LONGEVITY: The Science of Aging and How to Turn On Your Longevity Genes to Live Longer

Welcome Friends I'm Dr rajrina budrupad and today's video is all about longevity and what you can do to extend your lifespan human life expectancy has been increasing worldwide since the 19th century in fact it increased by almost 20 years since 1950. currently the average life expectancy in the United States is 79 but what if you could live to 95 or Beyond well stay tuned because that's what we're going to go over in today's video but more important than our lifespan is our health span which is the portion of Our Lives spent without any disease or disability if we're going to live longer we want to stay healthy so that we can enjoy those additional years so the main question of today's video is how can I live to be a hundred and healthy well stay tuned because I'm going to describe what causes the aging process and what you can do to slow it down through diet and lifestyle aging is something that affects all living beings and the truth is that no one can fully Escape aging we will all inevitably succumb to the aging process and will one day die it can be horrifying when we realize that everyone eventually dies and it can be hard to think about the mortality of our loved ones as well as our own mortality outward signs of aging include fatigue gray hairs skin wrinkles aches and pains loss of muscle as well as hearing loss sadly a lot of times people will go to their doctor and Report these symptoms like their new aches and pains and they're just told that it's normal because they're getting older in my practice I like to take a more proactive and preventative approach to health span and longevity this means we address symptoms early we check lab biomarkers every three to six months based on their symptoms and lab results I counsel my patients individually on their diet lifestyle and some key supplements the good news is I'm going to share a lot of these tips in this video today so that you can be proactive about your Health and Longevity as well these are the key lab biomarkers that I follow on my patients they're available through most standard Labs so you can request your doctor to order these for you we optimize the vitamin D level because it's so powerful it's often considered a longevity hormone next we look closely at the fasting glucose insulin and hemoglobin A1c which is a marker of the blood sugars for the last three months the research shows that having a lower fasting glucose and Insulin correlates with better longevity the high sensitivity C-reactive protein is a great way to measure inflammation in your body and the lower your inflammation the better it is for longevity homocysteine is another inflammation marker that evaluates your methylation and detox Pathways in your body the lower your homocysteine the better and we like to optimize your level to six by supplementing with methylated B vitamins your lipid panel which is your cholesterol in your liver enzymes tell me a lot about your metabolic health if your liver enzymes are elevated due to inflammation as seen in fatty liver disease that could also affect your longevity my goal is to help my patients achieve Optimal Health and Peak Performance at any age how old you are is just a number and it's your chronological age but just because you are 65 doesn't mean you have to feel 65. your biological age tells us how you're aging on a physiological level we all know people who look a lot younger than they really are their biological age may be less than their chronological age currently there are certain companies that offer blood tests that look at your DNA methylation patterns to estimate your biological age what's fascinating is they've analyzed the DNA of super centenarians which is people who live beyond the age of 110 and they found that their biological age is far younger than their chronological age let's review all the factors that can influence your longevity it includes multiple factors including your genetics your diet and the types of foods that you eat your exercise and activity level the amount of stress that you're under and the quality of sleep that you get your exposure to toxins from your environment finally your relationships with people and your involvement in the community now let's delve into the exciting science of why we age on a DNA and cellular level the first Hallmark of Aging is genomic instability this is when our DNA gets damaged by exposure to free radicals this includes exposure to radiation such as x-rays CT scans and even natural radiation from the Sun next we have exposure to toxins like chemicals and pesticides certain medications can also be hard on your DNA finally emotional stress can also accelerate aging of your DNA in fact most centenarians which is the people who reach 100 years of age live in lower stress environments how many of you have heard of telomeres so these are the protective end caps on the end of our chromosomes as we get older there's shrinking of these telomeres so that our DNA is not as protected from all the stressors that we're exposed to now let's talk about the epigenome our epigenome is like an on off switch it determines which parts of our DNA are going to be expressed and which parts are going to remain silent our epigenome controls whether we're going to turn on or off our longevity genes as we get older our epigenome gets altered and it starts making mistakes as far as turning on and off certain genes and this contributes to the aging process next as we get older our muscles start to shrink we call this sarcopenia which means muscle wasting this loss of healthy protein maintenance is one of the reasons people become more weak and frail as they