How you live your life can have positive or negative influences on how well you age. Controlling these habits can increase the quality of your longevity and extend your lifetime.
Key Takeaways:
- Sleep six to eight hours per night, take less time to fall asleep, and avoid afternoon naps.
- Eat a Mediterranean diet, keep your weight under control, don’t smoke, and limit alcohol consumption.
- Engage in sports; the more active, the better.
- Try taking a sauna and then cooling off.
- Decrease your stress levels by meditating.
Sleep and Longevity
Two independent studies confirm that the quality and duration of sleep impact your main longevity biological factors—telomeres. Poor sleep quality, specifically short sleep duration, long sleep latency, and low sleep efficiency, were associated with faster longitudinal shortening of telomeres.
A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome. During our lifespan, telomeres become shorter. This is a natural process initiated when our cells divide. However, when telomeres become too short, the cells die.
According to these studies, people who sleep less than six hours per night, have an insomnia disorder or sleep longer than eight hours were associated with shorter telomeres. The longest telomeres were found in people who slept six to eight hours per night.
Sleep latency—how long it takes for you to fall asleep—was another indicator of telomere length. Telomeres shortened faster when sleep latency was 25 minutes. The slowest shortening of telomeres was observed in a group of people who needed just 10 minutes to fall asleep.
The study of longevity parameters and sleep indicated that the best sleep time is between 9:57 p.m. and 1:06 a.m. The best wake-up time is between 6:55 a.m. and 8:52 a.m.
Results of another study showed that those who took naps during the day were 2.79 times more likely to have one or more of the following diseases: hypertension (high blood pressure), myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, or diabetes.
Diet and Longevity
According to research, the mitochondrial and telomere mechanisms of aging have been united, and a direct molecular connection between telomere attrition and mitochondrial dysfunction has been established.
Unhealthy factors, which include endogenous genotoxins, inadequate nutrition, and other unfavorable lifestyle factors, are responsible for both an increase in baseline genome damage and accelerated telomere shortening.
Therefore, experiments were conducted to examine the effect of the most common antioxidant compounds found in food, such as vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, and omega-3 fatty acids, in the prevention of telomere shortening and the possible slowing down of the aging process.
Currently, research has demonstrated that vitamins C, D, E, folate, and β-carotene, along with the minerals zinc and magnesium, have positive effects in protecting against oxidative stress and inflammation. This leads to telomere protection and is positively associated with telomere length in humans.
Special Note on Magnesium: Insufficient magnesium reduces DNA repair capacity and induces chromosomal abnormalities. It is reasonable to hypothesize that magnesium influences telomere length by affecting DNA integrity and repair, in addition to its potential role in oxidative stress and inflammation. There is a strong recommendation to take organic magnesium instead of inorganic because of better bioavailability. The best forms of magnesium are threonate, bis-glycinate, and chelate.
Polyphenols found in green and black tea have a positive influence on telomere length. Elderly people who are habitual tea drinkers have longer telomeres, corresponding to an average increase of five years in lifespan compared to their counterparts who do not drink tea as frequently.
Another significant, naturally occurring polyphenol related to telomere length is resveratrol, which activates longevity genes called sirtuins. Resveratrol delays senescence at the cellular level and increases telomere length and telomerase activity.
Clinical trials show that it is not omega-3 itself but rather the ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that is important, as telomere length increases with a ratio of 1:3 (omega-3).
Although the effect of a calorie-restricted diet on lifespan in humans remains to be determined unequivocally, evidence suggests that it can be a successful step toward prolonged healthspan and healthy aging.
The Mediterranean Diet and More
The Mediterranean diet has a direct positive effect on telomere length. It preserves telomere length corresponding to 4.5 years of aging, which is comparable to the effects of not smoking (4.6 years) and physical activity (4.4 years) on the telomere shortening rate. The Mediterranean diet also stimulates telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
There is evidence that obesity and a high body mass index (BMI) are related to shorter telomeres.
A negative correlation between active smoking and telomere length has been indicated in many studies. It was calculated that smoking one pack of cigarettes for 40 years decreases telomere length by an amount equivalent to 7.4 years of life.
Differences in telomere length between non-alcohol users and the group with the highest alcohol consumption rate could represent a 10-year difference in biological age. However, one study showed that more drinks per week had no effect on the shortening of telomeres. While there is not much research on alcohol versus longevity, we should follow World Health Organization recommendations and not drink more than one to two alcohol units per day.
Sports and Longevity
Most research indicates that higher physical activity is positively related to longer leukocyte or skeletal muscle telomere length compared to a sedentary lifestyle.
One study showed differences in telomere length for participants who are currently active and those who are not. The median telomere length was significantly higher for participants who were currently active. However, the differences were rather small.
Resistance training (bodybuilding, gymnastics), endurance activities (cycling, jogging), and other types of sports showed fairly similar patterns, while individuals who engaged in intensive activities (marathon sports, long-distance running) showed slightly higher telomere lengths.
We can conclude that any physical activity is a very promising longevity factor, but if you hope for even longer telomere length, you need to perform intensive sports. The same researchers observed that practicing sports for more than 10 years has a significant effect on relative telomere length.
Cold-Heat Therapy and Longevity
Research into cold therapy in experimental animals has shown promising results. Exposure to cold water or air improved their recovery from traumatic injuries, increased metabolic activity, and decreased cancer incidence rates.
For humans, cold therapy is known to improve survey scores of tension, fatigue, memory, and mood, and to reduce infection rates and depression.
On the other hand, exposure to the cold can increase your brown fat. Brown fat increases your metabolism by producing extra energy. One study analyzed the cold effect during the prenatal period and observed a tendency that consistent prenatal temperature exposure below the cold threshold (5°C) was associated with longer telomeres. These results need more investigation, but smart exposure to cold temperatures could be beneficial for our longevity.
Conversely, heat therapy is also a good factor for longevity. One of the most well-known heat therapies is saunas. When you are exposed to controlled heat at 80 to 100 degrees Celsius, so-called “heat shock” proteins are activated. These proteins are very important and could be related to living longer. The recommendation is to take a sauna once per week, combining your sauna sessions with exposure to cold temperatures.
The Mind and Longevity
Stress is the number one negative factor in longevity and lifespan. It can be harmful even very early in our lifetime. Research indicated that pregnant women who were exposed to high levels of stress gave birth to newborns with significantly short telomeres.
Women with the highest levels of perceived stress have telomeres that are, on average, shorter by the equivalent of at least one decade of additional aging compared to low-stress women.
Reducing stress with meditation could be an effective way to stabilize telomeres. There is tentative support for the hypothesis that people who meditate have longer telomeres than those who don’t and that a greater number of hours of meditation is associated with a greater impact on telomere biology.
There are a number of factors you can control to increase your ability to age well. These include getting a good night’s sleep, eating a healthy diet, engaging in sports, trying a sauna, and reducing stress.
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