The End

Succesful Aging

In our final post for the semester, I have a few questions for reflection:


1. What is your personal definition of succesful aging? How has this definition changed from the beginning of the semester?

I would define successful aging as maintaining physical and mental agility and capabilities into your later years.  I think that, from what we've learned this semester, that many aspects play into successful aging.  Some things, such as genetics, are potentially beyond our control, while healthy lifestyle choices such as regular exercise and proper nutrition have been directly correlated to longevity.  Centenarians throughout the world also share stress free attitudes towards life as well as faith in a higher power, in common.

2. What was one topic or fact that you found to be the most interesting throughout the semester?

I really enjoyed the Oprah clips about the blue zones and further researching into the lifestyles of the oldest living people around the world.  I've actually adjusted my diet to include and exclude certain things after seeing that (such as goats milk - which is fab).  The readings we did in class about the adverse effects of gluten also interested me, and my mom, who is a healthcare professional.  Coming into the course I was interested in nutritional and lifestyle choices that would lead to successful aging, and I feel that the content we discussed as well as being exposed to the centenarian studies were informational and enlightening.
 
3. What is one aspect of successful aging that you would like to continue learning about?

I'll probably buy the blue zones book because that really interested me.  I'd also be interested in learning more about how genetics factor into healthy aging and other things that are beyond our immediate control.  And possibly how to combat that.

4. Has any of the information that we've discussed in class change your perspective about successful aging?  (i.e. Are there any behaviors that you will or will not do as a result of learning about aging?)

Seeing the Georgia centenarian study and learning about their diet surprised me.  I learned that the oldest living people all over the globe lived active lifestyles, so I will try to incorporate more activity into my life, like riding my bicycle when I can rather than driving, for example.  I think that saving more and investing earlier on will help prevent financial stress later in life, so I want to learn more about and look into investing now.  I also like to travel and after seeing the blue zones in class, I've added Costa Rica to my list of future destinations.

Thanks again everyone for participating in the class! It has been a great semester.

Aging

http://www.pr.com/press-release/312948
Stem cells for anti-aging "cosmeceuticals"

http://www.okicent.org/cent.html
I found this article and information interesting in regards to what we've discussed about centenarians and more specifically their diet.  These people seem to live healthier longer (maybe not after the earthquakes, tsunamis, and radiation) and I found it interesting after Kate's post about quality years versus quantity years, which I agree with.  I would rather live less than to live incapacitated.

Centenarians

Centenarians

 After viewing the Georgia Centenarian Study, we've generated a lot of interesting questions and ideas!
 I wrote several questions on the board to help guide discussion; these critical thinking questions are related to areas of: content, self, world, and practice.

Content:

How does this information related or connect to other information that we've covered or you've read?

Self:

What impact does this information have on you?

World:

Who else needs to know this information? What are potential implications?

Practice:

What additional ideas does this information give you?

How can you use or apply this information?

Is there anything else you want to know?

 For this next blog- elaborate on several of these questions.  Feel free to repeat any comment that you discussed in class.
In addition, pose a question or a comment on at least 2 classmate's blogs. 

>>> A lot of information was presented through viewing the clips on the Georgia Centenarian study.  Thoughts that came to my mind while viewing it included: is this a special case/area/environment with an exceptional amount of cognitive, functioning centenarians or are there samples similar to this throughout the country?  I hope this question may be answered in the near future with our delving into "The Blue Zones".

Additionally I found it interesting how a lot of the individuals seemed to share similar personality traits such as having a care free attitude and stress free approach to things.  They almost seemed nonchalant or indifferent to some topics because "that's just the way things were" or "we didn't know any better", and all seemed to share a strong sense of faith in religion.  The findings concerning their diets and nutritional habits were a little surprising as well, and as I stated in class, I found it interesting that there was not a decline in the prevalence of the gene correlated with Alzheimer's disease.

I think these types of studies are important to identify and evaluate similar and differentiating factors involved in human longevity, and it's too bad that there aren't studies or at least data available from different time periods such as pre-Industrial revolution.  Prior to that, one could imagine that environmental factors may have been a little more safer, but at the same time technology and medicine hadn't advanced yet to prevent simple maladies from claiming lives.    It's neat to speculate on how human advancement, or perhaps a rearranging of different factors - were it possible - would effect longevity.

The Georgia Centenarian study gives insight into the lives of still capable individuals, and gives hope, in a sense, that if we reach such ages, we may not be vegetables or totally dependent on the care of others.  For me personally, I try to not stress out about little things, but sometimes it's hard not to, and stress has been proven to have adverse effects on people's health, but as we saw with the centenarians, a lack thereof may prove to be an ingredient to a long life.

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On a side note, I thought it was neat that one of the centenarians was writing a book about his family history.  How many of you have an older family member who has kept these records? Sometimes stories of  "the olden days" are passed orally through generations, but are not documented.  It would be a neat idea to start a collection if your family doesn't have one :) Lots of cool templates and apps exist to help you get started!

How long will you live?

How long will you live?

While genetics have some influence on how long we will live, we realized from the video on epigenetics that even people with identical DNA can have different phenotypes (what we see), as well as  different health outcomes (i.e. cancer).  Longevity calculators take into account some gene-related factors and quite a few lifestyle factors.
The task for this week is to take an online quiz from AARP:
http://calculator.livingto100.com/calculator

You do not have to share your age of life expectancy, but I would like you to comment on whether or not your calculated age is what you expect to live.  Also, what do you think about the questions that they ask? Are there other things they should/shouldn't include?