get older this is why strength training can be so important to maintain muscle mass as you get older another Hallmark of Aging is mitochondrial dysfunction the mitochondria are the energy powerhouses of your cells and they generate ATP which is the molecule that gives you energy the healthy mitochondria of a young person can generate tons of ATP as mitochondria age they become more dysfunctional and they don't do as good a job in generating ATP this contributes to the drop in energy and fatigue that we see in older people next aging is associated with the accumulation of senescent cells the green cell on the left is a healthy cell but eventually over time it evolves to become a senescent cell which is kind of like a zombie cell because it doesn't do anything productive for your body it doesn't replicate and yet it won't die unfortunately these zombie cells attract inflammation which can contribute to the aging process another Hallmark of Aging is that your body starts to run out of stem cells stem cells have the power to turn into any kind of cell so normally they help your body regenerate tissue after an injury for example when an older person injures a joint it doesn't heal as well because they don't have many stem cells left the final Hallmark of Aging is disrupted communication between your cells the signaling and interaction between cells becomes impaired and this leads to the accumulation of inflammatory molecules each and every one of us has an epigenetic clock and it's ticking based on how our environment is influencing the expression of our genes our epigenetic clock is what determines our longevity girls who go through early puberty have an accelerated epigenetic clock this has been linked to exposure to xenoestrogens and chemicals in the environment which cause these hormonal changes to occur early so in order to live longer we need to slow down our epigenetic clock let's go over three main factors that influence our epigenetic clock and our longevity sirtuins are enzymes that activate the expression of our longevity genes amp kinase is the master switch of your metabolism that also promotes longevity finally we have mtor which is the master controller of cell growth which unfortunately will accelerate aging in order to understand sirtuins we first have to understand how our DNA is packaged in the nucleus of our cells if we laid out all the DNA in our body end to end it would stretch twice the diameter of the solar system that's why our DNA is tightly wound up and it's wrapped around spooling proteins called histones sirtuins are enzymes that help unravel the histones and by doing so they select which genes are going to be expressed they're considered epigenetic Regulators so they work like an on off switch to turn on your longevity jeans sirtuins require a critical coenzyme called NAD which stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as we get older our NAD levels start diminishing and unfortunately this causes a decline insert to an activity this is thought to be why we develop a lot more diseases as we age the good news is later in this video I'm going to go over a diet and lifestyle tips that'll help boost your sirtuin activity and increase your NAD levels the next pathway promoting longevity is amp kinase which is the master switch for your metabolism amp kinase is an enzyme present in your cells that influences insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake the more we can activate our amp kinase the better for longevity stay tuned because later in this video I'm going to go over diet lifestyle and supplements that can help boost your amp kinase unfortunately a lot of people suffer with problems with their amp kinase which is what causes insulin resistance which can then lead to diabetes chronic inflammation and accelerated aging now let's talk about mtor which is the master driver of cell growth when you lift weights and eat a lot of animal protein empor helps you to build up your muscle mass but the bad news is mtor also turns off your longevity genes we all need mtor to grow new cells and maintain our muscle mass but too much mtor is bad for our longevity when it comes to your diet animal proteins from meat and dairy products are big drivers of emptor animal proteins are higher in certain amino acids such as methionine and branched chain amino acids which include leucine isoleucine and valine these amino acids cause a rise in two hormones insulin which comes from your pancreas and igf-1 which is made by your liver both of these hormones promote the mtor pathway which again is bad for longevity Studies have shown that diets that are high in animal proteins are associated with higher cardiovascular mortality and cancer risk processed meats are especially bad and this includes hot dogs bacon sausage and Ham so if you want to live longer sitting down and eating a huge steak is probably not a good idea not to mention animal protein also affects your gut microbiome when you eat a lot of red meat and dairy products this causes the bacteria in your gut to produce something called TMA which stands for trimethylamine TMA is converted by your liver into tmao which is trimethylamine oxide unfortunately tmao is a toxic inflammatory compound and high levels is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease which is heart disease and stroke so the conundrum is how can you build muscle which requires mtor and live longer the main takeaway is to be mindful of how much animal protein you're eating and try to eat more plant-based proteins now aside from eating less meat what's another way to put the brakes on mtor the answer is autophagy how many of you have heard of autophagy before well it has a Greek origin Auto means self