Read More at Fight Aging! Researchers here discuss the ways in which the aging of the immune system influences the aging of the kidney, such as through disruption of the normal participation of immune cells in tissue maintenance and repair. With age the immune system falls into a state of chronic inflammation, and unresolved inflammatory signaling is disruptive to the structure and operation of tissues throughout the body. The kidney is but one example of how this contributes to the declines of aging. With the steady increase in the number of elderly individuals globally, age-related diseases emerge as a major challenge to health care workers. Apart from functional and structural changes in the kidneys introduced by aging, immune system decline also significantly increases the risk of age-related kidney diseases. Immunosenescence is a loose definition of age-related changes in the innate…
Can You Get Epididymitis Without An STD?
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health If you feel some swelling and pain in your scrotum, along with a discharge from your penis, then there is a chance you could have epididymitis. You will often see that medical reports associate epididymitis with sexually transmittable infections. In fact, if you present signs of epididymitis, a doctor will likely start the diagnostics process by checking if you have a sexually transmitted disease (STD), or they may ask you about recent sexual encounters. Many causes of epididymitis are indeed caused by gonorrhea and other sexually transmittable infections. But what if you use safe sex practices during intercourse or only a single sex partner and still develop these symptoms? Research shows that many cases are related to STDs, but these do not account for all scenarios where the patient is…
Fight Aging! Newsletter, November 28th 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 Year End Charitable Donations to Help Advance Rejuvenation Research The Realization that Developing Rejuvenation Therapies is the Most Useful Thing One Can Do with Great Wealth Prodrugs As a Useful Approach to Targeting Distinctive Aspects of Cancer Metabolism First Generation Stem Cell and Exosome Therapies Promote Neurogenesis Studying the…
How Are You Managing Your Cholesterol Levels?
Read More at Sixty and Me Two years ago, after my annual physical, I learned that my cholesterol was elevated. This came as a total surprise to me. I am nothing if not a healthy eater: My breakfast of choice alternates between a steaming bowl of slow-cooked Irish oatmeal and whole grain cereals, like Cheerios, which claims cholesterol-lowering properties. Both breakfasts are served with a heaping mix of berries, walnuts, and almonds At lunch and dinner, vegetables, greens, and grains regularly fill my plate. I rarely eat red meat; in fact, I visit my favorite steakhouse only at three-month intervals. And despite my fondness for french fries (Five Guys makes my favorite) that is maybe a twice-a-year indulgence. What’s more, I am slim, with a low BMI, and seldom miss a day racking up 10,000 steps on my Fitbit. A…
Lessons on Aging from My Mother and Grandmother
Read More at Sixty and Me Now that I have become “their age” I find myself thinking a lot about my grandmother (Tania) and my mother (Helen). After all, they were my first aging female role models. When they were the age I am now (in my 60s), I didn’t give their age a thought because, like all daughters, I was consumed with the drama of my own life – deeply embedded in childrearing and a bad marriage. One thing I do remember, though, is that I was always amazed at how I seemed to be getting older, whilst they seemed to stay the same age: comfortably, nicely, calmly old. Or, ageless. What I would give to be able to talk to them now, to ask their advice about aging! The only thing I can do is remember and form…
Targeting the Aging of the Immune System in the Context of Frailty
Read More at Fight Aging! The immune system declines into a state of incapacity (immunosenescence) and chronic inflammation (inflammaging) with advancing age. Unresolved inflammatory signaling is disruptive of tissue function in many ways, from reduced stem cell activity to pathologically altered somatic cell behavior. It is thought to be important in the declining muscle mass and strength that contributes to age-related frailty. Thus addressing immune aging is a significant and important target in the treatment of aging as a whole. Frailty is a highly prevalent geriatric syndrome that has attracted significant attention from physicians and researchers due to its associated increase in vulnerability and healthcare costs, especially in the elderly population. Generally, frail patients suffer from multiple chronic diseases, with comorbidities and polypharmacy greatly challenging their health management. Gerontologists suggest that targeting the common pathogenesis of comorbidities rather than a…
This Is How To Keep Lemons Fresh for Months—Seriously
