the course of seven years and sought to explore how power walking influenced mortality rates using accelerometers, devices that measure changes in velocity, to track physical activity. Of the folks studied, 53 percent were women, and among other findings, the study…
The Hevolution Foundation Plans to Fund Aging Research and the Longevity Industry
Read More at Fight Aging! Funding for aging research and the development of therapies to treat aging as a medical condition used to be hard to come by. It was a fringe field of medicine. But slow years of bootstrapping incremental progress – hard work, patient advocacy, and philanthropy – eventually led to technology demonstrations, such as the rejuvenation of mice with senolytic therapies, that convinced the first large sources of funding to enter the field. That produced further progress, and the start of a longevity industry, enough to convince deeper pockets to participate. That in turn made slowing and reversing aging a viable investment for a growing number of sizable sources of wealth. History teaches to be cautious about newly announced large investments in the field of aging and longevity, however. Calico launched with much fanfare, hundreds of millions…
Much Yet to Establish Regarding the Role of Regulatory T Cells in Immune System Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! Regulatory T cells, as the name might suggest, are involved in controlling the immune response, particularly damping it down at the point at which it should resolve. They also prevent an inflammatory response from starting when it would be harmful or unnecessary, such as in response to self-antigens. A failure of regulatory T cell function is likely involved in autoimmunity, as well as in the chronic inflammation of aging. As today’s open access paper notes, regulatory T cells may be both harmful and helpful in older individuals, attempting to suppress inappropriate inflammation, but also becoming dysfunctional in ways that both suppress appropriate immune responses to infection and allow autoimmune conditions to arise by failing to suppress the response to self-antigens. Yet all too little of this is certain in the details, and published studies provide…
Profiling the Work of VitaDAO in Funding Aging Research and Development
Read More at Fight Aging! A sizable part of the magic of blockchain technologies is the ability of the present ecosystem to materialize significant funding for near any effort that would have struggled to find backers via more traditional approaches. So much money flows through the exchanges and ongoing speculation that any new blockchain connected to that system quickly gains value almost regardless of its merit. That of course enables a lot of fraud. But at the same time, it enables worthwhile exercises such as VitaDAO, an organization that is using its blockchain-derived resources to fund meaningful research and development in the aging field, leading towards means to treating aging as a medical condition. As VitaDAO expands its activities, it is attracting more attention from the research community, always interested in novel means of funding fundamental science. Like all researchers,…
I May Be Over 40, But I Will *Never* Stop Wearing Bright, Colorful Makeup—Here’s Why
Read More at Well+Good Recently, I came across an advertisement for a line of makeup specifically meant for “mature” women—aka those of us 40 and over. While the company’s message was inspiring (it’s great to see brands speaking to my oft-forgotten demographic), the neutral lipstick shades it had on display were decidedly… not. As older women, we’re often made to believe that neutral, natural-looking makeup is the only “flattering” option for our complexions. On the rare occasion that a woman over 40 is featured in a beauty ad, she’s almost always shown wearing nude lipstick and barely-there eyeshadow. But “older” doesn’t have to mean “boring,” and just because I’m “mature” doesn’t mean I want to stop expressing myself with makeup. I’ve spent the past two decades experimenting with beauty, and one of the cornerstones of my personal style is vibrant,…
Germline Stem Cells in Ovaries and Female Reproductive Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! In today’s open access paper, researchers discuss the evidence for the existence of germline stem cells in the ovaries, responsible for maintaining fertility in the usual manner of stem cells, by generating daughter cells that replace losses and ensure function. Is ovarian aging, leading into age-related infertility, much accelerated over the aging of other organs in our species because this stem cell population loses function more rapidly than those in other tissues? That is a reasonable hypothesis, and some of the possible mechanisms are discussed. That overies are a hypoxic environment to begin with, and that supply of oxygen and nutrients does tend to decline with age for a range of reasons, is one of the more intriguing ideas. A number of groups, including a few biotech startups in the growing longevity industry, appear to…
Inguinal Hernia Diet: Foods To Avoid and What To Eat
