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By Joe Boland

July 6, 2021

Most people tend to look at the cycle of life as inevitable, and while its true that none of us can outrun Father Time, there are natural life extenders that can activate longevity pathways to slow the aging process.

Genes are not your destiny, says Dr. David Sinclair, Ph.D., A.O., on the Dr. Axe show podcast. You can change that rate of aging by doing the right things.

What are those things? Sinclair, a professor in the Department of Genetics, co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Sinclair Lab at Harvards Blavatnik Institute, which specializes in genetics and longevity, says that a healthy lifestyle is the key, emphasizing these five things the most:

These things can extend your life span by 14 years or more just by doing the basics, he says. And it turns out an estimated 80% of your health and longevity is not genetic. It depends on how you live your life.

Sinclair says four important factors in longevity are:

By looking at these factors and others, Sinclairs team has been able to determine peoples biological age how old they are based on their bodies and health, not necessarily how long since they were born and his researchers have discovered a group of longevity genes called sirtuins.

They control how fast we age, Sinclair says of sirtuins. There are molecules in foods we eat that activate these defenses in our body, these genes. These molecules are the same that are in food types that people in Blue Zones eat: resveratrol and oleic acid found in things like olive oil, avocado and nuts.

It turns out, these genes are not predetermined. They can be fostered to help extend longevity and support a healthier overall lifestyle.

Weve got the wrong conception about what aging is. We tend to think that its just a natural process that we can do nothing about, but weve learned that thats not true 80% of the rate of our aging is in our own hands. Its actually controlled by how we live and what we eat, Sinclair says.

I am proposing a new theory about why we age: the loss of information in our body and how to preserve that information over time. The analogy would be if we had a DVD of information on ourselves, over time the it gets scratched, so the cell cannot read the original genetic information easily. What weve discovered is we can now polish that DVD and get the cell to read the useful information again. And in that way, were actually showing that we can reverse the aging process.

Theres a lot of evidence that fasting turns on these longevity pathways, Sinclair says. Dont eat three large meals a day and snack in between. I think the old idea of always having food around and never being hungry has to be revised.

Dont sit in a chair all day. Get a standing desk if you can. Go for walks, and even better do HIIT if you can. Work out. Keep your muscles from declining, says Sinclair.

Maybe its also finding a new sport that you want to play again and again, with friends such as golf, tennis or pickleball.

Sleep affects all aspects of health and has huge effects on aging. Its vital. Aim for at least seven hours a night.

Part of that is having a goal in life. The other is to have a partner or friends and family that are caring and loving around you. That will definitely reduce your amount of stress. Itll help you sleep, and itll make every day much more enjoyable as well, he says.

Chronic stress is a real problem for aging, he adds. It can rapidly shorten the ends of chromosome, the telomeres. We also know mainly from studies in the lab with mice is that if you manipulate the brain of the mouse to have more inflammation, it will age prematurely and vice versa if you lower the inflammation in the brain it can live longer.

We also know that if you turn gene No. 1 on in the mouses brain, itll be healthier and live longer. That tells me probably how our brains are functioning, how worried we are, how depressed we are can have major impacts on the aging of the rest of the body.

Remove the bad from the diet, and focus on nutritious foods:

I stopped eating dessert at age 40, though I still steal tastes, Sinclair says. Try to focus on fresh food if you can, and also I think plant-based mainly is the way to go for ultimate longevity based on a lot of data over the last few thousand years. We know that thats what you need to do.

I try to skip breakfast or have a very small breakfast, Sinclair says.

He has a few spoonfuls of homemade yogurt mixed with resveratrol if he does eat breakfast, then doesnt eat again until having a late lunch or even dinner on busy days. When he does eat lunch, he typically eats light, such as a salad without much dressing and possibly some fruit. He also consumes plenty of hot drinks that are low in caffeine to support immunity.

Then for dinner I eat mostly a plant-based diet, Sinclair says. Ill eat a little meat since I lift weights to help body recover but not a big red meat, steak guy. I dont think in the long run thats super healthy. Carnivore diets are OK short run, but I focus on eating plants that are picked freshly.

Sinclair describes these as activities that trick the body into feeling like its under threat, under adverse conditions, and it fights back. Thats hormesis. The definition of hormesis is to be uncomfortable, and that pays dividends in the long run.

For people who are in the second half of their life, its important to maintain flexibility and muscle strength. Lift some weights. Especially if youre in the first half of your life and all the way up to 80, you want to do high-intensity interval training, get your heart rate up to a safe level. It doesnt have to be for a half hour it can be as little as 10 minutes every few days. That alone has been shown to have remarkable protection against diseases of aging, says Sinclair.

Related: Can Reduced Brain Activity Boost Longevity?

See the article here:
Longevity: The Keys to Slow the Aging Process - Dr. Axe

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