I recently read an article that took quite the unorthodox position about aging and health. The article was entitled “La gente tiene esta idea loca de que envejecer es natural e inevitable, y me toca estar explicando que no lo es,” which translates to “People have this crazy idea that aging is natural and inevitable, and I’m explaining that it isn’t.” (The article is linked, but, yes, it is in Spanish.) The title is lengthy and definitely a quote of the interviewee, but it gives light to his interesting position on aging.
The man behind this unique idea is Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist. He’s saying that people can live to be 1,000 years old without looking like they have aged significantly through the utilization of cell therapy.
That’s quite the lofty number, but de Grey equates aging to an engineering problem, and is researching ways to prevent illnesses related to aging and, eventually, aging itself. They describe cell therapy as consisting of the injection of stem cells in a given area so that they replace cells in a body that are no longer self-replicating. However, this simply repairs damage that has already been done. It does not prevent.
This idea of staving off aging through the prevention and repairing of cellular damage reminded me of the benefits of detoxifying the body and, specifically, of a podcast that I heard months ago by EveryDayDetox. This podcast was a recording of a workshop put on by Gil Jacobs, a colonic therapist in New York.
In this podcast, Jacobs discusses a study done by UCLA, in which scientists studied the maturation of various mammals and, with that information, estimated their subsequent life spans. Based on this, Jacobs highlights that the scientists were able to calculated lifespans accurately, give or take a year, for every mammal except humans.
The study estimated that human beings should live to approximately 120 years of age. However, as we all know, that is not the case. Jacobs then goes on to talk about the amazing healing benefits of sleep, especially when paired with a healthy lifestyle and diet heavily consisting of fruits and vegetables. Adequate sleep, he discusses, repairs and heals the body of any inflammation and damage. In his work, de Grey discusses repairing damage in the body in order to delay aging an prolong life.
It’s fascinating how these two topics are related in concept. They both highlight minimizing and preventing damage to the body in order to prolong health. This indicates that there must be something there.
Could aging be unhealthy? Perhaps. Our lifestyles and dietary habits are directly linked to our health. If we are constantly eating processed and unhealthy food, it can lead to obesity of a bastion of other health complications. Sedentary lifestyles weaken the body. If we treat our bodies badly, than it makes sense to presume that our personal life expectancy will go down.
Have you noticed a difference in health when you’ve changed your lifestyle habits for the better?
Remember to eat healthily, sleep plenty, and stay hydrated.
-Marisol
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