I got 105, which I doubt will happen.  I'm probably an average to above average healthy person, but I frequently engage in high risk behaviors, which weren't addressed under the lifestyle type of questions.  For example, I used to race crotch rockets and play roller derby when I lived in New York.  I still have and ride a bike too fast, I also drive too fast even though I wear a seatbelt.  I like to jump out of airplanes and I snowboard seasonally.  I also was in the military, still am affiliated with it, and will go back once I graduate college.  Besides travel opportunities so graciously provided through them, I also travel a lot on my own, which exposes me to a lot of different environments and people.

So maybe if I stay healthy and active and my genes don't forsake me and grow some crazy cancer, I would have a shot at living a long life, but I have a feeling I'll do something dumb in the mean time that will halt or slow my longevity.

I also thought it was funny how the only question related to sex was in the same question regarding illegal drugs.  Illegal drugs are bad, (safe) sex is not, rather it is probably beneficial on a lot of different levels such as with stress relief, for example.

Is Aging Genetic

Is Aging Genetic?

 I hope that everyone enjoyed our guest speaker, Dr. Bronikowski.  I thought her research on genes and exercise in mice was a great segue into what we will be discussing the next class: the role of genes in aging. 

There is no assigned reading for next class, but I would like each person to find an article (doesn't have to be from a peer-reviewed journal) that discusses the importance of genetics.  In your post I would also like you to discuss your own interpretations of the article, as well as your initial understanding on the importance of genes and aging.  (For example, do genes play a larger role than environmental influences? Are certain characteristics more influenced by genes?)


Tasks for this week:
1. Find a reading/article on the importance of genetics in aging.
2. Reflect upon the article that you found. How does the information fit with your own conceptions of genes and aging.
3. Comment on the readings/reflections of two other class members.

http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/169/1/265

The article details experimentation on mice concerning genetic influences in aging.

It seems as though scientists are making progress on isolating and manipulating genes to determine their effects on aging, or at least mortality in this case.

Either way the research should be setting a groundwork for future exploits in the field.

I do not know a lot about genetics and genes or any of that business but I'm sure genetics play a pretty important role in aging.  Not alone though, because I think aging is influenced by environmental and lifestyle factors as well.  If scientists could figure out how to slow or halt aging through medicine or gene therapy (or whatever) that might be neat.  But I wouldn't want to live to be 1,000.

What processes cause aging

What processes cause aging?

The topic for this week, "What processes cause aging?" is very related to last week's question of "Why we age".  Essentially, they are two separate questions, but often go hand in hand.  While we didn't discuss every theory related to aging (there are hundreds!) the chapter presented some examples in addition to what your classmates also discussed or linked to in their own blogs.

For this week, I have two tasks:

1. Read the blogs of your classmates. Either leave a comment or pose a question regarding something they linked to or discussed (this can be previous posts).

2. Create a short post mentioning something interesting you read about for this weeks readings.

I found it interesting how the author related aging to a car rusting.  So with oxidization it's like we're all rusting on the inside.

I also found it interesting that they discovered mice with low calorie intake seem to age more slowly.  Would this make perpetual dieting or leading a low intake type of lifestyle result in a slower aging process for humans?  And I suppose a better question would be: how is aging measured . . .

Totally unrelated, but once upon a time a lady who looked 25 but was really 45 told me that she was once a professional ice skater and believed that the cold of being in the rink practicing all the time had "preserved" her and frozen her youth.  And off the top of my head, I can't think of any haggly looking ice skaters.

Why does aging happen

Why Does Aging Happen

The reading for this week is the chapter "Why does aging happen?" from the book, "Why we age: What science is discovering through the body's journey through life".  The book takes categorizes thoughts into three causal theories of aging.  These include: "the good-of-the species theory, the rate-of-living theory and the evolutionary aging theory" (p. 55).  Do you agree with any of these theories?  Are there any other theories out there that you find interesting or have discussed in a class?

For your own blogging this week:
In your own words, how would you explain "Why we age?"

Can you give an example or provide a link to an interesting source that supports your explanation?

http://www.senescence.info/theories.html

Healthy Aging

Our first class discussion is regarding "What is Healthy Aging?"

What would you define as healthy aging?

At what point in the lifespan does aging happen?

How would you measure this?  Can it be applied to everyone?


Assignment:
1. Create your own blog.
2. Write a post on what your definition of healthy aging is.  Include examples of what is or isn't healthy aging.  Are there other definitions on the web that you found? 
3. Add class members to your blog roll.




Some people grow old nicely, like George Clooney and Brad Pitt for example.  Others, probably the majority of Americans, can't maintain that movie-star attractiveness past their prime.
I think it's safe to say that a healthy lifestyle and healthy aging are directly correlated.  By healthy lifestyle I just mean an average person who is nutritionally mindful and exercises regularly.
An example of an unhealthy lifestyle would be a heroin addicted prostitute.
The majority of Americans suffer from obesity, which has been linked to other health related issues, and generally stems from poor eating habits along with a sedentary or unhealthy lifestyle.
Genetics also play a role in how one might age.
We begin aging from birth.