The 6.30am alarm rang for the 3rd time waking me up for my fencing classes. My instructor had refused to grant me leave even on my 120th birthday, saying that my legwork needed more work – I was not light enough on my feet and toes! I had to be in top shape for the Veteran Annual Fencing Championship in October where I was Heading Team CCI.
This is not a crazy dream or Science fiction!
Recent advances in medical technologies are almost guaranteed to ensure that average age of humans will go up to 120. And it will not be a diseased / bed ridden / dependant / cranky 120 year old. That is no fun and nobody wants that! Rather it will be a 120 year old in the body of a youthful 50 year old! Advances in age reversal techniques are going to enable us to get there!
Let me explain some of these advances in life extension:
- Diagnostics: With wearables we are already able to track important body parameters such as insulin, blood pressure, oxygen, temperature, pulse rate, etc. in real time. These along with routine health check ups including for blood, DNA and microbiome tests, all organ health tests including for the heart, gut, lungs, kidney, liver, brain, etc. and for disease markers for cancers, with advanced imaging tests, etc. provide a complete framework for extremely effective health monitoring. The number of diagnostic tests that we shall be able to run will multiply manifold over the next few years warning us well in advance of any potential maladies that our body is veering towards and will allow us adequate time to correct the most dreaded cancers and other diseases over time. These are going to play a key role in helping us Prevent any serious health condition.
- Traditional Medical interventions: Thanks to cheaper computing technologies, we are understanding various health conditions many times faster than ever before.
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- Combined with AI and robotics all this is resulting in
- finding new vaccines – such as for COVID in record times,
- discovering new drugs and bringing them to market in record times,
- developing surgical systems such as Da Vinci which can perform highly complicated surgeries in a minimally invasive manner,
- creating a super health infrastructure where human and AI systems will integrate to provide us with the best solutions for any serious health situation.
The advancements in this space will help us Treat many life threatening problems that we face today with ease and minimal side effects.
- CRISPR is the new gamechanging gene editing tool which can help us edit genes in individuals as also for future generations (germline editing) of humans. As a result, we can correct gene flaws in individuals such as for certain types of cancers, blindness, AIDS, blood disorders, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, COVID 19, etc. And the research is just getting started. CRISPR’s promise of being able to edit some of the most life threatening conditions in individuals makes it one of the most significant discoveries of our times – much like the printing press or the steam engine.
Using CRISPR to make germ line edits holds tremendous promise once the ethical and legal debates around this issue are sorted – we can correct human embryos for any number of life threatening diseases as also for human enhancements – such as for blue eyes, blond hair, height of six feet, fair complexion, muscular physique for men, etc., our neural capabilities to match Einstein’s IQ, etc., our psychological strengths to match Nelson Mandela’s, etc.
- Organ 3D bioprinting: There is active research going on around the world to grow individualised human organs, on demand – to match your blood and genome type so that there is zero rejection of the transplanted organ. This new R & D direction is to enable 3D bioprinted organs made from bioink from donor tissue / cells. It is estimated that all organ transplant needs can be fulfilled with this new technology in the next 20 years – all this without the need for copious amounts of immunosuppressant drugs which one typically needs to take life long, currently! We can safely assume that in about 20 years from now – a transplant will be a call away!
Apart from the above, active research in ongoing in areas of tissue regeneration, molecular repair, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, etc. etc. I guess you get the picture! I am certain that the developments listed above, themselves, will ensure our long life – to 120 and beyond. To be fair, we currently still do not have solutions to cure Parkinsons and a few other diseases, however, I am quite certain that in the next ew years we will find these cures and further see many other technologies emerge that will be better and cheaper than our current understanding, enhancing average human life to 120+ years. The integration of cheap computing power, data analytics, robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning is going to transform healthcare beyond our imagination.
But what about our biological age, which we can actually measure today by our DNA Methylation? How are we going to become biologically young as we grow older, making old age life fun and desirable? Imagine yourself at 50, you will be as youthful when you turn 120! Here are some of the enablers for age reversal:
- Biohacking: Biohacking is the process of implementing scientifically-driven lifestyle interventions to reduce our biological age and achieve optimal health throughout our lifespan. Biohacking includes:
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- Diet management: which includes: Calorie restricted, time controlled optimal nutrition, intermittent fasting, autophagy induction, vegetarian and controlled diet, etc. and covers what, when and how much we eat and drink. This combined with the studies of the Blue zone diets provide pointers on how to keep our cells young.
