The Secrets of Longevity and Aging Slowdown

Most people often view the cycle of life as inevitable. However, although none of us can outpace Father Time, there are natural ways to extend life that can activate longevity pathways and decelerate the aging process.

Dr. David Sinclair, Ph.D., A.O., on the Dr. Axe show podcast, states, “Genes are not your destiny. You can modify the rate of aging by doing the right things.” Sinclair, a professor in the Department of Genetics, co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Sinclair Lab at Harvard’s Blavatnik Institute specializing in genetics and longevity, emphasizes that a healthy lifestyle is crucial. The most significant aspects he highlights are: eating healthily, avoiding obesity, exercising, getting adequate sleep, and having friends.

Sinclair mentions that four vital factors for longevity include blood sugar levels, inflammation, liver function, and testosterone levels and hormones in general. By examining these and other factors, Sinclair’s team has been able to determine people’s biological age – how old they are based on their bodies and health, not merely their date of birth. His researchers have also discovered a group of longevity genes called sirtuins.

Sinclair explains that sirtuins control the speed of our aging. “There are molecules in the foods we consume that activate these defenses in our bodies and these genes. The same molecules are found in the food types eaten by people in Blue Zones, such as resveratrol and oleic acid present in olive oil, avocado, and nuts.”

It turns out that these genes are not pre-determined. They can be nurtured to assist in extending longevity and supporting a healthier overall lifestyle.

Sinclair remarks, “We have the wrong perception of what aging is. We tend to think it’s just a natural process over which we have no control, but we have learned that this is not true – 80% of the rate of our aging is within our control. It is actually determined by how we live and what we eat.”

“I am proposing a new theory about why we age: the loss of information in our body and how to preserve that information over time. The analogy would be like having a DVD of information about ourselves. Over time, it gets scratched, making it difficult for the cell to read the original genetic information easily. What we have discovered is that we can now polish that DVD and enable the cell to read the useful information again. In this way, we are actually demonstrating that we can reverse the aging process.”

This information is also supported by external research. For example, the American Heart Association analyzed 30 years of data to uncover methods for adding years to life and found that some people might be able to increase their lifespan by up to 12 years or more by adhering to a healthy lifestyle.

The study determined that if people followed five low-risk lifestyle rules, they could enhance longevity: eating a healthy diet, not smoking, exercising regularly, limiting or eliminating alcohol consumption, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

In a follow-up report published in 2023, the American Heart Association discovered that people who followed the organization’s Life’s Essential 8 (TM) experienced slower biological aging, and those with high cardiovascular health were approximately six years younger biologically than their chronological age. What are these eight essentials? They are:

1. Eat Better
2. Be More Active
3. Quit Tobacco
4. Get Healthy Sleep
5. Manage Weight
6. Control Cholesterol
7. Manage Blood Sugar
8. Manage Blood Pressure

Keys to Longevity

Sinclair states that the four important factors in longevity are blood sugar levels, inflammation, liver function, and testosterone levels and hormones in general. By observing these factors and others, Sinclair’s team has been capable of determining people’s biological age and has discovered a group of longevity genes called sirtuins.

“It turns out, these genes are not predetermined. They can be cultivated to aid in extending longevity and promoting a healthier overall lifestyle,” Sinclair remarks.

How to Support Longevity

1. Allow Yourself to Be Hungry
“There’s substantial evidence that fasting activates these longevity pathways,” Sinclair says. “Don’t consume three large meals a day and snack in between. I believe the old concept of always having food available and never experiencing hunger needs to be revised.”

2. Move, Move, Move
“Don’t remain seated in a chair all day. Obtain a standing desk if possible. Take walks, and even better, engage in HIIT if you can. Work out. Prevent your muscles from deteriorating,” Sinclair suggests.

Perhaps it’s also about finding a new sport that you enjoy and play repeatedly with friends, such as golf, tennis, or pickleball.

3. Get Enough Sleep
Sleep influences all aspects of health and has significant effects on aging. It’s essential. Aim for at least seven hours of sleep per night.

This is particularly true for individuals aged 50 and above. A 2019 study aimed “to examine the associations of sleep duration and sleep disturbances with healthy and chronic disease-free life expectancy (LE) between ages 50 and 75.”

The study authors disclosed that people who slept less than seven or more than nine hours per night had one to three years fewer healthy and disease-free years compared to those who slept seven to nine hours daily. Additionally, those who reported severe sleep disturbances had three to six fewer healthy and disease-free years.

The researchers concluded, “Sleeping 7-8.5 hours and having no sleep disturbances between ages 50 to 75 are associated with longer healthy and chronic disease-free LE.”

4. Have a Calm Mental Attitude
“Part of that involves having a goal in life. The other aspect is having a partner or friends and family who are caring and loving around you. That will undoubtedly reduce your stress levels. It will assist you in sleeping, and it will also make each day much more enjoyable,” he states.

“Chronic stress is a genuine problem for aging,” he adds. “It can rapidly shorten the ends of chromosomes, the telomeres. We also know, mainly from studies in the laboratory with mice, that if you manipulate the mouse’s brain to have more inflammation, it will age prematurely and vice versa – if you reduce the inflammation in the brain, it can live longer.

“We also know that if you activate gene No. 1 in the mouse’s brain, it will be healthier and live longer. That indicates to me probably how our brains are functioning, how worried we are, how depressed we are can have major influences on the aging of the rest of the body.”

