Category Archives: Longevity

Some things happen only in sports. Some statistics are so wild sometimes that they are hard to believe. Just like Tennis icon Serena Williams and baseball legend Albert Pujols managed to pull off some stats that might seem crazy.

From 1995 to 2022, the tennis legend broke many records. In the span of 27 years, she has seen the next generation come and play as well. It is the same with the Cardinals hitter Albert Pujols, whos been in the game since April 2001.

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Two days ago, Williams won a title, and Pujols hit a homer, and the stats of that day, August 29 itself, show their long-lasting and successful careers in their respective games.

August 29, 2001, was the day when the tennis icon won the US Open, and same day 21 years later, she won another US Open. On that day in 2001, baseball player Albert Pujols hit a home run for his team. Twenty-one years later, on the same day, it happened again.

What shows the longevity of both their careers is that on that day in 2001, baseball players Vlad Guerrero Sr, Craig Biggio & Dante Bichette recorded a hit. But these three players were not the ones who had something to do on this Monday.

Their kids, who play the same game their fathers played, Vlad Guerrero Jr, Cavan Biggio & Bo Bichette, recorded a hit on the same day their fathers did. It was the samedaywhen icons Serena Williams and Albert Pujols won US Open and hit a homer, respectively.

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Williams and Pujols started playing their games when the first generation was playing. And they are still playing when the next generation is up and running.

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The younger Williams sister is yet to use the word retire. But she has said that she is evolving away from the game to focus more on the family. And also on the business that she is a part of.

It is not clear when it is going to happen, but it is inevitable. Whenever the news comes of the same, it would still have a massive impact on the tennis and sports world. Accepting that the legend will not play the game professionally anymore will be hard to accept.

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Watch this story: Players to hit 3 hours in the World Series Games. The reason why Reggie Jackson got the nickname Mr October

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Tennis Icon Serena Williams and MLB Legend Albert Pujols Pull Off Shockingly Craziest Stat to Prove Their Unreal Longevity in Sports -...

A common question I get asked from individuals who started investing later in life is:

How do I make up for lost time? Is there a better option than save as much as you can?

If you had asked me this question in years past, I wouldve told you, Not really. After all, assuming you cant increase your portfolio returns, what other option do you have to catch up besides saving more?

But, then I realized that I was thinking about this question all wrong. Because I shouldnt have been focusing on how to get more money (via higher returns or increased contributions), but how to get more time. After all, if you can get more time, you can use that time to save more money, earn more returns, and catch up financially.

But, how do you get more time? Unfortunately, paying for it isnt an option. As I stated in Ch. 21 of Just Keep Buying:

Though you can always earn more money, nothing can buy you more time.

But, what if instead of buying more time, you could earn more time?

Well, its possible. How exactly? According to the data, the answer isexercise. Exercising regularly to improve your strength and your cardiovascular health is the most effective way to increase how much time left you have on this Earth, all else equal.

Dont just take my word for it though. Consider what Peter Attia, a physician and longevity expert, has stated on the issue. In this podcast episode of The Drive, Attia and exercise physiologist Mike Joyner, M.D. discuss how proper cardiovascular fitness can add three to five years to your lifespan and six to eight years to your healthspan. As a reminder, lifespan is how long you live, but healthspan is how long you live while in good health. So having six to eight more years of healthspan really means six to eight more years of living the life you want.

But, what do you have to give up for this additional healthspan? A lot less than you think. Assuming youspent four hours a week exercising, 50 weeks a year for 50 years, that would be 10,000 hours of lifetime exercise. Thats barely over 1 year of time. But, for that one year, you would likely get six to eight additional years of disability-free health. In other words, every hour you spend exercising is likely to give you six to eight hours of additional healthy life.

There is no other lifestyle change that even comes close. To illustrate this, lets consider the case of smoking and nutrition. As Attia stated in this episode of the Huberman Lab podcast:

Smoking is approximately a 40% increase in the risk of ACM [all-cause mortality]it means that at any point in time there is a 40% greater risk that you are going to die relative to a non-smoker.

In statistical terms, we would say that smokers have a hazard ratio of 1.4 (i.e. a 40% increased risk of ACM) relative to non-smokers. A hazard ratio is simply, a measure of how often a particular event happens in one group compared to how often it happens in another group, over time. In this case, the event is death (i.e. all-cause mortality) and the groups are smokers and non-smokers. So a hazard ratio of 1.4 means that death is 1.4 times more likely for smokers than for non-smokers at any point in time.

