APPARENTLY, AGEING HAS SETTINGS? 💎
I went looking for some genuinely good news this morning. Not politics. Not war. Not another billionaire doing something ghastly.
And I found something rather wonderful.
Scientists are increasingly interested not merely in lifespan, but in healthspan. In other words, not just keeping us alive longer while bits fall off, but keeping us healthier for more of the years we're alive.
A large study published this year followed more than 500 mice throughout their lives and found that restricting their daily eating window improved measures of healthy aging in both males and females.
The strongest results came from an eight-hour eating window. Male mice in that group also lived significantly longer, although they were eating somewhat fewer calories as well, so the story is not as simple as “fast and live forever.”
And, importantly, they were mice. Nobody has discovered the Fountain of Youth, and we do not yet know whether the same effects will translate into longer human lives.
But I still find the direction rather exhilarating.
I have practiced time-restricted eating for years, and I know what it has done for my own experience of being 70. I feel lighter in my body. Quieter. Less noise. More clarity.
That is personal experience, not scientific proof.
Perhaps the great achievement of aging research won't be making human beings live to 150. Perhaps it will be much simpler.
Being 80 and still walking. Being 90 and still thinking clearly. Remaining independent longer. Having fewer years at the end, dominated by disease and frailty.
As someone who has somehow arrived at 70 without being consulted about it, I find that rather wonderful.
I have every intention of being a nuisance at 100. Science has made no such promise.
I don't particularly need more life.
But I'll happily take more life in the years I've got.
@meditation
@DigitalCoup
@economics_that_works
#Ageing #Healthspan #Science #life #Longevity #HealthyAgeing #Fast #eating #human #Scientists