This is also supported by external research. In fact, research from Harvard Medical School found that the nervous system might play a surprising role in aging, and it turns out that limiting brain activity might actually contribute to extending longevity.

It may sound strange, but by evaluating the brain tissue from hundreds of older people who had not displayed any cognitive deficits before death, the researchers discovered that those with greater neuronal excitement – more brain activity – actually lived shorter lives than those with less neuronal excitement.

5. Focus on Eating the Right Foods
Eliminate the bad from your diet and concentrate on nutritious foods:
Any type of sugar is detrimental.
Try to avoid consuming excessive processed carbohydrates.
Maintaining stable blood sugar levels, not too high, is clearly important, so consume foods that support healthy blood sugar.
Avoid excessive body fat. It has been shown that obesity reduces the amount of NAD and weakens your sirtuin defenses.

“I stopped eating dessert at age 40, though I still sneak in tastes,” Sinclair says. “Try to focus on fresh food if possible, and I also believe that a mainly plant-based diet is the way to go for ultimate longevity based on a significant amount of data over the past few thousand years. We know that’s what you need to do.”

Health experts have even studied the connection between diet and longevity. In 2022, research revealed some guidelines for a longevity diet. Published in the journal Cell, researchers analyzed data collected for over 100 years to determine the best eating approach for a longer life.

By following what they referred to as a longevity diet, the researchers determined that women can increase longevity by nearly 11 years and men by up to 13 years if they follow this eating pattern starting at age 20. If they wait until they turn 60, they can still extend their lives by up to eight years.

Other studies have discovered similar findings. For instance, research from Norway found that transitioning from a more processed diet to a nutrient-dense diet resembling the Mediterranean diet might help extend life by eight to 13 years, depending on age and other factors.

So, what is the longevity diet? Here are some of the main findings for eating to extend life:
Consume complex carbohydrates.
Focus on plant and fish proteins.
Healthy fats should constitute 30% of calories.
Intermittent fasting is recommended, ideally for a 12- to 13-hour period.
Consume the top anti-aging foods, such as olive oil, grapes, coffee, and other high-antioxidant foods.
Obtain your daily dose of fiber.
Limit red meat and processed meat consumption.
Avoid foods with added sugar, and overall, limit sugar intake.

Sample Day for Dr. Sinclair

1. Say Goodbye to Three Meals a Day
“I attempt to skip breakfast or have a very small breakfast,” Sinclair says.

If he does have breakfast, he has a few spoonfuls of homemade yogurt mixed with resveratrol. Then, he doesn’t eat again until having a late lunch or even dinner on busy days. When he has lunch, he typically eats lightly, such as a salad with little dressing and possibly some fruit. He also consumes plenty of hot drinks with low caffeine content to support immunity.

“Then for dinner, I mostly consume a plant-based diet,” Sinclair says. “I’ll have a little meat since I lift weights to aid in body recovery, but I’m not a big fan of red meat or steak. I don’t think that’s super healthy in the long run. Carnivore diets are okay in the short term, but I focus on eating freshly picked plants.”

2. Sauna/Cold Plunge
Sinclair describes these as activities “that deceive the body into feeling like it’s under threat, in adverse conditions, and it retaliates. That’s hormesis. The definition of hormesis is to be uncomfortable, and that pays off in the long run.”

For instance, research indicates that using a sauna can contribute to a longer and healthy life, while cold water can also have benefits for a longer life, whether it’s taking a cold shower or swimming in cold water.

3. Exercise
“For people in the second half of their lives, it’s crucial to maintain flexibility and muscle strength. Lift some weights. Especially if you’re in the first half of your life and up to 80, you should engage in high-intensity interval training, raise your heart rate to a safe level. It doesn’t have to be for half an hour – it can be as little as 10 minutes every few days. Alone, this has been shown to provide remarkable protection against aging-related diseases,” Sinclair says.

4. Take Anti-Aging Supplements
NAD+: “Sirtuins create enzymes that protect the body. They send out the troops to repair DNA and eliminate bad proteins that have accumulated. Those enzymes don’t function at all if they don’t have sufficient NAD. NAD is a common chemical that our bodies constantly produce. We need it to survive. Without NAD, we’d likely die in probably 30 seconds or less. Now we know that NAD levels control our health and longevity. We think our bodies lose NAD and their ability to produce NAD as we age. But we also know there are methods to naturally increase NAD levels: One way is to exercise. One way is to be hungry. And another way is to take a supplement consisting of a precursor to NAD.”

NMN: “It’s the immediate precursor to NAD, what the body makes NAD from,” Sinclair says. “We’re conducting clinical trials now. This is based on mouse studies. The mice show promise, protection against loss of endurance, the mice have more energy, and they’re protected against diabetes. I’m taking this NAD booster with extreme caution.”

Resveratrol
Vitamin D
Berberine
Vitamin B12: Be cautious. Dr. Sinclair had to stop taking it because his levels were extremely high, but it’s an important vitamin for longevity, so you may want to supplement if your levels are low.

Conclusion

1. No one can outrun Father Time, but there are actions you can take to slow the aging process and support longevity.
2. Dr. David Sinclair has discovered that we can control up to 80% of the aging process through lifestyle factors.
3. He says the keys to combating aging are to eat healthily, avoid excessive body fat gain, exercise, get sufficient sleep, have supportive friends and family, and allow yourself to experience hunger occasionally.