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health Abdominal wall hernias are relatively common, with a 1.7% prevalence rate for patients of all ages and 4% among those 45 years or older. Inguinal hernias account for 75% of abdominal wall hernias. When detected, it’s important that patients stick to a proper hernia diet. (1) Diet can play a key role in how severe the hernia symptoms are. That includes abdominal discomfort, constipation, and belching. If you manage your food intake, you can curb the symptoms like acid digestion and heartburn. Here is a quick look at a suitable diet for inguinal hernia patients, including foods to avoid and foods you should eat. What is an inguinal hernia? Inguinal hernia (groin hernia) develops in the inguinal canal. People with a family history of hernia have at least 4 times…
Arguing for an Expansion of the Hallmarks of Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! The hallmarks of aging form a catalog of largely better studied changes in cells and tissues considered relevant, and possibly more important, in the onset and development of age-related degeneration and disease. This is not the same thing as a list of causes of aging. A few of the hallmarks mostly likely are or include deeper causes of aging, or close to causes of aging. The hallmarks do overlap with the SENS description of aging as a set of root causes, forms of molecular damage that result from the normal operation of a youthful metabolism. Since the hallmarks of aging are not, and are not intended to be a list of causes of aging, it is always possible to argue for an expansion, particularly since the hallmarks as they stand omit a number of line…
Feeling Traumatized After a Breakup With an Abusive Partner? Here’s What You Need To Know About Post-Traumatic Relationship Syndrome
Read More at Well+Good While it’s no easy feat, getting out of a toxic or abusive relationship is an important step to take for your mental health and physical safety (with the help of professionals, of course, as leaving is a dangerous time for survivors). But for some, leaving these relationships doesn’t bring the instant relief you might imagine. Those upsetting, traumatic experiences can haunt you afterwards, causing low self-esteem, flinching easily, having flashbacks, or similar effects. And for some survivors, the aftermath could mean having post-traumatic relationship syndrome (PTRS). What is post-traumatic relationship syndrome? “PTRS [is a] newly proposed subcategory of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] that can occur as a result of experiencing trauma in an intimate relationship,” says Caroline Nichols, LICSW, CEDS, the director of family and support services at Lightfully Behavioral Health in Los Angeles. She adds…
How To Get Rid of Cockroaches in Your Home for Good, According to an Entomologist
Read More at Well+Good There are over 200 species of cockroaches in the United States, but only a handful of them are considered pests. When found in the home, however, they’re a menace, harboring bacterias like salmonella, staphylococcus, and e. coli. Their presence and fecal matter can trigger asthma and allergic reactions. Unfortunately, cockroaches aren’t uncommon. More than 14 million households reported a problem with them last year. If you’ve spotted a roach or two, chances are you might have an infestation. Don’t panic, though. There are steps you can take to get rid of cockroaches for good. We went straight to the source and tapped an entomologist on best practices to kick these uninvited guests to the curb. Keep reading to learn how to get rid of cockroaches. What causes cockroach infestations? Like humans, cockroaches need food, water, and…
This Is the Minimum Amount of Tea Research Shows You Should Drink Daily To Reap the Most Heart Healthy, Longevity-Boosting Benefits
Read More at Well+Good In case you haven’t heard, we’re big fans of drinking tea around here. After all, it’s among the most delicious of beverages and also happens to be filled with health benefits linked to boosting your mood, gut health, cognitive functioning, and maintaining bone health as we age. Honestly, the list goes on and on, and research continues to show that tea is a real-deal overachiever in the health department. Case in point: In one recent study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers found that drinking two or more cups of black tea a day was associated with longevity-boosting benefits. The study examined nearly 500,000 individuals aged 40 to 69 years in The UK Biobank—a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK participants. These…
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 5th 2022
Read More at Fight Aging! Fight Aging! publishes news and commentary relevant to the goal of ending all age-related disease, to be achieved by bringing the mechanisms of aging under the control of modern medicine. This weekly newsletter is sent to thousands of interested subscribers. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the newsletter, please visit: https://www.fightaging.org/newsletter/ Longevity Industry Consulting Services Reason, the founder of Fight Aging! and Repair Biotechnologies, offers strategic consulting services to investors, entrepreneurs, and others interested in the longevity industry and its complexities. To find out more: https://www.fightaging.org/services/ Contents Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Improves Cognition in Older C. Difficile Patients Engineering an Increase in Retrotransposon Activity Accelerates Aspects of Aging in Flies Lifelong Exercise Considerably Reduces Sarcopenia in Mice Two Year Update on a Study of One with Flagellin Immunization to Adjust the Gut Microbiome Transplanting B Cells from…