Read More at Well+Good Fall is just weeks away, and that means cuddling up on the sofa with spooky movies playing on repeat for hours on end. Needless to say, the excitement gearing up for the Hocus Pocus sequel premiering at the end of September is already through the roof. The best part, you may ask? The iconic steamy cauldron scene as the three sister witches throw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that to make their super secret potion from the magical spell book. Which, I’ll be honest, looks like me first thing in the morning as I throw in a blender a pinch of turmeric powder, a spoonful of yam, and a splash of coconut milk to make one of my favorite gut-healthy smoothies to start the day. Of course, unlike the Sanderson…
A Short Tour of Scientific Thought on Vascular Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! The aging of the vasculature, set aside from any other part of the body, arguably kills the largest fraction of humanity at the present time. It isn’t just the dysfunctions of macrophages that lead to atherosclerotic plaque, and the narrowing of blood vessels and stroke and heart attack. It isn’t just the declining density of capillary networks, reducing blood supply to energy-hungry tissues. It isn’t just blood-brain barrier leakage and the consequent inflammation of the brain, or the stiffening of arteries that causes hypertension and remodeling of the heart. The vasculature is so vital that a great many mechanisms compete in their ability to cause harm with advancing age and the growing burden of cell and tissue damage. Aging represents the main risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) which carries the highest burden for the…
Engineering an Increase in Retrotransposon Activity Accelerates Aspects of Aging in Flies
Read More at Fight Aging! One has to be somewhat careful when declaring that an intervention produces accelerated aging. Interventions that reduce health and life span in ways that mimic aspects of aging tend to be narrow in effect, causing elevated levels of a specific form of molecular damage, often one of those thought to be involved in natural aging. DNA repair deficiencies cause what looks a lot like accelerated aging, but should really be thought of as an excess of only one type of age-related damage, nuclear DNA damage. It might be possible to learn things from this type of malfunction, but given that it is very unlike natural aging, it is more likely that a close inspection of the cellular biochemistry and tissue dysfunction involved would be misleading. One can make similar, more difficult arguments regarding whether or…
Could Reading Be the Best Anti-Aging Secret?
Read More at Sixty and Me Remember when teachers told you reading was good for you? They were right. And now reading is even associated with living longer. Researchers at the Yale University School of Public Health have discovered that book readers have a “significant survival advantage” over those who don’t read books. The findings of the Yale study are now appearing in Social Science and Medicine. They show that people over 50 who read up to three-and-a-half hours a week were 17 percent less likely to die over the 12 years of follow-up. Those who read more than that were 23 percent less likely to die than non-readers. Of course, even the most avid readers are sometimes at a loss to know what to read next. And readers who are just getting started with intensive reading need to know…
Inguinal Hernia: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health The term hernia refers to the cases when internal parts of the body push through a muscle weakness or a tissue wall that surrounds it. This leads to the formation of a bulge. Sometimes hernias are painful and have a major impact on quality of life. There are many types of hernia, but inguinal hernia is the most common. Learn more about it below. What is an inguinal hernia? Inguinal hernia is the most common type of hernia, and it occurs in the abdomen, i.e., near the groin. It is the bulging of the abdomen content through a weak spot in the lower portion of the abdominal wall. This type of hernia usually contains a fat part of the small intestine, but in women, it may contain an ovary. Yes,…
What I Learned From a Failed Workplace Child-Care Experiment
Read More at Rewire News Group In September 2020, the mess that my life had become since returning to work one month prior was glaringly apparent. Even from a tiny Zoom window, I could no longer maintain the pretense of my functionality. The pandemic raged, I did not sleep, I did not have clean clothes, and I did not make sense. One Wednesday, right as I started my third back-to-back virtual meeting for the day, my 4-month-old daughter pooped explosively all over my outfit, while breastfeeding. At the same time, my preschooler began screaming for help with her schoolwork. I stripped off my and my baby’s clothes and threw them into the growing mountain of laundry in the bathroom. I was already late to my meeting, both my children were crying, and now, I was too. Without bothering to wipe…
The Popular Press May Be Improving in Coverage of the Treatment of Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! These days, articles in the popular, non-scientific media on the topic of treating aging as a medical condition tend towards being something other than terrible. This is a considerable improvement over the state of affairs a decade ago, and night and day in comparison to the press attitudes towards aging research in the early years of this century. There is always room for improvement, and journalists are near always ill-informed about near everything they commit to paper, but nonetheless the tone is heading in the right direction: that the treatment of aging is a project, it is underway, there are many competing approaches and opinions, and, given the importance of the resulting therapies to all of our lives, this part of the scientific endeavor should not be ignored. For all the advances in medical technology…
Does Healthy Eating = Healthy Aging?
