Looking Young, Feeling Healthy – Sugar, the Enemy!
Most of us these days are trying to look younger, and making some kind of effort to improve our health. Unfortunately there are some hidden enemies, and sugar is one of them. . . We all know the obvious impact of eating excess sugar – obesity, increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay, and so on; but what about some of the less obvious effects? Did you know that sugar can increase wrinkles? This is because of the process of glycation where sugars attach themselves to the...
Read MoreEat Less, Live Longer!
This blog is focusing on a snippet I saw on a TV program during the week – eat 40% less and live 20 years longer. Could longevity really be that simple? I had to find out! Apparently in the UK at the Institute of Healthy Aging, University College, London a group of scientists have been carrying out research into lifestyle and genetics and how they impact on life length. Their research has currently only been carried out on small animals (mice and rats) and flies, all of which share many...
Read MoreNatural Fat-buring Hormone – Irisin
Our twitter followers would have seen brief details of a recently discovered hormone called irisin, so I have decided to focus this blog on explaining about the importance of this hormone in more detail. Firstly, it is important to just generally understand the concept of hormones in the body. We probably get a little too used to thinking of ‘hormones’ as being related to sex – as in ‘rampant teenage hormones’ etc. In fact, hormones are one of the major control mechanisms that...
Read MoreStretching – for a Longer Life
Stretching your muscles is very important to maintaining a fit and healthy body throughout your life. For those who are following us on Twitter, you would have already received my tweet about old fashioned stretching. Apparently something like bending over and touching your toes, has now been found to have a positive impact on your longevity. This not only stretches your muscles, allows you to relax through your hips (often an area of deep-seated tension), but, according to Dr Oz, can...
Read MoreMental Vitality
This week I am looking at a topic that seems to concern many people about getting old – maintaining their mental abilities. As people age, they anxiously analyse how much they are forgetting how often and think about if they are heading towards a form of dementia. Robert N. Butler, the founder of the International Longevity Centre, points out that in older people the fear of memory loss tends to lead to the exaggeration of minor memory loss. Memory functions do slow with age, but these...
Read MoreStress and Aging
This week in the Life Extension Experiment I am focusing on chronic stress. There are always many suggestions and ideas about how to reduce stress levels. There is a lot of research to back up how important it is to reduce stress as well as on the long term effects of stress. How do you know if you are under too much stress? I think most people have a fairly good idea but if you want to make sure take the bio age test that I mentioned in my previous blog. I have also found this quiz from...
Read More