How to slow down the aging of the body and prolong life
Is it possible to put human consciousness in a test tube, when it will become possible to create an avatar for people and why potential immortality is not the most attractive scenario in human life?
According to scientists, in our time there are no elixirs of longevity, methods of transgenic engineering or magical sources that would give us eternal or at least a very long life. This is still beyond reality for modern science. However, research on longevity is being actively pursued - scientists analyze both external factors that can affect life expectancy, and internal, genetic factors that people cannot influence.
Vitamin D - friend or foe
According to doctors, it is impossible to single out any one isolated factor that ensures the prolongation of life - the opportunity to live to old age is given to us by a whole set of components.
Vitamin D is currently a controversial element in the conversation about longevity. Scientists' opinions about the dangers and benefits of this vitamin differ dramatically in different studies.
Many studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D in the body are associated with an increased risk of death from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, as well as allergies, mental illness, and other negative consequences.
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Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, for example, found that low serum vitamin D levels increased the risk factor for pneumonia by 2.5 times. The results of this work were published in The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. And the American Heart Association reported that patients with low vitamin D levels are more likely to have stroke and recover from stroke much worse than those with normal vitamin D levels.
Another view is that low vitamin D levels, on the contrary, contribute to life extension - an article with similar findings was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. To determine the relationship between vitamin D levels and longevity, the Dutch researchers compared data from 380 families in which at least two relatives (brothers and sisters) survived to ninety years of age. The study included selected subjects, their offspring (1038 people) and their partners who were in the same age group and were exposed to similar environmental factors.
The scientists measured vitamin D levels and analyzed how often a common variant of the CYP2R1 gene, which is also associated with higher levels of the vitamin in the body, is found in the DNA of the test subjects. The results showed that the level of vitamin D in the organisms of the siblings and their offspring is low, as well as the repetition rate of the CYP2R1 gene.
Such patterns were not observed in the offspring partners.
These results challenge earlier studies linking low vitamin D levels to mortality and age-related illness.
There is another point of view, the supporters of which argue: it is harmful for the human body to have both low and high levels of vitamin D. Scientists from the University of Copenhagen show that there is a connection between high levels of this vitamin and death from cardiovascular diseases. As the researchers write, the harm of high levels of vitamin D has not been previously identified, and this was a real discovery for scientists. The results were published in The Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.
How to slow down aging
If we can influence the level of vitamin D in the body - although how it should be, it is still unclear - there are other controllable factors that affect life expectancy. An international team of scientists analyzed the health status of 954 residents of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, who were born in 1972-1973. The work was carried out for 12 years - at the time when the age of the study participants was 26-38 years.
Scientists have identified 18 biological characteristics that can be used to determine the biological age of a person and the rate of aging. This includes indicators such as cholesterol levels, metabolic rate, blood pressure, the state of the immune system, the functioning of vital organs, and others.
These characteristics were measured in participants aged 26 years and later in the middle and at the end of the study (32 years, 38 years). In addition, genetic studies were carried out: scientists measured the length of telomeres in subjects. Telomeres are the end portions of chromosomes that shorten with each cell division. This phenomenon is called "terminal underreplication" and is one of the most important factors in the biological aging of the organism.
As a result of the work, scientists have established: at the time the subjects reached the age of 38 years, their biological age ranged from 28 years to 61 years. In addition, analysis of biomarkers of aging showed that the body of some people is aging at a triple rate, "overcoming" three years in twelve months. On the contrary, some participants in the study had a slower aging rate, and their biological clock measured a year in 16.5 calendar months.
The authors of the study concluded that the rate of aging depends primarily not on heredity (the contribution of genetics is only 20%), but on external factors.
The researchers also state that biological age can be controlled through exercise, proper nutrition, regular medical examinations and quitting smoking. Despite the fact that the benefits of all of the above have long been well known, many people still do not pay due attention to a healthy lifestyle. Meanwhile, compliance with the recommendations can significantly extend human life. More details on the findings of scientists can be found in the journal PNAS.
Secrets of the "blue zone"
In different countries and cultures, there are many traditions and secrets of maintaining health and longevity, thanks to which people live up to 100 years or more.
An interesting study that tells about the peculiarities of the lifestyle of centenarians in several parts of our planet was conducted by Dan Buettner, a traveler, researcher and writer. He published his results, processed jointly with the American National Institute of Aging, in the book "The Rules of Longevity. The results of the largest study of centenarians."
In his book, Buettner tells about four "blue zones" located on the islands of Japan, Italy, a peninsula in Costa Rica and in a small US town. The author calls the “blue zone” an area where the average life expectancy of people is higher than usual, and people there live up to the centenary about three times more often. Combining the “recipes” of longevity obtained from different parts of the world, we can distinguish several tips that are natural for all places. Long-livers of the "blue zones" are advised to include more plant foods in the diet, devote time to work and sports activities, have strong ties with family, spend time with friends, visit the sun more often and not eat too much at night.