On the nutrition front, someone who never eats fruits and vegetables has a hazard ratio of 1.35 compared to someone who eats five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, according to this meta-analysis. This means that, the increased risk of dying from smoking (relative to non-smokers) is nearly equivalent to the increased risk of dying from never eating fruit/vegetables (relative to those who eat five or more servings of fruit/vegetables per day).

So whats the hazard ratio associated with not exercising? According to Attia, its 2.0 when comparing those in the bottom 25 percent of cardiorespiratory fitness (via VO2 max) to those in the 50th to 75th percentile of cardiorespiratory fitness. This means that being in the bottom 25 percent of cardiorespiratory fitness (for your age and sex) doubles your chance of dying relative to someone in the 50th to 75th percentile. So, just by becoming better than average, your chance of dying (relative to someone with low cardiorespiratory fitness) would be reduced by 50%.

But, we can go further. If we compare someone in the bottom 25 percent to someone with an elite level of cardiorespiratory fitness (i.e. those in top 2.5% for their age and sex), the hazard ratio goes up to 5.0. Thats a 400% increase in the risk of death (ACM) if you are in the bottom 25 percent relative to the top 2.5%. In other words, being in the top 2.5% of cardiorespiratory fitness drops your risk of death by 80%! These figures are so extreme that Attia states:

Thats probably the single strongest association Ive seen for any modifiable behavior.

Think about what this means. Attia, who is one of the smartest and most knowledgable experts on longevity in the world, is claiming that the behavior most strongly associated with extending your life isexercise.

He didnt say to eat blueberries or to meditate or to follow a specific morning routine (despite the benefits that all of these behaviors provide). He said to exercise and to do it until you are in the top 2.5% for your age and sex (with regards to your VO2 max).

Thats how you get more time.

And, counterintuitively, this is also how you catch up financially. You dont need stress yourself out trying to save every penny. Instead, you exercise more, reduce your stress, and extend your life. This is a non-financial solution to a financial problem. And while it might seem unorthodox, for those that are having trouble saving more, it might be the best option available.

Now that weve discussed the overarching strategyto get more time, lets look at the specific tactics to do so.

Based on the research, those with higher strength and better cardiovascular health tend to live longer than those without it. As this study found, Men who can perform 40 pushups in one minute are 96 percent less likely to have cardiovascular disease than those who do less than 10. This is similar to the benefits (highlighted above) associated with higher cardiovascular fitness. Therefore, any specific workout routine you follow should focus on these two pillarsstrength and cardioat a minimum.

And while Im no fitness expert (please consult a physician before making any drastic changes to your exercise routine), Ive read a lot on this stuff and have found that the following works for me:

What are Zone 2 and Zone 5 cardio? These represent different intensity levels based on your cardiac output (i.e. how hard your heart is beating). Zone 1 would be something like a casual walk while Zone 5 would be high intensity interval training (HIIT). Therefore, Zone 2 is a workout at about 60-70% of your maximum heart rate.

Technically, Zone 2 is defined as the highest metabolic output/work that you can sustain while keeping your lactate level below two millimole per liter. But, for us normal people, you can tell if youre in Zone 2 if:

If both of those conditions hold, then you are probably in Zone 2.

In terms of timing, I usually alternate between cardio and strength days. So a cardio day followed by a strength day followed by a cardio day, and so forth. I dont take rest days deliberately because the alternating pattern allows for lots of rest and unplanned rest days happen often enough. Life gets in the way, trust me.

This cardio routine mostly comes from Peter Attias blog and podcast (hes my fitness guru of choice if you couldnt tell). However, Ive also learned a bit based on experience too.

For example, currently my Zone 2 workout is 45 minutes walking on the treadmill at 3.3 mph with a 15% incline. When I first started I could only do this at 2.9 mph while struggling to stay in Zone 2 (i.e. I needed to breathe through my mouth more often than not). But, after a few months, I improved and can now stay in Zone 2 at a slightly faster pace. For context, Attia does Zone 2 on the treadmill at 3.5-3.6 mph with a 15% incline. If you want to try a Zone 2 incline treadmill workout, I recommend starting slower (or with less incline) and then working up from there.

Of course, there is no right way to exercise just like there is no right way to build wealth. People have gotten strong and fit (and wealthy) in a variety of different ways, so arguing about specifics seems mostly pointless to me. However, I hope that by exposing you to some set of specifics, you will experiment further and find what works for you.