Read More at Sixty and Me Do you have healthy and nutritious habits? Or are you a die-hard fan of those rich foods you grew up eating? As someone concerned with health and nutrition, I have done a lot of research on this subject. I have personally fought pre-diabetes and worked with a team of doctors to determine the best way to eat at this latter stage of my life. Trying to educate others, however, isn’t always so easy. In speaking with friends close to my age, I often hear the old refrain, “But I’ve been eating (insert food here: meat and potatoes, doughnuts, mashed potatoes and gravy) all my life. It hasn’t hurt me yet, and I’m not going to change now.” Is that really true? Are you confident that you can continue to eat the same way you…
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 29th 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 Transfer of Mitochondria Aids in Reducing Harms Following Brain Hemorrhage First Generation Stem Cell Therapies Remain Comparatively Poorly Understood Connections Between Epigenetic Aging and Nuclear DNA Damage Enhancing Neurogenesis Improves Memory in an Alzheimer’s Mouse Model Distributed Full Disclosure Medical Development Suggesting that the Unguarded X Chromosome is not…
Chromatin Structure in Cell Aging and Senescence
Read More at Fight Aging! The constantly changing structure of nuclear DNA, packaged into chromatin, determines which genes are accessible to the machinery of gene expression, which determines protein production, which determines cell behavior and state. Chromatin structure and all of the determinants of that structure, including epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation, change as a cell ages towards the Hayflick limit and cellular senescence, and change in aged tissues versus young tissues. Given the advent of epigenetic reprogramming as a potential strategy for rejuvenation, questions regarding the ways in which epigenetics determines cell function in cellular senescence and aging become more pressing. Comprehending the role of molecular processes such as DNA damage repair, telomere shortening, nuclear and chromatin changes along with epigenetic alterations which drive aging as well as aging related diseases may hold a key to the “elixir…
Metabolic Changes in Aging Humans
Read More at Fight Aging! Within a species, variations in the operation of metabolism correlate with later life health and life span. Insulin metabolism is one of the more prominent and well studied examples. Much of this may stem from the lifestyle choices that epidemiology shows explain the majority of the variation in human life expectancy. Become sedentary or overweight and this pushes metabolism into a less optimal, more harmful state. The consequences to health and risk of mortality accrue over a long period of time, but are no less real for it. The study of aging has long been linked with the study of metabolism, as early theories pointed to the rate of metabolism and by-products of metabolism as drivers of aging processes. The earliest recognized interventions that caused life span extension in model organisms targeted nutritional and metabolic…
All Your Coworkers Quitting? Here’s How To Deal When You’re the One Left Behind
Read More at Well+Good It’s never been more popular to quit your job than it was in 2021 (at least since 2000, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking that number). As it turns out, the still-ongoing Great Resignation isn’t a resistance to work, but more accurately, to bad work—such as jobs with minimal pay or opportunities for growth, or jobs that workers realized didn’t align with their values, newly underscored by the pandemic. While many of the job quitters became job swappers, taking on more fitting roles, the upheaval has still helped thin out teams across the board, leaving many short-staffed and overburdened. According to a recent survey of 1,800+ workers conducted by jobs platform Monster, 61 percent say that their workplace is experiencing staffing shortages—and it’s reasonable to assume that the biggest shortages are hitting the workplaces…
Sex Educators Are Not ‘Grooming’ Your Kids—but Conservatives Want to Incite Fear Anyway
Read More at Rewire News Group As a sexual health educator, Kerri Isham is no stranger to pushback from parents and administrators. Sex education had always attracted controversy, and there had always existed a fear of what children might learn in sex ed, and what it might inspire them to do. But when one angry parent shared an out-of-context page from Isham’s Body Smart workbook on Facebook this past spring, the hate really started to roll in. “If your 4-year-old child came home with this as homework,” the parent wrote in a post that has since been taken down, “how would you feel cause I personally lost my shit it wrecked my day and gave me a disgusting feeling.” The homework in question was a page—sent home because the child had been out sick that day—that stated that “some children…
