8 guaranteed tips to slow down aging

Forget what the lines in your palms say. Life expectancy is not predetermined, but we can influence it significantly by our lifestyle. Here are some helpful tips aimed at influencing the epigenetic and cellular processes that together create the unadulterated elixir of youth.

Try intermittent fasting

Eat till half full, drink till half full, you will be here for many years.” This folk wisdom is not to be underestimated because its truth is supported by modern scientific research. In fact, calorie restriction, i.e. limiting calorie intake, improves overall health (e.g. insulin resistance and risk factors for cardiovascular disease are significantly reduced), and this leads to a longer life.

Restricting calorie intake in an effort to extend life works across the animal kingdom – some species have lived up to 40% longer as a result in studies! There are few studies on human volunteers so far, but they are very promising. In just one of them, for example, a 15% reduction in energy intake over two years resulted in a 20% reduction in oxidative stress.

However, intermittent fasting, i.e. going without food for certain periods of time, also has a positive effect on health and life expectancy. This applies both to eat-stop-eat fasts, where for example one day without food is scheduled each week, and to time-restricted food consumption within each day. For example, 16-8 or 14-10 fasts, where eating is limited to eight or ten hours within each day.

Avoid sitting for long periods

Studies show that prolonged, uninterrupted sitting can have a similarly negative effect on our health as smoking or obesity. Not only does it affect the back, but it also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and other problems. So if we can reduce sitting time, it can lead to a longer life.

Ideally, you should manage not to sit for more than 3 hours a day – for example, try to get a desk that allows you to work standing up. If this is not possible, at least try to break up the sitting as often as possible – every 45 minutes at the latest.

Sport

Regular exercise is a very effective way to positively influence most ageing-related processes. For example, it reduces the amount of senescent cells – cells that have exhausted their ability to divide and accumulate in the body, accelerating the ageing process. In addition, sport helps to slow down the shortening of telomeres, which are the terminal parts of chromosomes whose decline is also linked to ageing.

Exercise also affects epigenetic reactions, especially gene methylation. As negative epigenetic patterns increase with age, influencing these processes is a very effective way to slow down ageing. Last but not least, it also helps to improve mitochondrial function and promote mitochondrial proliferation, which is also very important. It is in these cellular organelles that energy is produced, and their loss or dysfunction is thought to be one of the causes of ageing.

Harden yourself

You don’t necessarily have to follow the fashion trend of winter swimming in the icy waters of rivers and lakes. Even a daily cold shower has a positive effect on your health and thus your life expectancy. It improves blood circulation throughout the body, boosts the lymphatic system and the production of mitochondria (especially in the so-called brown fat tissue) and has an anti-inflammatory effect.

The best option is to combine hardening with sport. Recent research has shown that exposure to cool water immediately after exercise not only speeds up recovery but also promotes the production of the enzyme AMPK. This substance is very important for health – for example, it improves the transfer of glucose from the blood to the muscles and its use by muscle cells, thus helping to lower blood glucose levels. In addition, the volunteers in the study showed a significant increase in mitochondrial numbers due to the combination of exercise and hardening.

Take a sauna

Regular sauna use is also of great benefit to health and the speed of ageing. For example, when researchers followed a group of 2,300 people over a long period of time, they found that 4-7 visits to the sauna per week (for 11 minutes) significantly reduced their mortality from cardiovascular disease and death from other causes. Even a single visit to the sauna per week then had benefits for mitochondrial function and longevity.

Drink hot water

Adequate hydration is essential for good health. Moreover, according to research, the older a person gets, the more fluids he or she should drink to compensate for negative processes in the body. At the same time, however, it seems that if you choose a hot drink to drink, you do something extra for yourself. And it doesn’t even have to be tea or coffee, even plain hot water has a positive effect!

Hot drinks, for example, have been shown to improve digestion, blood circulation and central nervous system function, reduce stress and anxiety, and even promote weight loss. All of these factors can also have an impact on life expectancy.

Support glutathione production

Glutathione is a small peptide, i.e. a molecule composed of three amino acids: cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid. It is a very powerful antioxidant that is naturally produced in our bodies and protects their cells (and especially the mitochondria) from the action of free radicals. However, its production decreases with age, and older people have insufficient levels of it inside their cells, which increases the risk of many diseases and accelerates the aging process.

Taking glutathione as a dietary supplement is problematic because it breaks down into individual amino acids in the digestive tract. However, sufficient intake of protein is important, especially the amino acids that are part of it. The use of dietary supplements with cysteine and glycine has contributed to a significant increase in glutathione production in studies. Consumption of vegetables containing sulphur (garlic, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage…), vitamin C and selenium is also important. Glutathione itself is found in avocados, spinach and asparagus, for example. Although it is broken down during digestion, the amino acids formed can be used as building blocks for its re-formation.

Try dietary supplements

There are a number of natural substances that have a positive effect on individual cellular and epigenetic mechanisms related to aging. Try for example:

Resveratrol , a red wine dye, helps regulate the level of gene methylation and histone modification, while promoting the production of sirtuins, enzymes that help slow the aging process. In addition, resveratrol helps to reduce the risk of a number of age-related diseases and protects cells from oxidative damage thanks to its antioxidant action. It also has a positive effect on the signs of ageing in the skin – for example, on the formation of wrinkles.

EGCG – epigallocatechin gallate, abundant in green tea, for example, can very effectively regulate epigenetic processes related to aging and also the activity of the enzyme telomerase, which regulates the shortening of telomeres in chromosomes.

Vitamin D3 – vitamin D3 deficiency is one of the causes of brain and cognitive decline in older age (including memory), but it also increases the risk of a number of age-related diseases (osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease and cancer). In addition, the likelihood of vitamin D3 deficiency increases significantly with age.

Genistein – a substance contained mainly in soybeans combines epigenetic and estrogenic effect. This makes it particularly effective in slowing the aging process in women during and after menopause. It also reduces the risk of age-related diseases such as osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

NAD+ – It is a substance that is involved in the processes of energy production in cells.

Fisetin – this compound is found naturally in many fruits (especially strawberries), but only in small amounts, so a concentrated form in dietary supplements is necessary to achieve more pronounced effects. It is a very effective senolytic (a substance capable of removing senescent cells), which is also anti-inflammatory, slows down brain aging and generally helps to extend life expectancy.

Quercetin (quercetin) – it is also a very powerful senolytic capable of destroying senescent cells.

Selenium – supports the production of glutathione and is itself part of antioxidant enzymes.