Why do we age-is there anything we can do about it

Subject: RE: Why do we age-is there anything we can do about it
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 May 08 - 10:29 PM

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein

Yeah!!! I love that. Way to go, Albert! That's exactly how I see it. I don't believe this place is the real thing, I honestly don't. It simply couldn't be.

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Ed T
Date: 02 May 08 - 10:20 PM

Random quotes:

"I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them."
- Ian L. Fleming

"Maybe this world is another planet's Hell." - Aldous Huxley

"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time." - Vince Lombardi

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." - Isaac Asimov

"I'll sleep when I'm dead." - Warren Zevon

"Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratch where it itches."
- the Duchess of Windsor, when asked what is the secret of a long and happy life

"Luck is the residue of design." - Branch Rickey

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein

"Everything has been figured out, except how to live."
- Jean-Paul Sartre

"The graveyards are full of indispensable men." - Charles de Gaulle

"If women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning."- Aristotle Onassis

"The cynics are right nine times out of ten." - Henry Louis Mencken

Attention to health is life's greatest hindrance." - Plato

"I don't feel good." - The last words of Luther Burbank (1849-1926)

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying." - Woody Allen

Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting."
- Karl Wallenda

"After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one." - Cato the Elder (234-149 BC, AKA Marcus Porcius Cato)

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."
- last words of Pancho Villa

I'd like to end the book a lot of ways. Except I don't have any answers. Use your common sense. Be nice. This is the best I can do. All the trouble in the world is human trouble. Well, that's not true. But when cancer cells run amok and burst out of the prostate and take over the liver and lymph glands and end up killing everything in the body including themselves, they certainly are acting like some humans we know. PJ O'Rourke

"I would have made a good Pope." - Richard M. Nixon

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: bobad
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:44 PM

"Moderate alcohol intake has been suggested as something that will reduce the likelihood of some kinds of cardiac failures"

It appears to have somewhat more benefits than that:

From: http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1088441583.html

Alcohol reduces heart attacks, ichemic strokes and circulatory problems through a number of identified ways. They include:

   1. Improving blood lipid profile by increasing HDL ("good") cholesterol and decreasing LDL ("bad") cholesterol.
   2. Decreasing thrombosis (blood clotting) by reducing platelet aggregation, reducing fibrinogen (a blood clotter) and increasing fibrinolysis (the process by which clots dissolve).
   3. Other ways such as increasing coronary blood flow, reducing blood pressure, and reducing blood insulin level.

The moderate consumption of alcohol appears to be more effective than most other lifestyle changes that are used to lower the risk of heart and other diseases. For example, the average person would need to follow a very strict low-fat diet, exercise vigorously on a regular basis, eliminate salt from the diet, lose a substantial amount of weight, and probably begin medication in order to lower cholesterol by 30 points or blood pressure by 20 points.

But medical research suggests that alcohol can have a greater impact on heart disease than even these hard-won reductions in cholesterol levels or blood pressure. Only cessation of smoking is more effective. Additionally, other medical research suggests that adding alcohol to a healthful diet is more effective than just following the diet alone.

After reviewing the research on heart diseases and stroke, Dr. David Whitten reported that "we don't have any drugs that are as good as alcohol and noted investigator Dr. Curtis Ellison asserted that "abstinence from alcohol is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease."

The moderate consumption of alcohol appears to be beneficial in reducing or preventing even more diseases and health problems including angina pectoris bone fractures and osteoporosis, diabetes, digestive ailments, duodenal ulcer, erectile dysfunction (ED), essential tremors, gallstones, hearing loss, hepatitis A, kidney stones, liver disease, macular degeneration (a major cause of blindness), pancreatic cancer, Parkinson's disease, poor cognition and memory, poor physical condition in elderly, rheumatoid arthritis, stress and depression, and type B gastritis.

It's not surprising that the science-based Harvard Healthy Eating Pyramid recommends the regular moderate consumption of alcohol (beer, wine, or spirits) unless contraindicated.

It's clear that the moderate consumption of alcohol improves health and increases longevity.

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:34 PM

"why do we age?"

good grief.

Now, back to whatever I was doing.

as I pour myself another shot of B&B and light up another Number 7.

biLL

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Ed T
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:28 PM

Maybe this guy is onto something, but would life be worth it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYQcZyB1tBY

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Art Thieme
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:13 PM

Anyone who gets 101 years, ought to know that there are better things to do with their time than run marathons!

Many of my good friends get all the exercise they need being pall bearers for people who run marathons.



