Posted on 04/01/2008 8:59:15 PM PDT by traumer
Secrets to Living Longer with Barbara Walters
Take a guess. How many people are at least 100 years old in the United States? Would you believe more than 84,000 and climbing at an astonishing rate? By the time America's baby boomers reach that milestone, there could be more than a million centenarians.
My new special, "Live to Be 150 ... Can You Do It?" takes you way beyond nips and tucks, Botox and exercise, but rather to the cutting edge of the search for a longer, healthy life.
What you will see could not have happened just a few years ago. Whether you're 20, 40 or 60 years old, living well past 100 could actually be possible.
Over the last two years, I have talked to some of the world's top scientists, who told me about cutting edge breakthroughs in our understanding of how the body ages.
And they showed me how they are already growing human body parts in the lab for implantation into people. The heart research lab at the University of Minnesota took just a few days to grow a living, beating rat heart from stem cells. Amazing.
I also spoke with two scientists in Boston who say that in the next five years, they plan to have a drug on the market that will treat several of the major diseases of aging. This drug is based on the "good stuff" in red wine called resveratrol.
I also dined with a group of calorie restrictors. They weigh and measure every morsel of food they put in their bodies -- and consume 30 percent fewer calories than the average American. These calorie restrictors claim they have incredible energy and improved eyesight and memory. Experts say this is the only proven way to extend life.
And if you are feeling a little apprehension about living longer and longer, don't worry. I met a group of people who have all reached the age of at least 100. And it's not just lucky genes because genes account for only 25 percent of how long we live.
So at 100, could you still drive? Will romance be more than just a sweet memory? The stories of these remarkable centenarians will inspire you and just might calm your fears about getting old.
“Live to 150, Can You Do It?”
If the Obamunist or Hitlery install their Commie Medicine plan, we’ll be lucky to make it to 50, let alone 150.
Why? She will still get her inheritance - as a spry young woman of 120. ;)
Exactly - the body is just a shell. Keeping it alive artificially past its normal span would just be stupid. If dietary changes can slow the aging process, however, that might be good - aside from bankrupting Social Security and Medicare even faster. ;)
And as the Eastern religions make clear to us (and the early Christians also believed, before the Church decided the fear of death was more profitable), your soul can always choose to incarnate again - you could live two vibrant 75-year lives within that same period instead of spending the last 75 years of a 150-year life as a worn out relic.
As far as the Ray Kurzweil idea of transferring one's consciousness into a machine, I don't believe that will ever work. We might learn how to copy memories from a brain like downloading data to a disk drive, but the soul is multidimensional and can't be bound to a piece of machinery. At best you would end up with a robot full of memories - but the soul that made you an individual will be somewhere else, waiting for a chance to incarnate as a human again.
The same is true of heart disease and lung cancer. The first predictor is genetics and the second is smoking.
All these bogus articles and shows that ignore the obvious.
This reminds me of a true story. Sometime last month when I was doing laundry I caught the end of a conversation between two older women talking about why men die earlier than women. I kind of smirked and she said “you heard what I said”. I smiled back and said “we die earlier, because we want to do so”
My best friend’s grandmother is 107 and still lives on her own. The old woman is a staunch Republican and votes regularly. My friend took her grandmother out to dinner and was surprised when the waiter recognized her grandmother. Turns out the old woman takes a cab over to the restaurant fairly regularly and dines there alone.
What’s her favorite on the menu? : )
Here’s the deal, If I cannot Walk, Talk, wipe my own butt...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Why would you WANT to wipe your own butt, when you can have someone else do it for you? (saw that on an episode of ‘House’)
I understand that the HILLARYCARE will take care of wiping your but...
I’m absolutely POSITIVE I want to be around for 200 years.
No doubts about it. I’m shooting for 200.
There are tantalizing clues to all of these diseases, indicating that there is a definite mechanism that just needs to be figured out and countered.
Of those diseases you mentioned, they and a host of others are closely associated with the inflammation response of the immune system.
The immune system is a very carefully tuned machine, adapted for a more primitive and septic lifestyle, punctuated with lots of parasites. But modern people have eliminated many of the common diseases and parasites from their bodies.
In turn, this confuses our immune systems into fighting enemies that aren’t there. Asthma, Crohn’s disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, irritable bowel syndrome, many neurological disorders, etc., etc., are being linked to this same problem. In many cases there is a complex genetic link as well.
Some of these diseases are actually being treated with parasites. Life threatening asthma being temporarily cured with hookworms, and gastrointestinal problems like Crohn’s and irritable bowel syndrome, with pig whipworms (that can only live in the human body for a couple of weeks.)
But this is just a quick fix. The staggering complexity of the immune system is downright amazing. For example, I was studying the inflammation response as it relates to stem cells in the body:
Inflammation can cause the growth of stem cells.
Inflammation can moderate the production of stem cells to just what is needed.
Inflammation can direct the specialization of stem cells into other cells.
Inflammation can trim stem cells so they only occupy only the space that would be occupied by normal cells that are missing. Molded to shape, as it were.
Inflammation can halt further production of stem cells.
Inflammation can destroy stem cells.
Inflammation can prevent the production of new stem cells.
I once saw a bed sheet sized graph, in small print, in a medical library, showing the complete immune system response to a pathogen entering the body. Hundreds of immune actions later, the body returns to normal. This was in the early 1980s. Since that time, that chart has probably tripled in size.
The brain has over 200 known neurotransmitters, and the liver at least 50 enzymes conducting any number of complex processes.
Yes, it is an amazing machine. But a little at a time, we are getting a handle on it, at least enough to mitigate or eliminate many of our major problems.
Right now, there are several promising treatments for Alzheimers, approaching it from several different angles, and with some impressive successes. So don’t be surprised if within a decade or so, if not cured, then it is relegated to being a far less devastating disease.
If you were living forever, how would you know?
genetics is about 25-30% of the predictor....from what I understand.
Does it HAVE to be with Baba Wawa? I'd rather not!
Obviously I have to read more on this subject.
Thank you for your insightful response.
Feel free to Ping me if you post articles related to these subjects.
salmon or halibut—it’s a seafood restaurant. She doesn’t drive anymore, but apparently she gets around quite well in cabs. For her 105th birthday she went to Paris where she was born with her granddaughter. Of course, she had outlived everyone from her childhood, but it’s still pretty cool.
Almost 1/3 of the way there already! Who knows, it might happen.
We’ve got what, 57 years to find out if Jack LaLanne makes it?
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