Marijuana, Cannabis, Longevity, Legacy

When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter.

Research on garlic indicates that it may provide an ideal low-cost and safe alternative to drugs and vaccines in reducing the three most common causes of death in the world.

Inexpensive, time-tested, safe and delicious, many spices are attaining recognition for being, quite literally, 'life saving,' which is likely one reason why, in ancient times, many were worth their weight in gold.

This time around, the health benefits of ancient 'folk remedies' like garlic are being confirmed by straight-laced men and women in lab coats...

Dr. John Westerdahl speaks before the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii on the secrets of a plant-based diet for a healthy and ageless lifestyle.

Want a longer life?  Volunteer to do good and you might benefit at least as much.

Background

The impact of diet on specific age-related diseases has been studied extensively, but few investigations have adopted a more holistic approach to determine the association of diet with overall health at older ages. We examined whether diet, assessed in midlife, using dietary patterns and adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), is associated with aging phenotypes, identified after a mean 16-year follow-up.

Methods

Data were drawn from the Whitehall II cohort study of 5350 adults (age 51.3±5.3 years, 29.4% women). Diet was assessed at baseline (1991-1993). Mortality, chronic diseases, and functioning were ascertained from hospital data, register linkage, and screenings every 5 years and were used to create 5 outcomes at follow-up: ideal aging (free of chronic conditions and high performance in physical, mental, and cognitive functioning tests; 4%), nonfatal cardiovascular event (7.3%), cardiovascular death (2.8%), noncardiovascular death (12.7%), and normal aging (73.2%).

Results

Low adherence to the AHEI was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and noncardiovascular death. In addition, participants with a “Western-type” diet (characterized by high intakes of fried and sweet food, processed food and red meat, refined grains, and high-fat dairy products) had lower odds of ideal aging (odds ratio for top vs bottom tertile: 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.36-0.94; P=.02), independently of other health behaviors.

Conclusions

By considering healthy aging as a composite of cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, respiratory, mental, and cognitive function, the present study offers a new perspective on the impact of diet on aging phenotypes.

Every day in this country about 10,000 people turn 65. And rather than basking in the sun in some pricey exotic locale, many of them are struggling to make ends meet. In 2011, the median income for people 65 and older was $27,707 for men and $15,362 for women. That same year, almost 3.6 million elderly people — nearly 1 in 10 — were living below the poverty line.

The recent recession hit baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, particularly hard.

Yet these realities do not have to presage a grim future. Just because the golden years aren’t what we were promised, that doesn’t mean we can’t create a more achievable image of retirement — a positive one that takes into account new opportunities to change people’s lives. In his book The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Dan Buettner studies communities with a significantly disproportionate number of centenarians. These “Blue Zones” exist in diverse cultures — from Okinawa, Japan, to Sardinia, Italy, to Loma Linda, California — but almost all of the centenarians share one characteristic: They are not just alive, they are living.

Throughout his book, Buettner shows the benefits of continued purposeful engagement, whether through work, volunteering, strong social connections, or involvement in a faith-based community. In these “Blue Zones,” older farmers still farm, older physicians still practice medicine, and older parents help care for later generations. These aren’t people who chase youth in the gym; they live in environments where physical activity is built into everyday life. Maybe most important, older adults in these communities aren’t shuffled to the side and ignored; they are respected and treated as learned advisers and mentors. All of this purposeful engagement correlates with longer life and better health.

This first-ever AEGON Retirement Readiness Survey looks at how people are preparing for a world in which we live longer than at any time in history.

Despite the fundamentally positive news that we're all living longer, longevity increases bring greater costs and potential reductions in retirement systems, including government and private pensions. The global economic crisis of recent years and ongoing economic uncertainty and austerity measures have put even greater pressure on these retirement systems and shifted more of the responsibility to individuals to save for their own retirement.

This first-ever AEGON Retirement Readiness Survey of 9,000 people across nine countries was conducted with the aim of understanding the prevailing attitudes toward retirement and the levels of financial readiness among the current working generation in Europe and the United States.The survey was conducted with the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (external link)® and Cicero Consulting.

A lot of the focus in wearable computing has been on delivering products that help everyday users monitor some of the more basic activity traits, such as steps taken and heart rate. While these are certainly useful metrics for health monitoring, they do not paint the full picture.

Computational biologists instead study the chemical changes that occur in people’s bodies with the help of optical sensors, non-invasive devices that use the red-to-near-infrared spectral region to assess the chemical changes that occur in the user’s blood vessels, among other places.

By leveraging this cutting-edge technology and wearable computing, we are equipped to understand the changes that occur in a person’s body at a whole new level. The implications of this change span from improved training of athletes to better management of chronic diseases and healthcare.

Coenzyme Q10 decreases all cause mortality by half, according to new results. It is the first drug to improve heart failure mortality in over a decade and should be added to standard treatment, according to experts.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) occurs naturally in the body and is essential to survival. CoQ10 works as an electron carrier in the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cells, to produce energy and is also a powerful antioxidant. It is the only antioxidant that humans synthesise in the body.

CoQ10 levels are decreased in the heart muscle of patients with heart failure, with the deficiency becoming more pronounced as heart failure severity worsens. Statins are used to treat many patients with heart failure because they block the synthesis of cholesterol, but these drugs also block the synthesis of CoQ10, which further decreases levels in the body.

Could a deficiency in a magnesium be to blame for some of your chronic health problems, lack of sleep or anxiety?

Mark Hyman, M.D. reveals why this “secret antidote to stress” works so well and tells you how to get more of it — naturally.

The most important difference between the world today and 150 years ago isn’t airplane flight or nuclear weapons or the Internet. It’s lifespan. We used to live 35 or 40 years on average in the United States, but now we live almost 80.

The ex-mayor, a fire victim and an insurance policy Times Herald-Record May 7, 2008: A check on the bank account of Albert Hudson – Kevin Hudson's brother – for the first insurance premium is rejected by underwriters, who note that third-party...

Aluminum is everywhere, in our cars, our food, our medical products and drugs, vaccines, and even our water. It was once safely sequestered in the earth’s crust, but now is torn from it to help produce every imaginable product under the sun—in spite of being a potent neurotoxin!