Read More at Well+Good Whether you’ve lugged home a large haul from the supermarket or you have more lemons than you know what to do with, keeping lemons fresh can be a challenge. Lemons risk losing freshness if they aren’t put to immediate use—or worse, spoil before you’re able to add them to a recipe. So how to keep lemons fresh? For advice, we asked experts for their best tips on prolonging the life of lemons. Here are their recommendations. How to keep whole lemons fresh If you purchased whole lemons in bulk and want to keep them fresh, store them in your refrigerator’s crisper drawer. “Fruits naturally ripen slower in the fridge as the cooler temperature slows everything down,” Natalie Alibrandi, food scientist and CEO of Nali Consulting, previously told Well+Good. When sealed in a plastic bag or container,…
Over 60 and Looking for a Job? Here’s 10 Tips to Get You Started
Read More at Sixty and Me Looking for a job in your 60s can be a real challenge. For starters, you may not have expected to be in a position to have to look for work at this age. A six-year increase to the women’s state pension age in less than 10 years is a huge shift, which has left many with no choice but to continue working. On top of that, age discrimination is still an issue within the workforce, which can sometimes mean that it’s harder to open doors than it should be. For example, it’s not uncommon for our members to hear the words “you’re overqualified” as if it’s a compliment, when it’s clearly a sign of judgement and prejudice in the recruitment process. Thankfully, all is not lost. More and more employers are recognising the talent…
Gain or Loss of Specific Microbial Species May Be a Better Measure of Gut Microbiome Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! It now costs little to determine the contents of the gut microbiome, producing a list of microbial species and their prevalence. Numerous companies offer this service. This data can be sliced in numerous ways, but as researchers note here, it is the gain and loss of specific populations with advancing age that produces contributions to aging. More general measures of diversity or change, those that give little to no weight to which specific microbial populations alter in abundance, do not produce good correlations with degenerative aging. It is important to consider the actions and mechanisms of specific microbes: are they causing chronic inflammation, are they generating beneficial or harmful metabolites, and so forth. The gut microbiome is a modifier of disease risk because it interacts with nutrition, metabolism, immunity, and infection. Aging-related health loss has…
Further Discussion of the Poor Evidence For Metformin to Even Mildly Slow Aging`
Read More at Fight Aging! The problem with metformin as a drug to slow aging is that the evidece to support that use is very poor. In animal studies, the results are very unreliable, and the Interventions Testing Program found no effect in its highly overengineered studies. Further, the existing human data is not supportive, taken as a whole. Even if we did want to cherry pick the better data and be hopeful, the effect size compares unfavorably with that achieved through regular exercise, and further appears to be only achieved in people with the abnormal metabolism associated with obesity and diabetes. All of the work that was done to convince the FDA to endorse the TAME human clinical trial to test the ability of metformin to slow aging is useful, but the resulting agreement on trial structure should be…
22 Fiber-Filled Thanksgiving Salad Recipes You’ll Be Extra Thankful To Eat
Read More at Well+Good Turkey, baked mac-and-cheese, and stuffing are all Thanksgiving dinner showstoppers. But real talk: Unless you add some fiber to your plate, you may not be feeling all that festive the next day. And while fiber-rich Thanksgiving salad recipes rarely get the same level of accolades as other starring dishes, they really should. After all, a diet high in fiber is linked to a cornucopia of health benefits, including reduced inflammation, boosted metabolism, and a happy gut. All the Thanksgiving salad recipes rounded up here are not only full of the nutrient, but they’re also quite delicious. Whether loaded with greens; made with other types of veggies, such as sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts; or even served warm, the following Thanksgiving salad recipes are sure to make for a table of thankful eaters. The Best Healthy Thanksgiving…
IGF1 Gene Therapy as a Neuroprotective Treatment, Slowing Female Reproductive Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! Researchers here describe an interesting approach to slowing aspects of neurodegeneration that contribute to, among other things, female reproductive aging. That is the focus of this paper, but numerous other aspects of the aging brain are also involved. IGF1 is well studied in the context of aging, and manipulation of the signaling pathways linking insulin, IGF1, and growth hormone has been shown to extend life span in a number of species. Where we can make direct comparisons between mice and humans, such as between growth hormone receptor knockout mice and humans with Laron syndrome, the effects are nowhere near as large. Suppression of growth hormone signaling can extend life by 70% or so in mice, but Laron syndrome doesn’t appear to make humans live meaningfully longer. Many approaches to slowing aging have much larger effects…