- Hormesis: this refers to a beneficial effectcaused by exposure to low doses of an agent known to be toxic at higher doses. Hormesis is a good type of stress which makes our body more resilient. Examples include cryotherapy (extreme cold therapy), infrared saunas, exercise, intermittent fasting, oxygen deprivation and sun exposure. Exercise is a classic example of hormesis where we damage muscle fibres and they build back bigger and stronger. Hormesis keeps our cells young.
- Epigenetics: Epigeneticsliterally means “above” or “on top of” genetics. It refers to external modifications to DNA that turn genes “on” or “off.” It is increasingly being understood that it is epigenetics management, not our genes which regulate our ageing. We are now learning how to switch “on” our youthful genes, which switch off as we age, and switch “off” our cell ageing genes, causing age reversal!
- Exercise management: an ideal combination of HIIT, Cardio and Weight training has been shown to control muscle atrophy and make people agemore slowly and live healthier, more vigorous lives. A Harvard Alumni Study has shown that men who exercise regularly gain about two hours of life expectancy for each hour of exercise!
- Brain stimulation: We now know that similar to how lifting weights builds muscle, stimulating the brain by challenging yourself on a daily basis, either with an active work life or by playing any anti-aging brain game, helps build cognitive reserve which helps your brain stay young.
We also know of many other biohacks involving stress management, social connections, sleep management, avoiding harmful behaviours, etc. which involve simple lifestyle changes, but which enable us to stay and feel young.
- Supplements: Gerontology Researchers have identified that molecules such as metformin, rapamycin, NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide), resveratrol, among others, have had amazing age reversal results in lab experiments. Clinical trials are ongoing to establish these as official prescription drugs to reverse ageing. Most researchers and early adopters are already consuming these supplements, as they are considered quiet safe. And this is just the beginning. Research in this space is being supported by Billions of $ of funding and we can look forward to many more discoveries in this space.
- Stem cells / Gene therapy: There are multiple ongoing trials in the education and scientific research meccas of the world to prove how stem cells can be the answer to reverse ageing. Tens of lab clinical trials have shown efficacy of stem cells for the same. Stem cells are already being used for rejuvenation therapies for skin, hair, common injuries, knee pain, cancer treatment, etc. all with very good results. It is only a matter of time when stem cells treatment protocols will be established for age reversal.
We now know of the 9 pathways of ageing and we need to combine interventions in all of them to effectively reverse age. Apart from the above, a lot of other research is ongoing for age reversal, such as senescent cells removal, hyperbaric oxygen treatments, strategies to lengthen telomeres, nanobots for repair damage, inflammation regulation, young plasma factors, universal stem cells, etc., with a Boston start up alone claiming to be researching 60 different technologies for age reversal! With hundreds of startups in this space and unlimited Billions available for investment, with investors betting on what many predict will become the biggest industry of ALL time, I am absolutely sure that we will see age reversal solutions explode in the next few years. My logic: age reversal has been proven in mice in 8 different ways and trials are ongoing for dog age reversal at the moment. Humans are next in line!
While a lot of actionable progress needs to be made on this front for us humans, considering the success achieved in lab trials and the quantum of research going on in this space, it is quite clear that age reversal for us will be very real, very soon.
In short, as our life extension looks certain, we need to focus on staying healthy, staying updated with the latest discoveries in this field and adopt these tools to stay young and reverse ageing.
The future seems amazing and I am so eagerly looking forward to enjoying our win at the Veteran Annual Fencing Championship in 2084! What are you looking forward to?
Akkshay Mehta
(Life Extension and Age Reversal Evangelist)
This blog is my effort to inspire you with the latest developments in the space of healthspan, lifespan and age reversal. In simple English! Do share and Stay tuned.
I would love to hear from you. I can be reached at agm@growyoungtech.com
My Inspirations for this article, among others:
- David A Sinclair PhD, author of “Lifespan”.
- Aubrey de Grey PhD, author of “Ending Aging”.
- Elizabeth Blackburn PhD, 2009 joint winner of Nobel prize for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and enzyme telomeres.
- Jennifer Doudna PhD, 2020 Nobel prize winner for co development of CRISPR Cas 9.
- Dr Sara Gottfried, author of “Younger”.
- Ray Kurzweil, Inventor and Futurist, currently Director of Engineering at Google.
- George Church, PhD, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT.
- Bill Faloon, life extentionist, cofounder of Age Reversal Network and Life Extension group.
- Dr Peter Attia, MD, runs his medical practice on the science of longevity and improving lifespan.
- Shinya Yamanaka PhD, 2012 co winner of Nobel prize for work that has revolutionised cell biology.
- Steve Horvath PhD, developer of Horvath’s clock which measures biological age.
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