The Idea that Epigenetic Clocks Will Point to Causes of Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! This popular science article on the development and present use of epigenetic clocks mentions the view that the clocks will point the way to a better understanding of the causes of aging. I’m dubious that use of the clocks represents a better way forward to that goal than the approach of implementing the various rejuvenation therapies outlined in the SENS proposals. A potential rejuvenation therapy that affects just one potential root cause of aging in isolation will tell us a lot about the importance and validity of that cause; researchers are learning a great deal from the ability to selectively destroy senescent cells, for example. Even good correlations between epigenetic states and aging will, unfortunately, take a long time to pick apart into knowledge of which mechanisms influence those epigenetic states, and to what degree.…
Connections Between Epigenetic Aging and Nuclear DNA Damage
Read More at Fight Aging! Today’s open access paper reviews what is known of the connections between epigenetic aging and the nuclear DNA damage that occurs across a lifetime, and particularly in later life. Some of this DNA damage is more evidently connected with the epigenetic regulation that determines the packaging and structure of nuclear DNA, such as the activity of transposable elements, restrained in youth, but unleashed to copy themselves in later life, damaging genes as they do so. It is important to note that the relationship of cause and consequence between nuclear DNA damage and epigenetic change is likely a two-way street, particularly given the comparatively recent discovery that repeated double strand break repair causes epigenetic alterations characteristic of aging. While nuclear DNA damage raises the risk of cancer, such as via damage to cancer suppression genes, it…
MItochondrial Epigenetics in Aging and Cancer
Read More at Fight Aging! Mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, are the descendants of ancient symbiotic bacteria, and still carry a remnant circular genome, separately from the DNA of the cell nucleus. Some forms of mutational damage to mitochondrial DNA, and the downstream consequences of that damage, are thought to be an important contributing cause of degenerative aging, but what about epigenetic changes? Epigenetic aging in nuclear DNA is a hot topic at the moment, so it is inevitable that attention would turn to the epigenetics of the much smaller mitochondrial genome. Inflammation is a defining factor in disease progression; epigenetic modifications of this first line of defence pathway can affect many physiological and pathological conditions, like aging and tumorigenesis. Inflammageing, one of the hallmarks of aging, represents a chronic, low key but a persistent inflammatory state. Oxidative…
Your Plants Deserve a Wellness Routine, Too—Here’s the One No Gardener Should Go Without
Read More at Well+Good Humans are in no short supply of wellness accessories to create a well-rounded routine. Whatever our goals may be—mindfulness, better sleep, general self care—we have the tools in our toolbox to take care of ourselves. Our furry friends do, too, thanks to a deluge of pet wellness products eerily similar to those of our own. So it’s only time our plant babies got a wellness routine of their own, too. Something to nourish them from the inside out, protect their precious fronds from pests, and help them to not just grow, but flourish. Something like Arber, the trendy plant wellness company that gives our houseplants and flowers the TLC they deserve. Like a 12-step skin care routine or a daily dietary supplement, Arber’s wellness kits take a holistic approach to helping your indoor and outdoor plants…
These Foods Pack Both Soluble and Insoluble Fiber—Eat Up for *All* the Digestive and Longevity-Boosting Benefits
Read More at Well+Good Dietary fiber is the gift that keeps on giving, as it can promote better BMs, support heart health, encourage healthy aging, and then some. Unfortunately, per a 2021 report by the American Society for Nutrition, only seven percent of Americans get enough of it in their diets, so consider this to be a PSA urging you to pack your cart (and ultimately your plate) with more fiber-rich foods. However, not all dietary fibers are the same. For instance, there are soluble and insoluble fibers, which work in different ways to offer different benefits. Hoping to boost your fiber intake and get the best of both worlds? The good news is that there are many foods that include both types of fiber, making it that much easier to diversify your diet (and thus your gut) with a…
9 Ways To Prevent a UTI After Sex