Here’s How the Winter Can Impact Your Sex Life—For Better and for Worse
Read More at Well+Good Winter invokes a lot of changes, good and bad. Festive treats and music go very much in the pro column, while perpetually dry skin and shoveling your car out every day before work are on the cons side. And interestingly, the season’s mixed-bag vibe can also positively and negatively impact your sex drive and libido. Why? The winter season can “be evocative of many feelings for people,” says Kate Balestrieri, PsyD, a sex therapist and founder of Modern Intimacy. “Some find comfort and nostalgia in the season, while others find it dreary and painful to endure.” There are also some unique things that happen during winter that can play a role in messing with (or benefiting) your sex life—more on those in a sec. Before diving in any deeper, it’s important to note that one’s sex…
How Long a Food Safety Expert Says Your Thanksgiving Leftovers *Actually* Stay Good For
Read More at Well+Good Sure, Black Friday shopping is one reason to celebrate November 25. But if we’re all being honest, the rush of eating Thanksgiving leftovers transcends even the ultra-rare 70 percent off sale. However, before you reheat the turkey and serve yourself a piece of pumpkin pie—and continue to do so for the week-plus that follows—it bears keeping a few food safety rules in mind. So I asked to food safety experts to answer the critical November 25 (…and 26, 27, 28, and 29th) question: How long are Thanksgiving leftovers good for, really? According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the simple answer to this question is that you should try to gobble up the remnants of your Thanksgiving feast within three to four days (if you’re storing it in the fridge). However, like many things in…
10 Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally (#6 Is SO Tasty!)
Read More at Sixty and Me Are you among the one in three adults who have a high blood pressure? If so, taking your prescribed medication every day is vitally important for your long-term health. You probably don’t have any obvious symptoms, but this is one of the most important conditions your doctor will screen you for. Dietary and lifestyle changes can make a significant difference. Just losing half a stone of excess weight, for example, can bring your blood pressure down enough for your doctor to reduce your medication. The approaches mentioned here can help too, but if you are on prescribed medication check with your doctor before taking any supplements. Why Blood Pressure Matters You need a certain pressure in your circulation to keep blood moving around your body. Your blood pressure naturally varies throughout the day and…
‘I’ve Been a Chef for Over 40 Years—These Are the Longevity-Boosting Ingredients I Cook With Every Day for the Most Delicious Meals’
Read More at Well+Good After 40-plus years working in professional kitchens, it’s safe to say that chef Peter George knows a thing or two about cooking. Like recipes in a family cookbook, this chef has collected memories, techniques, and knowledge about the culinary arts during his journey as a professional chef for the last four decades. Today, he works as a chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in Pasadena, California—where he seeks to inspire his pupils with the breadth of information he’s acquired throughout his career. It’s no secret that working in a professional kitchen can be mentally and physically challenging. Chef George shares some of his best-kept secrets to staying on top of his game even as he grows older. Want a sneak peek? It’s a combination of a strong work ethic, a burning passion for his career,…
‘Gentle Nutrition’ is the Final Principle of Intuitive Eating, and It’s All About Honoring Your Body
Read More at Well+Good When some people hear the term “intuitive eating,” they imagine the bonkers myth that it means eating pizza and cookies all day. And for some folks starting their intuitive eating journey, meals may look like that (which is okay!), especially if they’ve been depriving themselves of those foods. However, that’s not quite what intuitive eating is. In short, it’s a way of eating that pays attention to what your body—not society—is telling you it needs and wants. It says “no” to things like dieting, shaming yourself for eating certain foods, using food as a sole coping skill, or eating what and how much you think you “should.” Created by registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD, CEDRD-S and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, CEDS-S, authors of Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti Diet Approach, intuitive eating is a weight-inclusive,…
