fixaging

If you smoke then that is the number one factor you can cut out to increase your life expectancy dramatically. Also once you stop smoking the lungs repair themselves and the more smoke free years you have the more you live. Of course quitting is not an easy thing. If it were then everyone would do it, also what has to be taken into consideration is your quality of life, if you spend all your time smoke free but wishing you were smoking then it is no point to live a longer life that is filled with misery. That being said there are various options for quitting:

Will power alone

This is a tough way to stop smoking but can be done. Important is to reduce the temptation, so if you have particular places that you tend to want to smoke, e.g. when going out to drink, maybe it is time to change that, or if particular friends smoke it may be helpful to ask if they can help you out by not smoking around you. It also may help to physically set aside the money that you normally spend on cigarettes and allocate it for something fun for example a holiday to really show that your sacrifice is worth while.

E-cigarettes

These have the advantage that nicotine can be inhaled but without all the carcinogens associated with a standard cigarette, this can be an effective way to stop smoking. They also feed to ritual of smoking via holding of something in your hand as opposed to patches for example. Another advantage over standard cigarettes is that because they do not produce any fumes so there is no need to stand out in the rain when your craving hits.

Patches

Patches give you the nicotine in the form of a patch, the patch is applied to the skin and nicotine is delivered via the skin, some have had success with this method. It can get expensive though as the patches do not come cheap.

Chewing gum

The chewing gum gives nicotine via your mouth as you chew on it.

Support

Here are many places to find more information, good luck:

• smokefree.nhs.uk
• http://www.quit.org.uk/
• Guide to quitting

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Having the correct diet is a central pillar of a long lasting life. Here are the 4 ways to live longer and this is one of them.

It is not only that are living for longer than average they are also healthier, being leaner, more energetic and having a lower rate of chronic illness.

The Okinawans are islanders off Japan, where people are reported to have the longest life expectancy in the world. One of the main reasons for this is said to be their eating habits. This does need to be in context though, the islanders have other lifestyle factors which could be influencing the longevity enjoyed. Their diet consists of a relatively low intake of calories, with fish being one of its central pillars. The Okinawan diet. The diet of the islanders is about twenty percent less in calories from their mainland cousins and contains over 300% yellow or green vegetables with a specific emphasis on sweet potatoes. The diet consists of little fat and much lower sugar and grains than the average person. Almost no meat, eggs or dairy foods are eaten.

Basic foods of diet

Eat

• green/yellow vegetables – e.g. lettuce, celery, Asparagus, green salad, baked sweet potato, miso soup
• Fish and brown rice, tofu

Avoid

• red meat and hummus pasta, pizza
• fried food and desserts

Generally avoiding more heavy foods. One of the most important tenants of the Okinawan diet is to only eat until 80% full. This is as it takes the body a while to realise it is full, and thus over consumption can easily occur. Due to this and the food choices Okinawans tend to eat about 500 less calories than average. It is also worth noting that this diet has similarities to a glycemic index diet with its emphasis on low glycemic carbs. As with most diets it is important to transition slowly into it, especially with such a radical diet.

Other factors

It is not only the diet which is affecting the life expectancy of the Okinawans. Okinawans generally have a positive outlook on life and remain unstressed. As well as this there may be a genetic component to the longevity as the Okinawans have a distinct genetic signature as compared to other Japanese.

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I feel that having the satellite technologies and research such as regenerative medicine, is important to the success of getting funding into aging. If you ask people on a long enough time line, they will say life spans will extend but most people believe that at some point things will change, not in their lifetime. Part of this is due to there being are very few of the major diseases which have been eradicated, most are treated as ongoing concerns. I feel that this is a factor leading to people’s apathy towards aging. Also is does not help that the media one day reports that X is good for you then the next day reports the opposite, leading people to lose trust in scientific endeavours.

New Hand

One method to show that this is not the case is to break a strongly held belief. One such is that people do not regrow limbs or organs. That is why I feel that the video below has such and impact, it shows impressive visuals on regeneration technology which is out there . The highlight being the regrowth of a tip of a finger, once even more can be shown such as a regrown hand or leg, who could possibly say that it is not possible to push out our maximum life span.

TED Alan Russel Why can’t we grow new body parts

New Spine

Spinal damage being irreversible is another strongly held belief. This is also in the realm of regenerative medicine, as one solution is to promote the regrowth and reattachment of the affected area. Once people who have not been able to walk for x number of years are able to do so, it will show in a clearly demonstrable way that scientists understand the body to a degree that allows maximum life span to change. It will be a new era.

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