I know Im not a fitness guru. But I am someone who wants you to act smarter and live richer. So I hope that you take my recommendation seriously and start getting more time for yourself today.

Happy exercising and thank you for reading!

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This is post 311. Any code I have related to this post can be found here with the same numbering: https://github.com/nmaggiulli/of-dollars-and-data

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How to Get More Time - Of Dollars And Data

The most common bat in the United States, the big brown bat, boasts an unusually long lifespan of up to 19 years. A new study led by University of Maryland researchers identifies one of the secrets to this bats exceptional longevity: hibernation.

Hibernation has allowed bats, and presumably other animals, to stay in northerly or very southerly regions where theres no food in the winter, said the studys senior author, UMD Biology Professor Gerald Wilkinson. Hibernators tend to live much longer than migrators. We knew that,but we didntknow if we would detect changes in epigenetic age due to hibernation.

The researchers determined thathibernating over one winter extends a big brown bats epigenetic clocka biological marker of agingby three-quarters of a year.The study, published in the journalProceedings of the Royal Society BonAugust 10, 2022, also included scientists from McMaster University and the University of Waterloo, both in Ontario, Canada.

They analyzed small tissue samples taken from the wings of 20 big brown bats(Eptesicus fuscus)during two periods: in the winter when they hibernated and in the summer when they were active. The bats, kept in a research colony at McMaster University, ranged in age from less than 1 year old to a little over 10 years old.

Once the samples were collected, the researchers measured changes in DNA methylationa biological process associated with gene regulationbetween samples taken from the same animal during active and hibernating periods. They discovered that changes in DNA methylation occurred at certain sites in the bats genome, and these sites appeared to be affecting metabolism during hibernation.

Its pretty clear that the sites that decrease methylation in the winter are the ones that appear to be having an active effect, Wilkinson said. Many of the genes that are nearest to them are known to be involved in regulating metabolism, so they presumably keep metabolism down.

Some of these genes are the same ones that Wilkinson and fellow researchers identified as longevity genes in aprevious study. Wilkinson said that there is significant overlap between the hibernation genes and the longevity genes, further highlighting the link between hibernation and longer lifespans.

The earlier study also established the first epigenetic clock for bats, capable of accurately predicting the age of any bat in the wild. That clock was applied to this latest study, enabling the researchers to demonstrate that hibernation reduces a bats epigenetic age in comparison to a non-hibernating animal of the same age.

Studies like this help explain why bats have longer lifespans than expected for a small mammal about the size of a mouse. However, they also raise new questions.

We still dont have a very good understanding of why some bats can live a really long time and other ones dont, Wilkinson said. Weve shown that the ones that live a really long time all share the ability to hibernate, or to go into torpor frequently. That seems to be a corollary, but its not sufficient because hibernating rodents dont live 20 years.

Wilkinson said he is planning a follow-up study to compare epigenetic aging in big brown bats in Canada, where they hibernate, with the same species in Florida, where they do not hibernate. In doing so, Wilkinson hopes to get an even clearer picture of the role that hibernation plays in prolonging lifespans.

Reference:Sullivan IR, Adams DM, Greville LJS, Faure PA, Wilkinson GS. Big brown bats experience slower epigenetic ageing during hibernation. Proc Royal Soc B: Biol Sci. 2022;289(1980):20220635. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0635

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Hibernation Is Key to Bat's Exceptional Longevity - Technology Networks

Doing enough exercise, eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking and getting enough sleep Sure, we know all these things can help boost your longevity. But did you know there are a few extra habits to help you live 10 years longer and ensure you get more time with your loved ones? Add these to your daily routine to ensure you live to a ripe old age

If theres anything the last few years of the pandemic have taught us, its the importance of trying to see the bright side of life. And now science says theres an extra benefit to having a good belly laugh.

A Norwegian University study found that having a giggle can help add years to your life, thanks to its ability to lower stress, boost your immunity, decrease pain and also help burn calories. Now is the time to book in that comedy show or go see a funny flick with friends!

so if youre in need of a new hobby, try picking up a racquet!

Its game, set, and a decade of longer life for tennis lovers, with a Danish study finding that people who hit the court regularly are likely to live almost 10 years longer than their sedentary counterparts.

Tennis buffs were even found to live longer than those who took up jogging or cycling

Most people know how important diet is to staying healthy, but a new study by PLOS Medicine has found certain food groups can help add years to your life.

Norwegian researchers examined what happened when a traditional Western diet of red meat and processed foods was replaced with one focusing on fruit, veg, legumes, whole grains and nuts.