A little about the future
Many writers and filmmakers have fantasized about how people of the future will cope with the problem of aging. However, scientists also sometimes make predictions for the future: Elena Milova, coordinator of the Russian group of the International Alliance for Life Extension, shared her thoughts on this topic with the science department of Gazeta. Ru.
“When and how will humanity cope with the aging problem? In order to answer this question, two factors must be taken into account.
First, modern science is well advanced in understanding the mechanisms of aging - well enough that experiments on mammals could more than double their lifespan.
No conditions have been identified that would prevent the transfer of these technologies to humans and the gradual increase in their effectiveness, up to the achievement of negligible aging, when all body functions are maintained at an optimal level for an unlimited time. Negligible aging is the ability to live as long as you want in a young body and with a clear mind.
Secondly, you need to remember about NBIC convergence, that is, about the accelerating mutual influence of various fields of science and technology. Due to this influence in the development of medical technologies, at first glance, unexpected breakthroughs can be observed associated with the discovery of a fundamentally new technical solution, a new approach, with an accelerated cost reduction and accelerated spread of technology.
Let me give you a simple example. 15 years ago, the sequencing of one genome cost $ 100 million. In 2010 it was already $ 50 thousand, and at the end of 2015 the price for sequencing dropped to $ 300-500 and continues to decline. The fall in sequencing costs to $ 50 will automatically lead to the widespread use of genetic research data in all health care decisions, from the selection of an individualized diet, exercise to identifying individually effective and ineffective drugs. In turn, a personalized approach significantly increases the effectiveness of prevention and treatment, which will have a direct impact on health and life expectancy.
If this reduction in price occurs in the next two or three years, then in 10 years the average life expectancy in Russia will significantly increase due to this factor alone.
The technologies that exist in laboratories today do not yet reverse aging. Even if all of them are introduced into clinical practice, this can lead to an increase in the average life expectancy of people by 20-30 years. However, since the goal - negligible aging - has already been set, many scientific teams around the world are conducting research that can lead to the creation of the entire set of necessary technologies in the next 10–20 years”.
Dentures and 3D printing
Some steps have already been taken towards achieving negligible aging: doctors have learned how to create bionic prostheses and exoskeletons that help people restore the body's motor functions. In addition, scientists can already 3D print donor organs. The cells of the person himself are used as "ink". True, now such organs cannot receive full-fledged use in medical practice - it has not yet been possible to restore cellular immunity under laboratory conditions.
But bionic prostheses and exoskeletons are used in full. A bionic prosthesis is a prosthesis that is controlled by "translating" neural signals into commands that can be understood by a mechanical arm or leg. In the summer of 2015, scientists created a leg prosthesis that can feel the surface on which a person walks, just like a real leg: sensors read information about the soil surface, this information is transmitted by the nerve endings of the leg, and then to the brain. In 2015, another success was announced: doctors managed to create a system capable of transmitting signals from the brain to the limbs "bypassing" damaged neural connections, thereby restoring the paralyzed patient's ability to walk.
Consciousness in a test tube
Supplementing the human body with mechanical parts or even completely replacing it with a machine is only half the battle, says David Dubrovsky, Doctor of Philosophy, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Today we can prosthetics almost everything - limbs, internal organs. But where is the border? In theory, you can replace the whole person. But man is a self-organizing system. The main task is to create a self-organizing system on a non-biological substrate,”the scientist comments.
There is a theory according to which consciousness can be transferred to an artificial brain by the method of quantum teleportations - we are talking about creating an artificial human body and transferring consciousness and human psyche to a non-biological substrate. There is even a project in Russia - "Russia-2045" - which is creating such an avatar for the man of the future.
However, not all scientists consider this perspective tempting. Pavel Tishchenko, Doctor of Philosophy, an employee of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told the science department: “I think that the main problem associated with an avatar is that it is possible to artificially create a person, having a certain theoretical model of a person. But just the creation of a model of a person - at least at the present time - leaves nothing human from a person. By and large, any modeling is fine, if we mean prosthetics. But when it comes to human characteristics - morality, intelligence, reason, sensibility - then, I think, the model is too weak a reflection of what really is. Therefore, it seems to me that it is premature to expect that a completely artificial human being will be created.
I think that behind this lies the natural desire of a person not to die and somehow continue. But, on the other hand, you can always exploit this desire - and collect resources for this business. While this is an imaginary construction, it is very businesslike. Therefore, business is involved here. Keep in mind that when someone sells a product, they overestimate the positive qualities and underestimate the negative ones.
The path of freezing, the path of creating artificial intelligence, "Russia-2045" - these are all business projects. I would not mind living forever, but not in the form that our artificial intelligence designers are now offering. It is too small and uninteresting. Now all artificial intelligence is fixated on solving problems. What does it mean that I will forever solve math problems and prove math theorems? On figs I need it! So far, what a machine can do is very little."