Grip Strength Remains a Decent Biomarker of Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! Of the various simple measures that correlate with mortality and risk of age-related disease, grip strength remains a relatively good option, even in this modern era of epigenetic clocks. Illustrative of this point, researchers here show a correlation between grip strength and epigenetic age data in a sizable study population. The degree to which an individual suffers from the chronic inflammation of aging may be an important determinant of this relationship. Inflammation disrupts tissue function throughout the body, and maintenance of muscle mass and strength is one of the aspects of health negatively affected by unresolved inflammatory signaling. Researchers modeled the relationship between biological age and grip strength of 1,274 middle aged and older adults using three “age acceleration clocks” based on DNA methylation, a process that provides a molecular biomarker and estimator of the…
How to Rewrite the Story of Aging After 60
Read More at Sixty and Me Do you remember in our adolescence all we could think about was getting older? Then a curious thing happened. We became adults and the general perceptions around aging radically changed, and with it, so did our stories about aging. These stories no longer represented personal freedom, but something to resist. Can these stories be changed after 60 or are we stuck with them? This is part of my current series for Sixty and Me readers, in which we are uncovering limiting beliefs and how to remove them from your life after 60. For this article, and the accompanying video, we will look at common perceptions of aging that are based on limiting beliefs and how to improve your quality of life by writing a new story about aging. Generalized Beliefs of Aging Woven into…
Fight Aging! Newsletter, November 21st 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 Effects of Gly-Low Supplementation on Long Term Health in Mice Klotho Promotes Autophagy to Slow Vascular Calcification Does the Gut Microbiome Contribute to Frailty via Oxidative Stress? Successful Treatment of Aging is a Goal of Great Importance to Public Health Reprogramming Alone is Not Sufficient Moderate Calorie Restriction Improves…
Are You Turning Your Ideas into Action?
Read More at Sixty and Me One day I walked into the living room and said to my husband, “I have this idea that won’t leave me alone. I know it is probably a really dumb idea but, I just can’t seem to let it go.” “What idea is that?” My husband asked as he peeked around his morning newspaper. “Well,” I said… tiptoeing my way into the conversation. “I have been thinking that maybe I might like to sign up for a health coaching certification program.” “So, you ‘maybe’ ‘might’ want to be a health coach?” My husband asked. “Yeah maybe,” I said, “It’s just an idea.” “Well then,” my husband said, patiently, “why don’t you sign up for the program?” “Because the program it is not cheap, and I am not even sure I really want to be…
Is It a Good Idea To Take Melatonin or a Sleeping Pill on a Plane? Here’s What Sleep Doctors Have To Say
Read More at Well+Good There are two types of travelers in this world: people who can conk out on any mode of transit with ease and those who simply cannot. If you’re in the latter camp, it’s easy to envy those in the former—particularly on a lengthy flight when all you want to do is get some shut-eye to avoid feeling like a jet-lagged zombie when you land. In that scenario, it’s tempting to seek some outside support…but can you safely take melatonin or a sleeping pill on a plane? According to sleep doctors, the short answer is yes, so long as you take a few particular precautions around timing and dosage. First, it’s important to note that while they both have the potential to make you feel sleepy, sleeping pills and melatonin have entirely different mechanisms of action. Sleeping…
‘I’m a Pain-Management Specialist, and Here’s What Pain Tolerance Really Means’
Read More at Well+Good So much of the popular discourse around pain focuses on the benefits of being able to push through it: “Beauty is pain!” “No pain, no gain!” But while there’s value in developing the kind of perseverance that these phrases imply, the level of pain you can tolerate isn’t just about the amount of mental toughness you can muster. Although much of the pain we feel is indeed “in our heads”—based on the interplay of the brain and the nervous system—that doesn’t mean we have full control over our tolerance to it, or that if we were all to exert the same amount of willpower, that we could all handle the same amount of pain, anyway. In fact, the experience of pain is highly subjective, says physician and pain-management specialist Reuben Chen, MD. And a true definition…
What To Say To Someone Who Lost a Loved One—And What *Not* To Say