The study found women who adopted this diet in their 20s could expect to add 10 years to their life, while women changing their eating habits in their 60s could expect an extra eight years. According to researchers, legumes such as beans, peas, and lentils, along with whole grains and nuts, saw the most gains in lifespan.

Beans really are the magical fruit, with a new study claiming that adding them to your diet can significantly improve lifespan.

While its tempting to wake up, down a coffee, and jump straight into work or start tackling your to-do list for the day. Dr. Kien Vuu is a concierge performance and longevity physician specializing in human optimization and regenerative medicine, a media expert, and a well-known author.

He recommends getting 20 to 30 minutes of sunlight in the morning to assist your natural body clock and improve your mood.

I let the natural sunlight into my eyes and skin because that helps reset the circadian clock, he explains. Not only is this a great way to improve your overall health and add years to your life, going for a quick walk to soak up some rays will contribute to your daily exercise at the same time. Win-win! Dr. Kien Vuu

Busy schedules mean our health can often take a back seat, especially when it comes to getting routine checks. However, experts say that making sure you see your GP regularly is an easy way to keep your health ticking along.

Bonus points if you find a doctor you like and continue to see them over the years, as you will be able to build a relationship with them.

Main Photo by lauren lulu taylor on Unsplash

This article was written by Allison Yee.

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5 Easy Hacks to Boost Longevity and Help You Live 10 Years Longer - Longevity LIVE - Longevity LIVE

This story has been excerpted from the STAT Report The race for longevity: How scientists and industry are seeking to extend healthy lives.

Beating back the diseases of aging has become something of a pet project for many of Silicon Valleys tech titans. Earlier this year, Altos Labs, a partial cellular reprogramming company, drew billions of dollars of investment, including from Jeff Bezos and Yuri Milner. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have put billions into Calico. Peter Thiel was an early backer of Unity Biotechnology. Peter Diamandis is placing bets on young blood and stem cells.

But many researchers in the field of longevity science say theres one project they wish these billionaires could find a little pocket change to fund: Nir Barzilais TAME Trial.

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Barzilai, the head of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and scientific director for AFAR the American Federation for Aging Research has for more than a decade been leading the charge to test the idea of using drugs to extend human healthspan.

In 2013, he and two other researchers got a grant from the National Institutes of Aging to develop a roadmap to conduct, for the first time in history, a clinical trial that targets aging. They planned to test metformin, a drug that had been approved in the 90s for treating diabetes, and that was shown in epidemiological studies to prevent against conditions like heart attacks, cancer, and Alzheimers. It also turned out to be very safe, with few, generally mild side effects. And its dirt cheap: just six cents per dose.

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The biggest obstacle they had was the Food and Drug Administration. The federal regulator adheres to a one disease, one drug model of approval. And because the agency does not recognize aging as a disease, theres no path forward for a drug to treat it. And even if there was, its impractical to do a lifespan study it would take decades and be astronomically expensive.

The solution then would be to use biomarkers as a proxy, as researchers have with other treatments. Statins, for example, are a class of drugs the FDA approved to prevent heart attacks. But initial clinical trials of the first statins didnt test that explicitly because it would have taken too long. Instead, they tested for changes to cholesterol, a well-defined predictor of heart attacks. There are, however, no standard accepted biomarkers for aging, although scientists are actively searching for them.

Barzilais plan was to launch a new kind of gold-standard trial, designed to prove that the onset of multiple chronic diseases, or comorbidities, associated with aging can be delayed by a single drug: metformin. The ambitious effort aimed to track 3,000 elderly people over five years to see if the medicine could hold off cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive decline, along with mortality.

Theres nothing in that clinical trial that hasnt already been shown before with metformin, said Barzilai. We are just trying to package it all up and call it aging so the FDA will approve this for aging.

In 2015, he and a group of academics from more than a dozen top-tier universities met with the FDA to get its blessing for their Targeted Aging with Metformin, or TAME, trial. And to many peoples surprise, the agency agreed.

All that was left was funding it. Because metformin is a generic drug from which no one could make any money, the trials sponsor wouldnt be a pharmaceutical company, but AFAR. A trial of the scale researchers were proposing would cost between $30 million and $50 million. The National Institutes of Health offered up just a small portion, about $9 million, toward the difficult but important task of screening for the best biomarkers for assessing if the aging process is actually being slowed.

