Methodologies to Slow Down the Four Reasons Humans Die
There are four reasons humans die. One is we build up these dead cells in our body and almost all of them get cleaned out, but there are a few zombie cells left who keep emitting all these factors that cause this chronic inflammation. And they’ll also accumulate in our brain where we can’t wash them out quite as fast. So the lymphatic system, the lymph node system in our body, will wash them out quickly, but in our brain, it’s constrained by the skull, and it can only wash out through the spinal cord. And so to make sure that happens, one’s a reason we needed to get deep sleep because when we’re in deep sleep the flow through our brain to get rid of these dead cells is 20 times faster than normal. So when they all build up it will lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s in our brain. Especially if we’re eating too much sugar. And the way to ameliorate that process is with two supplements: a life extension senolytic activator, and another one called Ageless Cell.
The second reason we die is because of that mTOR signaling in our body. It’s a big protein; it’s responsible for growth from baby to adulthood quickly, but it doesn’t turn off. And because it doesn’t turn off, anytime we get cancer it’s going to grow fast. It’s why if we get brain cancer, we might have weeks to live. Pancreatic cancer, maybe months to live. And so we can tamp down that mTOR signaling with one drug, we talked about in the last podcast, Metformin, two supplements, and periodic fasting. And again, two days in a row, 16 hours, every two weeks.
The third reason we die is NAD+, an enzyme that is in every cell responsible for cell health and cell repair. It slowly goes away, and so by age 80, we’re down to only 2% left, which isn’t very much. So we can restore it with supplements. If you’re younger than age 45, you can just start taking supplements and keep it up where it should be. If you’re over 45, it’s difficult all to do with supplements. Supplements will maintain it where it is, but they won’t build them back up. So to build them back up, if you’re over age 45, you have to have an infusion or an IV, and then continue with the supplements, so that’s pretty easily fixed.
Then the fourth reason we die is their immune system just goes away. So the thymus gland right in the middle of our chest shrivels up and is pretty much gone by age 70, and it’s central to the immune system. And because of that, it’s a reason why so many elderly people over 70 will die of flu, bronchitis, any other disease related to our lungs. For example, COVID 19, of course, is another one. Any disease associated with our lungs will essentially kill older people at a much higher rate. And so to make sure we keep our immune system strong, fresh air helps, getting regular exercise helps, and then there are two other supplements we can take.
We’ve talked already about what supplements, the 14 supplements we need as we go through life, even starting as a preteen, to maintain our health. So just a quick review of the supplements. Six supplements should be taken, even starting as a preteen. And then to ward off disease, another eight should be taken as we approach adulthood. And then these seven supplements that I just covered should be taken as we enter middle age, probably 45-ish.
There’re three groups of supplements: some to take even when you’re a teenager, eight more when you approach adulthood, and then seven more as you approach middle age. And of course, all of these are available on our website.
Another way to induce longevity is small amounts of stress, and the reason is our cells are used to, from evolution, having an abundance of food for three or four months, and then not so much food for seven or eight months. And so the cells are used to when famine’s coming or food isn’t very available to strengthening themselves, getting rid of the dead cells, getting rid of the injured cells. So they have to toughen up is a way to think about it. And so one way to build longevity is to induce small amounts of stress in the body. That process is called hormesis, meaning it’s the favorable response of an organism, any, to low doses of stress that would be harmful in high doses.
Radiation is an example. People in the Rocky Mountain states outlive people in the Southern states by about five years, and the reason is there’s a lot of background radiation in the Rocky Mountain states and none in the south. So that hormesis, a little bit of stress, is good, applies to a lot of things. Exercise, for example, both cardio and strength training. As we all know a little bit of exercise is great, great, great. But we also probably know marathon runners and people who get crazy with strength training have a much-shortened life. Alcohol is another example. You may have heard men and women can have one to two glasses of alcohol a day, which is fine, helpful. Of course, much more alcohol would be bad. Heat and cold are both other examples. Ultraviolet light, actually toxins. And then calorie restriction and fasting; both of those are in combination in all these various studies extends life in every creature studied to date.
We need to keep doing strength training as we age. We lose 1% of our muscle mass per year, starting at age 40. At age 70, so now we’ve lost 30%, we start losing one and a half percent per year. At age 80, we’re down to about half of our muscle mass. The medical term is sarcopenia. Therefore, at age 80, if we haven’t done strength training, we become real vulnerable to stresses that would otherwise be minor. It’s why frail people never recover, especially when weak bones are broken. If you’ve ever been to a nursing home or an assisted living facility, you’ll see two things happening. One is there are a lot more women than men, and the reason is women outlive men, average age 85 to men 80, and two, most of them have lost half of their muscle mass so they look like a bag of bones. So we need to keep our muscles as we age.
And interestingly, some foods have a hormetic effect, a little bit of stress good. To give you some examples that’s dark chocolate, regular coffee, and a number of these vegetables that we’ve all heard are good for us. Kale, cabbage, spinach, Brussels sprouts, and also lemon juice, green tea vinegar, the whole list of foods that had this hormetic benefit. And then of interest, some spices have a hormetic benefit: oregano, ginger, turmeric, garlic, rosemary, parsley, basil, and thyme.
And finally, dark chocolate has a hormetic effect. It’s why dark chocolate is good for us. Now, the only trouble with dark chocolate is it usually has a lot of sugar, which is bad for us. There is any brand of dark chocolate called Lily’s, L-I-L-Y-S, that is sweetened with stevia and not with sugar. And if you remember from the nutritious diet, sugar could not be worse for us. So if you’re willing to only get the benefit of dark chocolate without the sugar, try Lily’s brand is sweetened with one of the two natural sweeteners stevia.
That’s essentially the top things that are going on in this particular step, helping us live longer by attacking those four reasons we die. It’s a combination of elements and mathematics and just taking control of your life. And know what to do.