and Fiji means to eat so the literal meaning of autophagy is self-eating autophagy happens when you're fasting and it's a great way to clean up cellular garbage anything inside your cells that is considered garbage will merge with a lysosome creating an autophagosome and this is where the recycling and breakdown takes place so autophagy is the process of removing Recycling and regenerating at a cellular level mtor and autophagy are completely opposite processes so they're kind of like day and night while mtor promotes building muscle and cell growth autophagy promotes cell cleanup repair and most importantly longevity autophagy is a remarkable process and it promotes longevity through multiple pathways it activates your two ends it activates amp kinase it increases your NAD levels and it puts the brakes on mtor a big takeaway from today's video is that fasting activates autophagy and promotes longevity I have a whole video dedicated to autophagy so if you'd like to learn more please see the link in the description below over the years Studies have been done on yeast worms flies mice monkeys as well as humans what's fascinating is that the research shows that calorie restriction or time restricted eating which is a form of fasting improves lifespan in all of these species an interesting study was actually done on mice where they gave different groups of mice different types of diets the study revealed that the mice that only had access to their food for a two-hour window each day lived the longest so clearly our American culture of eating constantly throughout the day is not a good way to promote longevity many Americans eat three meals a day along with multiple snacks in between not realizing what it's doing to their epigenetic clock now let's talk about how your gut microbiome can influence your longevity as Hippocrates once said all disease begins in the gut in fact heart disease cancer and dementia have all been linked to dysbiosis which is a bacterial imbalance in the gut microbiome dysbiosis can happen if you're eating a lot of inflammatory foods such as the standard American diet exposure to certain medications like antibiotics proton pump inhibitors which shut down the acid production in your stomach as well as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen can all Impact your gut microbiome finally being under chronic stress raises your cortisol levels and this can also change the types of bacteria that grow in your gut the reason the bacteria in your microbiome are so important is they create postbiotics which are short chain fatty acids that impact your Energy and Metabolism finally our biggest immune system is in the lining of our gut this is why I always ask my patients about their bowel movements if you're having any symptoms like abdominal discomfort heartburn constipation or bloating it needs to be addressed we often look for the root cause by doing a very comprehensive gut microbiome test now let's talk about inflammation acute inflammation is an integral part of your immune response to defend your body against pathogens like bacteria or viruses acute inflammation is like a big fiber in your body but it only lasts days two weeks and then it's put out on the other hand chronic inflammation can last for months to years and it's like having many small fires throughout your body that won't stop burning chronic inflammation is a big deal because it promotes aging we call this inflammaging a common root cause of chronic inflammation is an inflammatory diet diets high in fast foods and processed foods expose you to a lot of sugar trans fat and preservatives next if you have a disrupted gut microbiome or inflammation in the lining of your gut which we often call leaky gut this can also cause chronic inflammation chronic inflammation could also come from your oral microbiome so if you have poor dental hygiene or inflamed gums this could also promote inflammaging exposure to toxins like cigarette smoke will also accelerate the aging process obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States and it's another cause of inflammaging finally being under chronic stress raises your cortisol levels which can also accelerate the aging process now let's talk about sugar sugary treats are everywhere in our culture like donuts cakes ice cream and cookies but did you know that Sugar can accelerate aging and cause wrinkles when you eat a lot of refined sugar it causes the production of advanced glycation and products which can promote all kinds of diseases like heart disease diabetes Alzheimer's disease and autoimmune diseases sugar also spikes your insulin levels if you have chronically elevated insulin levels this is called hyperinsulinemia and its inflammatory so the big takeaway is if you want to look younger and live longer you definitely want to minimize your intake of refined sugar you also want to cut back on foods that quickly turn into sugar this includes bread pastas foods made from refined flowers cereals as well as alcoholic beverages Foods in this category trigger more insulin release which then causes a rise in igf-1 from your liver which promotes the mtor pathway on April 15 2003 the Human Genome Project was completed which was an incredible achievement interestingly no genes were found for aging so aging is very different from other disease processes for example there are oncogenes that can cause cancer the Human Genome Project revealed that our genes did not evolve to cause aging David Sinclair is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School he's a Pioneer and leading Authority in the field of longevity and he's done numerous studies on yeast as well as mice Dr Sinclair describes the information Theory of Aging where