Art

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:10 PM

Studies have shown that the best way to assure a good probability of a long and healthy life is to have parents whose grandparents are still alive and healthy at your birth.

Several genetic markers have been found that appear to produce a tendency toward more rapid aging. One or two markers have been found that appear to do the opposite, retarding the aging process up to a point, but even those fortunate enough to have inherited those "good genes" may have also inherited several of the less wanted kind in the mix.

Laboratory tests, primarily with rats, have shown that a very low calorie diet can produce reductions in the rate of aging; but the necessary reductions in food intake are pretty extreme, and easily can lead to inadequate nutrition (which can kill you long before your time). A few well-known "researchers" are attempting to live forever by this method, but we won't know if it really works until they finally die to give us an end-point for the experiment. Extreme starvation - or close to it - seems to be necessary to significantly slow the aging process, but keeping the diet moderate and weight within low-normal range does provide some protection against "bulk-related" ailments such as diabetes and some cardiac burdens in later life.

While exposure to infectious agents can do you in at any time, studies have shown that not being exposed to common "diseases" in early childhood can leave you with an undeveloped immune system that makes you very much more susceptible to diseases later in life. Children raised in homes where there are pets (dogs were specifically recommended in a couple of studies) have been found to have a significantly reduced susceptiblity to asthma and related respiratory diseases. A recent study has found evidence for the conclusion that chidren in day-care or "play groups" prior to age 2 to 5 may have a significantly reduced susceptibility to forms of leukemia common in pre-adolescents. (More study required on this last one.)

Moderate alcohol intake has been suggested as something that will reduce the likelihood of some kinds of cardiac failures, but there's a fine line between the "dose" that helps the heart, and the dose that destroys the liver. (I've had several friends who went just slightly over the line, and "had" is the operative word.)

Enjoying life as you find it actually does seem to help prolong life, although much of the purported "reasearch" published on this aspect of longevity and aging is pure bullshit. Despite the hype, some legitimate research does suggest that there's something of merit in a good attitude; and you'll have a lot more fun if you avoid being overly bitter about the tricks She plays on you.

John

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Ed T
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:10 PM

And some life advice from Sir Walter Raleigh:


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3525449.ece

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Ed T
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:02 PM

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4385601&page=1

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Art Thieme
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:01 PM

It's all about time!

As I'm fond of saying, "If it wasn't for time, we'd have to do everything all at once!!"

Be thankful for what you get.

Art

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: bobad
Date: 02 May 08 - 07:58 PM

"Drink little or no alcohol."

Studies have shown that men who drink alcohol in moderation live longer than those who abstain.

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 02 May 08 - 07:56 PM

Most people age too soon because they ain't tough enough, that's why. You gotta drink heavy and smoke good cigars so as to toughen up yer system. You gotta swear, get in fights, and raise hell to stay young. You gotta bust chairs over people's heads and paint the town red to keep yer joints limber. You gotta go out with fast dames and drive fast cars. You gotta break some of the rules. I know. I done it all. I still feel young and I got started at this game when Bogart was still a hot feature and movies cost 25 cents or less.

I can't figure why Bogart got old, come to think of it, cos he was basically pretty much on the right track. Bacall too. Geez. Maybe humans just ain't made tough enough.

It helps to be a mean bastard too. Most of the really mean bastards I've ever known just seem to go on forever if they don't happen to die by violence...

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 May 08 - 07:47 PM

There are plenty of things you can do to lengthen your life. Exercise. Don't smoke. Drink little or no alcohol. Avoid stress. Take as few drugs as possible (and I mean the prescription type in particular). Eat a good diet. Don't overeat. Keep your sugar intake low. Keep your mental attitude positive and happy.

After they're all done, though, you're still gonna die.

So the question, I guess, is what you want your life to be like between now and then, isn't it?

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 May 08 - 07:07 PM

Here's a partial answer. have you seen the recent publicity about the female twins separated at birth and reunited at 35? One is a smoker and looks ten years older than her sister.

Their picture should be posted in girls' room everywhere.

Subject: RE: Why do we age is there anything we c
From: Ed T
Date: 02 May 08 - 06:46 PM

Sorry, intended this for non music thread. Maybe my age is showing:)

Subject: Why and how we age
From: Ed T
Date: 02 May 08 - 06:44 PM

Why do we age, and is there anything we can do about it?

Do we have a "best before date" in our genes, and can we just reach this age with good lifestyle choices? Or, are good lifestyle choices a major factor in extending life significantly?


http://www.thetech.org/genetics/news.php?id=10