The rest of the money, Barzilai was convinced, could be raised from philanthropists. But despite interest from several people at one point, Barzilai said, the Israeli American businessman Adam Neumann offered to pay for it all, before his WeWork empire evaporated the required funds never materialized.

Those big billionaires, they want moonshots, they want a scientific achievement that will make people say wow, said Barzilai. TAME is not a moonshot. Its not even about scientific achievement really, its more about political achievement. Metformin is a tool to get aging as an indication.

The metformin story is a particularly tragic one, said James Peyer, co-founder and CEO of Cambrian Biopharma, a 4-year-old company that has raised $160 million with its hub and spoke approach to develop more than a dozen different drug candidates aimed at diseases of aging.

Like many other industry players and academics STAT spoke with, Peyer believes the TAME trial could be a paradigm-shifting pilot experiment and create a framework for biotechnology companies to follow in the future. If we had more knowledge from a philanthropically run trial with a really safe molecule, that would be a boon for the whole field. It would be huge. But its been more than six years since the FDA gave a green light. It should almost be done by now, Peyer said.

More recently, Barzilai has been courting a younger generation of philanthropists. In May, he helped organize a meeting in Lisbon between 11 top longevity scientists and a group of newly minted crypto-millionaires, most of them under the age of 30. Despite the recent e-currency crash, he remains optimistic that they might be able to come up with at least some of the necessary funds.

Hes also been speaking with Hevolution, a nonprofit research organization founded by the royal family of Saudi Arabia that plans to pour $1 billion a year into studying ways to slow down the effects of aging. In April, Barzilai told an audience that Hevolution had already committed to fund one-third of the costs, MIT Technology Review reported recently. However, a spokesperson for the foundation disputed that account, telling STAT it has not yet made any decisions about funding specific projects or ventures.

Im on the record saying Im pretty sure it will start this year, for the last seven years, said Barzilai. I have no credibility anymore. Its just incredibly frustrating. But its going to happen, because it has to happen.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the initial clinical trials of the first statins tested for changes to blood pressurethey tested for changes to cholesterol.

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As billionaires race to fund anti-aging projects, a much-discussed trial goes overlooked - STAT

After announcing her retirement Spencer shared that she has been thinking about the moment for at least a year, but producers were so desperate to hang onto the beloved character they kept providing the star with more episodes. Dubbed a true national treasure by the likes of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who is a long-time listener of the BBC radio soap, it is clear to see why fans and makers of the show were desperate for the star to hang on for as long as possible. But even on her 100th birthday back in 2019, Spencer vowed: "As soon as I start being more trouble than I'm worth I shall stop."

Revealing at the time how she keeps in good health and is able to continue with such a hectic schedule, Spencer simply remarked that the love of her work is what keeps her going.

She shared: I just love it. I think it's what keeps me going. She added that turning 100 felt pretty good.

The star continued to say: Obviously one's body deteriorates rapidly - I'm still on my feet, just.

"But apart from that I have the same outlook on life as I've always had. I'm an optimist. I enjoy life. I enjoy all the beautiful things that are still there for me."

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Although no sign of ill health for Spencer, who has been wished a well-deserved and long retirement by Jeremy Howe, editor of The Archers, the actress shared how she feels writers should handle the exit of Peggy.

She added: The simplest thing is if [Peggy has] a fall or something and goes into The Laurels [the fictional care home in Ambridge].

She can languish for years there.

With a great love of acting and performing, which started when the star was cast by her local repertory theatre to play a 12-year-old in a play, performing twice a week for three guineas a week.

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In addition, the younger an individual is today, the more likely they are to reach 100. This is because of improvements in healthcare and changes in lifestyle - such as the decline in the number of people who smoke.

Using these statistics it is clear that taking care of an individuals physical health through diet, exercise, quitting smoking and getting enough sleep and taking care of your mental health are hugely important for ageing well.

For example, the National Institute on Aging suggests that making smart food choices can help protect you from certain health problems as you age and may even help improve brain function. In particular, much research shows that the Mediterranean-style eating pattern, which includes fresh produce, whole grains, and healthy fats, but less dairy and more fish, may have a positive impact on health.

In addition, as people age, changes such as hearing and vision loss, memory loss, disability, trouble getting around, and the loss of family and friends can make it difficult to maintain social connections. This makes older adults more likely to be socially isolated or to feel lonely. A 2021 study of more than 11,000 adults older than age 70 found that loneliness was associated with a greater risk of heart disease, making social activeness important for those getting older.

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The Archers' June Spencer on the secrets to her longevity - 'It's what keeps me going' - Express