our genes sense our environment which includes our diet exercise and stressors and will accordingly activate sirtuins which turn on longevity genes he believes that 80 percent of our health in old age is from our lifestyle and only 20 percent is from our genetics in 2006 shinya yamanaka a Japanese stem cell researcher discovered four genes that could induce human adult cells to become pluripotent stem cells this means when these genes are turned on it could regenerate any other cell type in the body these four yamanaka genes are now often referred to as the Fountain of Youth genes and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2012. so can we live to 150 or longer David Sinclair believes that in the future gene therapy through a vaccine will allow us to introduce the yamanaka genes then we could use a medication to turn on the genes and gray hairs would disappear and wrinkles would fade does this sound like science fiction or reality amazingly this has already been done in mice and they were able to regenerate the optic nerve which is found in the eye which normally does not regenerate so the science is moving extremely fast they're also working on medications or potentially vaccines that could work as xenolytics meaning they would Target the senescent or zombie cells the good news is you can get natural xenolytics from your diet such as quercetin which is found in apples onions kale and other fruits and vegetables have you heard of blue zones these are the places in the world where people live the longest and they have the highest number of centenarians which are people who live beyond the age of a hundred blue zones are the longevity hot spots of the world and they include Okinawa Japan Sardinia Italy nikoya Costa Rica icaria Greece and Loma Linda California what are some of the lessons we can learn from Blue zones first they eat a mostly plant-based diet and they don't eat any processed food in fact all of their food is made from scratch and it only involves about 20 ingredients so they eat a lot of vegetables fruits whole grains nuts tubers and not a lot of meat they also eat smaller portions for example in Okinawa Japan they follow a Confucian teaching haruhachibu which means that you should stop eating when you're 80 full next their lifestyle keeps them very active and they slow down to eat their meals with their families finally people living in blue zones have a strong social network and the elders have a sense of altruistic purpose in their community so the good news is that living a healthy and meaningful life beyond the age of 100 is possible and there's a lot of tangible things you can do to improve your health span and longevity now let's review the key diet and lifestyle tips for longevity are you ready when it comes to the diet here are the key principles if you want to live longer you should eat Whole Foods eat organic as much as possible eat a wide range of colorful vegetables and fruits to get a lot of antioxidants and to feed all the good bacteria in your gut microbiome use extra virgin olive oil which is a great source of polyphenols and eat smaller amounts of animal protein the final category is legumes and whole grains foods to avoid include refined sugar processed foods foods that turn into sugar like breads pastas and cereals and deep fried foods which expose you to trans fat you want to cut back on your intake of meat Dairy and alcohol finally how you eat is important as well you want to slow down and enjoy your meals so you'll want to avoid eating when stressed and avoid overeating there's no single diet that's perfect for everyone it has to be customized based on your health conditions and preferences clearly the standard American diet is not good for longevity the carnivore diet where you only eat meat and the dirty keto diet where you eat a lot of meat and dairy products are also bad for Longevity if you want to live longer some of the better diets include the paleo diet Mediterranean diet clean keto diet and vegetarian diet the paleo diet is especially good if you suffer from insulin resistance or irritable bowel syndrome and if you'd like to learn more about it please check out my video on insulin resistance which I'll link below I also have a video covering the clean keto diet and I'll put the link in the description below next intermittent fasting is a great way to turn on your longevity jeans this has been studied extensively by Walter Longo a scientist at UCLA it's also known as time restricted eating one popular option is the 16-8 diet this is where you fast for 16 hours a day and you eat two meals within an eight hour window if this is too difficult you can still see benefits from doing a minimum of 12 to 13 hours of fasting between your dinner and breakfast remember fasting activates autophagy which helps to turn on all the longevity genes it also cleans up your mitochondria so that you get more energy fasting also activates mitophagy which is the selective degradation of defective mitochondria which otherwise could contribute to age-related diseases now let's talk about exercise is absolutely key for good health and vitality when you exercise if you're turning on genes that make you younger at a cellular level exercise activates all the longevity Pathways it activates amp kinase it activates your two ends it increases your NAD levels it improves oxygenation to your tissues and it improves your mitochondrial function it even helps you maintain longer telomeres when it comes to exercise just 10 to 20 minutes of moderate exercise per day could add years to your life the intensity does matter so you'll want to get your heart rate up to 70 to 85 percent of your maximal heart rate now let's talk about hormesis hormesis