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health One of the most frequent clinical bacterial illnesses is urinary tract infections (UTIs). A UTI is an infection of the urinary system causing an inflammatory response. It accounts for nearly 25 percent of all such illnesses in women, and the consequence is that half of these women will develop a UTI and experience symptoms. However, UTIs are treatable and can vanish on their own in most patients. It is also possible to get symptom relief a few days after treatment, particularly with the help of antibiotics. Also, uncomplicated infections in generally healthy people clear within about a week. But, of course, men can also get UTIs, although women get them more routinely since they have a shorter urethra than men. Hence, women are at a higher risk for bacteria from…
Why IVF Is in Jeopardy in the Post-‘Roe’ Era
Read More at Rewire News Group For people trying to build families through medicine, specifically in vitro fertilization, anti-abortion legislation is another barrier to an already inaccessible source of hope. Injection after injection of hormones, egg retrieval, psychological stress on par with cancer patients, and the persistent, nagging question: Will it work this time? And now this process, which is already riddled with stress and doubt, has become even more stressful and murky. For people with the capacity for pregnancy, the fall of Roe v. Wade means they have been thrust into a world where their reproductive autonomy is sacrificed for embryos, and the damage is far-reaching. For IVF patients, their future is clouded with uncertainty, further financial burden, lower chances of success, and a higher risk of complications. The baby that would make it all worth it in the…
More Data on the Effects of Aging on the Gut Microbiome
Read More at Fight Aging! The gut microbiome changes with age, a shifting of microbial populations that increases chronic inflammation and reduces the production of beneficial metabolites. These changes may be largely due to the age-related decline of the immune system, responsible for removing unwanted microbes, but significant changes occur early enough in life, in the mid-30s, for there to be other factors involved. Researchers are actively engaged in mapping the differences between an old microbiome and a young microbiome, work that will likely lend support to various approaches to therapy intended to rejuvenate the gut microbiome, forcing its balance of microbes towards a more youthful configuration. Probiotics are an obvious strategy, but much more data is needed to validate the specifics of such an approach, and it is far from clear that presently available probiotics, even in large amounts,…
How To Get Rid of Bugs on Indoor Houseplants and Keep Them Gone
Read More at Well+Good Dealing with a pest infestation is every plant owner’s worst nightmare. But don’t give up! It is possible to get your indoor garden back to normal with a little extra effort. There are a handful of ways to go about getting rid of all kinds of houseplant bugs. “Common plant pests include mealybugs, scale, spider mites, fungus gnats, thrips, and slugs,” says Erin Marino, plant expert and director of marketing at plant company The Sill. “These pests might sound creepy crawly, but it’s important to remember these bugs are only interested in your plants—not you, your pets, or your furniture.” Even just being near greenery can boost your mood, so you want to keep your plants happy and healthy. Wondering how to keep bugs out of indoor plants? From homemade sprays to non-toxic treatments for your…
Suggesting that the Unguarded X Chromosome is not Important in Gender Longevity Differences
Read More at Fight Aging! Researchers here discuss the unguarded X hypothesis in the context of gender differences in life span. That these differences exist across species strongly suggests evolutionary, biological origins, rather than the lifestyle and behavioral origins sometimes suggested to explain life span differences in our species. It seems likely that the interaction between evolutionary pressures and mating strategies drives a great deal of the differences between genders, and life span may be included in that list, but exactly how that difference in longevity is produced at the level of cellular biochemistry remains up for discussion, as illustrated here. Females and males often have markedly different mortality rates and life spans, but it is unclear why these forms of sexual dimorphism evolve. The unguarded X hypothesis contends that dimorphic life spans arise from sex differences in X or…
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 22nd 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 A Small Trial of NMN Supplementation Shows Improved Muscle Function Sepsis and Immunosenescence Combining BCL-2 Family Inhibitors May Yield More Effective Senolytic Therapies The Path to the Clinic for First Generation Senolytic Therapies A Reduction in the Time Spent in Poor Health at the End of Life, Despite Increased…
Signs of High Testosterone in Men and Women
