3. Programmed theories

Two researchers at MIT, Drs. David Sinclair and Leonard Guarente believe they have discovered the "Holy Grail" of aging, the senescent factor (SF), which may be the underlying cause of why our billions of cells stop dividing and thus age. SF is believed to be the genetically regulated internal biological clock that is preset to a certain number of cell divisions before the cell dies.

Believe it or not, it may all be a big mistake. These two scientists think that bits of extra DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid, the building blocks of life – accumulate within our cells’ nuclei, and that this "junk" DNA builds up to levels that clog normal cell action.

Our mothers have been telling us that junk food is bad for us, now junk DNA may be, too! Actually, what Drs. Sinclair and Guarente published in the prestigious journal, Cell, was about brewer’s yeast cells; however, they believe that this buildup of junk DNA from too many repeats of our ribosomes – protein producing factories inside a cell’s nucleus – is what also causes Werner’s syndrome in humans, which is a fatal disease of premature aging.
Persons afflicted with Werner’s syndrome are normal until they become teenagers, then they start developing signs of accelerated aging like very wrinkled skin and die in their 30s. If the Cell paper’s conclusion is correct, then knowing what the SF is may lead scientists to find ways to slow down the mechanism of cellular senescence, or aging.

article by Mike Adams

Is cosmetic surgery important for saving your job? I'm seeing an increasing number of stories on cosmetic surgery for men, and in asking men why they want to get cosmetic surgery, the most common answer I've heard is: they want to save their jobs. This is the answer from men who are middle aged and want to appear younger in order to have better career opportunities. I find this fascinating.

First, there is apparently a lot of age discrimination going on in the workplace. So, in addition to the racial discrimination and gender discrimination, we also have a fair amount of age discrimination going on. The older you are, the more likely you are to be let go, it seems. So a lot of men think if they simply appear younger, with black hair, younger-looking skin, a facelift and a nose job, they can stay in their current job or have better job prospects.

Sadly, they may, in fact, be right, because many employers do tend to judge people on their appearance, even if it's not conscious. Sometimes the perception of a person's ability goes along with their hair color, apparent youth or apparent level of fitness, even if those don't correlate with their actual job performance.

I would like to suggest there's a better way to appear younger than turning to cosmetic surgery, liposuction or some other radical procedure, and that is to make yourself mentally sharper. Because, if you really want to save your job, the best way to do it, I think, is to enhance your mental performance -- have a sharper memory, have an improved vocabulary, be more creative and have stronger analytical skills. The way to do that is through lifestyle changes: namely, nutrition and brain exercises.

On the nutritional front, there are a great many things you can do to enhance brain function. First, there is a whole class of foods and food ingredients you have to avoid to protect your nervous system (ingredients that I call "metabolic disruptors"), and then there is a whole other group of nutritional supplements and herbal supplements that can enhance brain function.
Let's go through these quickly. On the things to avoid list, you certainly want to avoid hydrogenated oils. Those are described as brain poison, and they're terrible for the nervous system.

You also want to avoid most prescription drugs, and I don't mean just stopping them cold turkey, but finding ways to get off of them in a healthy manner with the guidance of a qualified health professional. A lot of drugs, most notably statin drugs, greatly interfere with brain function. If you're on statin drugs, and you can't figure out why your memory is fading and why you seem to be unable to concentrate the way you used to be able to, the reason is probably because of the drugs you're on. So you want to get off of those drugs and return to normal, healthy brain function.

Other food ingredients that affect brain function include artificial colors. These have been known to cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They can alter moods, greatly impair cognitive function and should be avoided by anyone wanting to have a good, healthy brain. Lastly, you should avoid refined carbohydrates and added sugars. These are also a form of brain poison, because they alter the availability of blood sugar in your bloodstream, and your brain operates on blood sugar. So, when you have wild swings in your blood sugar, your brain function rises and falls like the tide, and it can suffer greatly because of it. Relatively low blood sugar, for example, can cause forgetfulness, moodiness, aggression and a lot of other problems that will make it difficult for you to keep your job no matter what you look like.

New Canadian research appearing in the February issue of the journal Neuropsychologia found that knowing two languages or more can postpone the onset of dementia in old age by more than four years.

The researchers -- led by Dr. Ellen Bialystok of the Rotman Research Institute of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto -- recruited 184 Toronto-area residents for their study. Bialystok and colleagues examined the participants for knowledge of languages and the age at which signs of dementia began to appear.

Men who spoke only one language were found to develop dementia at an average age of 70.8, while uni-lingual women developed the disorder at 71.9. However, among men who spoke at least two languages, onset of dementia was delayed until age 76.1, on average, while multi-lingual women developed dementia at an average of 75.1 years old.

When groups of men and women were combined, multi-lingual people experienced a delay in onset of dementia of 4.1 years, compared to those who spoke only one language.

"It's a much larger effect than I expected," Bialystok said. "You do research because you hope that your ideas are right. But I am always surprised; I always have the 'wow' reaction. And in this case the results were so clear."

According to Bialystok, the benefit likely comes from fluently knowing at least one non-native language, as method of learning and grammatical correctness did not seem to affect results. "What matters is that you have to manage two complete language systems at once," she said.
Bialystok and colleagues believe that the benefits of knowing multiple languages are not influenced by level of education, occupation, cultural upbringing or immigration history. The study revealed that participants with the highest education tended to speak only one language, which is typically thought to postpone the onset of dementia.

Neuropsychologist Fergus Craik, a member of the research team, said the study was an example of how lifestyle can affect mental functioning in old age. "It's not like it stops dementia, but ... it's deferred," he said. "That, in and of itself, is hugely important."