is the concept that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and live longer you can expose your body to extremes of temperature like hot or cold to activate hormesis for example there was a large study published from Helsinki Finland this study followed more than 2 000 middle-aged men and they found that those men who used the sauna up to seven times a week had a twofold drop in heart disease and all cause mortality compared to men who only used it once a week so by sweating in a sauna or taking a cold shower or bath you're providing a little stress or adversity to your body which is hormesis and it helps to activate your longevity genes now let's review some key supplements that can help improve your health span vitamin D is involved in so many important processes in your body that it's often referred to as a longevity hormone that's why it's best to optimize your vitamin D level to a goal of 60 to 80 on your blood work methyl B complex is the energy and stress Vitamin and it promotes methylation which is a detox pathway in each and every cell of your body it also contains niacin which is B3 which helps to boost your NAD level methyl B complex helps to lower your homocysteine level on your blood work our goal is to optimize your homocysteine to a level of six and by doing so we are reducing your risk of heart attack stroke as well as Alzheimer's disease omega-3 fish oil helps to reduce inflammation in the body which we can monitor by checking the high sensitivity C-reactive protein on your blood work finally I recommend magnesium at bedtime magnesium is involved in numerous Pathways in your cells magnesium deficiency affects up to 45 percent of the American population and it's associated with poor DNA repair capacity telomere shortening increased risk of cancers heart disease stroke and all-cause mortality next we have antioxidants first we have vitamin C then we have glutathione which is the master antioxidant and detoxifier for your cells glutathione helps repair damage from radiation or toxins in the environment finally we have CoQ10 which is the antioxidant that helps your mitochondria which are the energy powerhouses of your cells a common problem we see as people get older is that their fasting glucose starts to creep upward and they develop insulin resistance foreign this is when it can be helpful to use berberine berberine comes from the root of a plant with bright red berries berberine pro has both berberine and the powerful antioxidant alpha lipoic acid and both of these help to activate amp kinase which improves insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake remember amp kinase promotes longevity but that's not all berberine is also anti-inflammatory and it has antimicrobial properties so it kills bad bacteria in the gut microbiome when it comes to your lifestyle getting quality sleep can extend your lifespan having a healthy circadian rhythm and healthy melatonin levels are really important for longevity it's also important to minimize your exposure to toxins from the environment this may be obvious but you definitely don't want to smoke accelerates your aging clock and a chemical called benzopyrine causes mutations in your DNA and this can increase your cancer risk five-fold avoid pesticides by eating organic as much as possible minimize your exposure to radiation so this means only do a CT scan when absolutely necessary avoid pcbs which are found in a lot of plastics and you never want to microwave your food in a plastic container finally stay away from food additives the best way to do this is to avoid all processed foods instead make it a habit of eating Whole Foods one of the lessons we can learn from Blue zones is that your relationships with people can also extend your health span and Longevity this is why it's important to invest time in your relationships whether it's with your family members your friends or your community having these relationships can give you a sense of purpose later in life and this can help you live longer this brings me to my patient Mike was determined to turn back his epigenetic clock so I suggested he changed his diet and lifestyle and take a few key supplements as described in this video when I saw him three months later my kid lost over 15 pounds his energy was improved and he told me he felt like he was 25 again that's amazing because Mike's chronological age is actually 59. but whenever I see Mike he reminds me that he feels like a million bucks so here are the key points if you want to live longer be sure to eat more plants in other words eat plenty of vegetables practice intermittent fasting to activate autophagy which turns on your longevity genes regular exercise makes you younger on a cellular level having a lower fasting blood sugar and Insulin correlates with better longevity prioritizing sleep can help you live longer and having purposeful relationships with people can also extend your life thanks so much for watching this video If you enjoyed it please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel I'm excited to hear all your questions and comments so please post those below thank you again and have a wonderful day [Music]

Channel: Rajsree Nambudripad, MD

Views: 199,132

Keywords: david sinclair, reverse aging, science of aging, longevity genes, how to live longer, dr david sinclair, sirtuins, mTOR, autophagy, telomere, look younger, blue zones, centenarians, suppplements for longevity, diet for longevity, epigenetic clock, healthspan, lifespan, biologic age, chronologic age, gut microbiome, inflammaging, medical research scientist, the science of healthy aging

Id: AHdzEfy4Nkk

Length: 33min 33sec (2013 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 12 2023