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “high testosterone levels”? Burly and masculine men lifting weights at the gym? Guys ready to start a brawl? Contrary to popular belief, high testosterone in men doesn’t always have to do with anger issues. Testosterone is a key sex hormone that ladies have too. So, what happens when men’s and women’s testosterone levels get too high? How can you spot the symptoms? Here is what naturally high testosterone or excess testosterone can do to the body. What are high testosterone levels in men? Male testosterone levels vary depending on overall health and age. Men often have higher T levels than women. The testes are capable of producing testosterone in men. The adrenal glands can produce T levels in…
Why Incontinence Is Not a Normal Part of Aging
Read More at Sixty and Me Have you noticed how many ads on television promote the use of products for bladder control problems? And do you realize that nearly all of these ads are directed at women, even though many men experience bladder leakage, too? While I’m grateful that these products exist, the ads often make me cringe. Typically, they portray bladder leakage (incontinence) as a normal and unavoidable part of becoming an older woman. This is far from the truth. It is true that there are some forms of incontinence that are irreversible. However, many types of bladder control problems can improve or be corrected with proper treatment. Today, let’s look at the three most common types of bladder incontinence and possible treatments. Note that some people experience a combination of these conditions. Stress Incontinence Bladder leakage occurs when…
Epigenetic Aging Slows During Hiberation in a Common Bat Species
Read More at Fight Aging! This open access paper on epigenetic age and hibernation in bats makes an interesting companion piece to similar research into marmots from earlier in the year. It seems that hibernation may slow epigenetic aging in a range of species, though it may not be enough to explain differences in life span between all similar hibernating and non-hibernating species. Nonetheless, researchers have for some years shown interest in the biochemistry of hibernation in the context of aging. It remains to be seen what there is to learn here, and whether it can form the basis for therapies or enhancements in human medicine. Comparative analyses of bats indicate that hibernation is associated with increased longevity among species. However, it is not yet known if hibernation affects biological ageing of individuals. Here, we use DNA methylation (DNAm) as…
What to Expect When Your Husband Takes Viagra
Read More at Sexual Post Archive – Ben’s Natural Health Is your husband considering trying Viagra, and you’re wondering what to expect? We’ve got you covered. Erection problems are not just a typical issue for older men. Roughly 40% of 40-year-old American men are dealing with some level of erectile dysfunction. According to recent statistics, most Viagra (sildenafil) users are in their early to mid-50s. The truth is that many men struggle with sexual dysfunction. But, very few decide to do anything about it. With your support, you can see ample results. If you want to know what to expect when your husband takes Viagra, you are in the right place. This detailed guideline can answer all your queries. What is Viagra? Before we talk about how Viagra works for a man, it’s important to cover what Viagra is. Viagra…
Leg Strength Is Linked to Longevity—Here Are 7 Workouts That’ll Help Your Gams Get Stronger
Read More at Well+Good Leg day is one of the most dreaded phrases in fitness. Maybe because nothing makes you feel the burn quite like Bulgarian split squats or jump lunges. Or maybe because the oh-so-slightly important act of walking can become impossible afterwards. But personally, I never feel more powerful than during a lower-body workout, and especially when I’m squatting heavy. My legs are powerful, hear them roar! Leg strength is an indicator of longevity; it’s also important to counter our often sedentary lifestyles, since being inactive causes muscles to weaken and become inflamed. So doing leg workouts regularly can help keep you healthy now and in the future. A good leg workout doesn’t have to mean loading up on a ton of weight, nor does it require misery in the moment or after the fact. If you struggle with leg day, you…
’I’m a Sephora Beauty Director, and These Easy Tricks Keep My Makeup in Place for 12+ Hours in 90-Degree Heat’
Read More at Well+Good The shift into late summer signals that it’s time to switch up your makeup routine, and one of the most notable challenges during these transitional months when temperatures are still (somehow) sticky-hot is getting makeup to stay in place throughout the day. “Sometimes it’s hot and humid, other days can be blustery,” says Helen Dagdag, a national artist with Sephora Collection. “Popping on an extra layer can accidentally swipe away your makeup, and humidity can melt it away as well.” In order to ensure that your makeup lasts all day—whether it’s 65 degrees or 95—Dagdag says it’s best to “prep for all elements” so your look stays flawless for rain, shine, or anything in between. 1. Prep your skin A solid makeup routine starts with skin care, because you want to make sure your complexion is healthy, hydrated,…