INSPO Fitness Journal March 2019

QUALITY
AGEING
While global research targets all
aspects of ageing, there are basic
strategies we can employ to contribute
towards quality ageing.
BY ALISON STOREY
In 2013, Google bankrolled a company
called Calico, short for California Life
Company.
It’s headed by the chairman of Apple (and
several highly post-name initialed scientists
and researchers) and its mission is to “harness
advanced technologies to increase our
understanding of the biology that controls
lifespan. We will use that knowledge to devise
interventions that enable people to lead
longer and healthier lives”.
There is a substantial argument that
finding a way to slow down ageing will save
more lives than finding a cure for cancer. This
outside-the-square thinking group of investors
and scientists see this avenue as a more
effective means to help human beings achieve
a greater quality of life for longer; what is
now commonly referred to as ‘life extension’.
What science (and probably anyone paying
attention) already knows, is that ageing is partly
to blame for muscle loss, decreased bone
density, cardiovascular disease risk, a decrease
in reaction time and cognitive ability, and a
diminished immune function, an increased
risk of cancer, and both sleep and wakefulness
can become increasingly fragmented.
Research into how to lessen these biological
nuisances is surely welcome.
The Maximum Life Foundation aims to
reverse ageing by 2033 and is investing in
the exploration of strategies such as genome
modification (replacing the DNA that causes
a disease with one that doesn’t), nutraceutical
development (developing peptides [proteins]
that manipulate genes to get them to express
the right thing instead of the thing that leads
to disease), maximising artificial intelligence
(to process bulk information about diseases
faster so that more timely solutions can be
found), and nanotechnologies (drug delivery
and biological enhancements at a less than
microscopic level).
Best-selling author Miranda Esmonde-White
brought attention to the
Life Extension movement with her books
“Ageing Backwards” and believes ‘we should
never have to surrender helplessly to chronic
pain, hip and knee replacements, loss of
energy and mobility, poor posture, weight
gain—regardless of our chronological years’
and is a bit less techno-heavy in focusing
on movement and exercise-based protocols
(move it or lose it principle).
If you look closely, the life extension
movement is starting to get traction, and for
good reason. Medical science is enabling the
extension of life; however, this is most often
than not, without quality and vigour attached.
So what can we do to live long and prosper?
Alongside the increasing research on life
extension is an equal amount of concern
that only the rich will be able to access the
resources and technology that will extend
quality of life. However there are some tried
and tested truths that anyone can access.
There just has to be the will and commitment
to sticking with the habits that will see
one reap the benefits in old age.
Live long
and prosper
Numerous research results show that not
over-eating can increase life span substantially.
One experiment with rodents showed
this to be true for just a ten percent reduction
in calorie intake. Those poor mice on a
40 percent restriction were no better off relevant
to life span, and in fact had diminished
health outcomes, further proving why very
low calorie diets don’t work (for mice or
men) and that moderation is key.
There continues to be conflicting ideas
around exercise intensity and ageing. Proponents
of working with our still essentially
caveman biology and doing what they did,
suggest that they walked a lot, jogged some,
sprinted and carried stuff… and got plenty
of sleep. Their stress was the kind that promotes
growth, not the chronic stress modern
civilization heaps upon us, and that training
this way leads to longer maintenance of
14 INSPO – FITNESS JOURNAL MARCH 2019