Read More at Well+Good There’s no denying how difficult it is to know exactly what to say to someone who has lost a loved one. You’re coming from a well-intentioned place of wanting to offer support, not cause additional harm, and yet, too often the desire to console results in the bereaved person taking on the added emotional labor of supporting others who are uncomfortable and don’t know what to say. “Most of us are socialized to help others by solving problems, but grief cannot be fixed,” says trauma and loss expert Gina Frieden, PhD, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Most people are also “uncomfortable with the topic,” says Katie Opher, a coordinator at Penn Medicine’s David Bradley Children’s Bereavement Program and clinical director of Camp Erin with Penn Medicine Hospice, adding, “it’s hard to talk about…
5 Possible Side Effects Of Minoxidil Sexually
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health For many years, people have used minoxidil to treat hair loss, but it seems they have been doing it wrong all along. Recent studies in important research institutions are revisiting the topic and proposing oral minoxidil as an alternative for patients with hair loss who didn’t respond to topical treatment. However, minoxidil can come with side effects, and some of them could affect patients sexually. This article covers the topic thoroughly, comparing minoxidil with other medications and listing some natural alternatives you can also try. What is Minoxidil? Minoxidil is the main chemical composition ingredient of Rogaine. The discovery of this drug was made in the 1970s. Initially, it was used for patients with a diagnosis of refractory hypertension. In the body, minoxidil is converted into its active metabolite, minoxidil…
Successful Treatment of Aging is a Goal of Great Importance to Public Health
Read More at Fight Aging! Why has the tone of writing by ethicists on the topic of treating aging as a medical condition, with consequent extension of health human life span, shifted from from hostility to endorsement over the last twenty years? One possibility is that while a technological capability is thought to be a far future possibility, or unattainable, only those with an ax to grind will talk about it. The years since the turn of the century have seen tremendous progress towards implementing therapies capable of addressing mechanisms of aging, and in lockstep with that the scientific community, and a small but sizable fraction of the public at large, have come to understand that rejuvenation and slowing of aging are viable near future goals. Some of those people are ethicists lacking an ax to grind, and some of…
Why ‘Dry Texting’ Can Kill the Mood So Quickly—And How To Resurrect It, According to Therapists
Read More at Well+Good For all its glorious benefits—convenience, ease, speed—texting is still communication in a vacuum. Sure, any digital chat can get a message from person A to person B, but without the natural elements of body language and facial expression inherent in an IRL convo, or even the tone and candor that you can hear in a phone call, the words of a text can lack key context and nuance. Unless you aim to fill that contextual void with additional language or emojis, it’s easy for a simple texting exchange to feel robotic, inhuman…at the very least, dry. The term “dry texting” has come to mean any texting interchange where one of the participants is using only very brief, one- or two-word responses to keep the conversation going. While this kind of communication might be frustrating in an…
Investigating PGE2, Cellular Senescence, and Macrophage Function in the Aging Lungs
Read More at Fight Aging! Researchers here show that blocking increased PGE2 signaling in the aging lung helps to restore resistance to influenza infection. There is an interaction between PGE2, cellular senescence in cells of the alveoli in the lung, and the behavior of local macrophages of the innate immune system. It remains to be seen whether PGE2 signaling is regulating much the same issues connected to cellular senescence elsewhere in the body. Previous research by another group showed that when macrophages from an old mouse were put into a young mouse, and cells looked young again. Signs pointed to a lipid immune modulator known as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) with wide ranging effects. The study team discovered there is more PGE2 in the lungs with age. This increase in PGE2 acts on the macrophages in the lung, limiting their overall…
It’s Totally Normal To Feel More Tired in the Winter—Here’s Why (and How To Deal)
Read More at Well+Good The chill of winter (at least, in most places) can make it oh-so-appealing to pass your free time hibernating indoors, maybe even wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea. In that state, spending some extra time sleeping or taking a mid-afternoon snooze is just that much easier to do than in summer, when you’re more likely to be out and about. But it isn’t just greater proximity to the bed or couch that makes us crave more sleep in the winter. The season’s shifts in light and temperature also influence our circadian rhythm, leaving us physiologically more tired in the winter. That’s right, feeling more tired and sleeping more in the winter isn’t just a product of feeling overall less motivated to go outside. It’s a real thing largely triggered by the change in…