Natural Health

Aging is not just about genes as so many people imagine. Lifestyle choices matter, too. In fact, for many people poor lifestyle choices such as smoking and remaining sedentary can be the tipping point into aging and illness.

While for others, healthy lifestyle choices such as exercise and nutritious diet can slow down the aging process and dramatically improve health.

This realization has led to the search for molecular markers that can tell whether we’re aging well or badly. Now scientists in England say they’ve found one powerful marker that can be tested at home.

The marker is called a glycan.

Glycans are molecules […]

Ever spend time with an inquisitive child? The questions are non-stop, ranging from “why is the sky blue?” to “how does a car move?” In fact, one study estimated that curious children ask a staggering 73 questions a day!¹ For those of us with children, grandchildren or young nieces and nephews this is hardly surprising.

But sadly, as we age, that wellspring of curiosity begins to run dry.

The latest research shows we should do our best not to let that happen. That’s because the science suggests that remaining curious can help us live longer, healthier lives.

It’s true, curiosity is good for […]

When searching for a cure for Alzheimer’s, most scientists look at existing brain degeneration and try to figure out how to fix it. What might we find out if we looked instead at the brains of people with superior brain health? That’s what a group of researchers at the University of Chicago asked themselves.

They chose elderly people with exceptional memories to see why their brains perform so well. Their findings may lead to new strategies to save cognition and uncover new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

The term SuperAgers refers to people over the age of 80 whose memories are as good […]

Everyone knows a sprightly 80-something who can dance the night away and remember the punch line of every joke. But sadly, there are also plenty of 50-somethings who move and act considerably older than their years.

It’s a conundrum that scientists never tire of studying.

Now, new research further explores how different folks seem to age at significantly different rates. And it turns out, the fast-agers and the slow-agers are already on radically different roads from the time they’re young.

“Aging isn’t something that happens suddenly when people reach their 60s, it’s a lifelong process,” said Maxwell Elliott, a doctoral student at Duke […]

While research has long suggested a link between interrupted sleep and an increased risk of death, the latest research confirms, without a doubt, that it’s true.

Perhaps most surprising is the definition of “interrupted sleep” used by researchers in this study. According to them, interrupted sleep doesn’t have to involve consciously waking up a number of times during the night as you might expect. What they define as a sleep interruption can happen without the victim even being aware of it. In fact, if you wake up tired and exhausted in the morning, this may well apply to you.

Duration of sleep, […]

Scientists at Stanford were focused on regenerating the thymus gland—the gland that’s critical to immune health.

They succeeded in their efforts, but the best was yet to come.

Their remarkable experiment resulted in not only a healthy, renewed thymus gland, but people in the study actually grew biologically younger. Here’s the amazing story.

Described by scientists as “the master gland of the immune system,” the thymus – located in the chest between the lungs and the breast bones – converts white blood cells to T cells. These cells play an important role in the immune response. The thymus also produces a variety of […]

It’s been starved, stabbed, and cut into pieces. Yet this tiny sea creature refuses to die.

It responds to these assaults by rewinding its life cycle, growing younger and younger until it reaches the earliest stage of life. Then, this remarkable jellyfish begins life all over again. No wonder it’s known as the immortal jellyfish.

Could an understanding of how it performs this miraculous feat help humans live forever—or at least longer—too? Researchers believe so. Here’s the fascinating story…

In 1988 a German marine biology student made the accidental discovery that a jellyfish the size of your pinky nail can cheat death when […]

Insomnia and aging often go hand and hand. Many people over the age of 60 experience sleep problems because of natural changes to their circadian rhythm and sleep-wake cycle, in addition to lifestyle choices.¹

By definition insomnia is a sleep disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, or cause you to wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep. It can be short-term or chronic, but insomnia is always taxing.

If you’re suffering with insomnia, you might be inclined to pop a sleeping pill, but before you do there’s an easy […]

Have you made plans for your 150th birthday yet? Molecular biologist Marco Ruggiero has.

One year after taking the nutritional supplement he created, the 63-year-old scientist said his “bald patch has gone [and] I feel great.” He describes his discovery as “the most powerful agent for human wellness available.”

It’s a bold statement, but, as Dr. Ruggiero claims, his creation boosts production of a key anti-aging factor that decreases as we get older. It’s called Klotho.

KLOTHO is a protein-coding gene that was first identified in 1992. Its variant, KL-VS, is life-extending and associated with an increase in Klotho protein levels in the blood.

Klotho protein functions as […]

You know the importance of eating a sound diet and exercising regularly to remain strong, healthy and independent as you age. But there’s another ingredient to healthy aging that’s commonplace in Japan, and that we’ve frequently recommended ourselves in these pages.

I’m talking about “kansha”, which means gratitude in English.

Dr. Iza Kavedžija of the University of Exeter in South West England measured feelings of gratitude in a group of people in their 80s and 90s who lived in the city of Osaka, Japan.¹

Dr. Kavedžija specifically chose people in Japan to study because gratitude is so highly valued within Japanese culture. She […]