Ten Tips for Terrific Telomeres
| Ⓒ By Jonathan Roseland |
I'm not a doctor, medical professional, or trained therapist. I'm a researcher and pragmatic biohacking practitioner exercising free speech to share evidence as I find it. I make no claims. Please practice skepticism and rational critical thinking. You should consult a professional about any serious decisions that you might make about your health. Affiliate links in this article support Limitless Mindset - spend over $150 and you'll be eligible to join the Limitless Mindset Secret Society.
Anti-aging is about reaching escape velocity, living long enough for science to give you the option to live as long as you want (in brilliant health).
A central piece to the puzzle of longevity is the telomeres, the caps on the ends of your chromosomes that, as the decades pass, shorten.
As the telomeres are worn down, the gene replication and cell division processes suffer and disease and cognitive decline ensues. Luckily, there’s a lot that we can do to prevent that...
Avoid Air Pollution
Unsurprisingly, toxic big city air is awful for our telomeres. A 2009 study of, a statistically significant, 134 Italians compared office workers to traffic officers who worked in downtown Milan and concluded that pollution is a real factor in telomeres' health. Look up how Milan’s pollution severity compares with your city, and perhaps consider moving someplace with better air. If that’s not an option, an air filtration system is a pretty smart investment, or at least get some green plants in your home that naturally soak up air pollution.
Manage Stress
What your telomeres hate is lingering, unresolved chronic stress. Employ a multi-pronged approach to stress management...
- Use adaptogenic herbs that safely soothe the autonomic nervous system.
- Eat home-cooked meals with loved ones.
- Regularly physical touch, if you don’t have a virtuous person in your life to make love to, get massages.
- Ample, quality sleep.
- And, crucially, a daily mindfulness practice.
Meditation
This may sound wuwu and pseudo-spiritual but the evidence is in; after a University of California paper explored the question Can meditation slow the rate of cellular aging? a 2016 Spanish study extracted and measured genomic DNA telomeres of both meditators and healthy non-meditators - two regression analyses were conducted revealing that meditation makes a difference. Yet another reason to spend 15-20 minutes daily seeking the tranquility within.
Test Your Telomeres
Maybe you don’t need to worry about your telomeres, but maybe you really do. You don’t know if your telomeres are in great shape or if they are in sharp decline until you get them tested. Sequencing.com includes Telomere testing with their $400 personal genotyping kit which will provide an informative snapshot of your genes and longevity biomarkers. Apparently, TeloYears™ used to offer a telomere testing kit for less than $100, but they discontinued that offering in lieu of (more lucrative, no doubt!) COVID-testing kits. This is disappointing to see but Sequencing.com's PROFESSIONAL TELOMERE TEST + WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING is actually a pretty good value in comparison, along with Telomere status it provides the full raw data from all of your +30,000 genes.
TA-65
If you’re a millionaire or (just have $600 burning a hole in your wallet) TA-65 is a promising molecular activator of telomerase, which at least in animal studies, elongates telomeres.
Vitamins and Nutrients
Before you splurge on high-end supplements, pick up some fancy biohacking gear, or book a spot at a meditation retreat you want to make sure you are not deficient in some of the basic nutrients that your Telomeres need to do their thing; omega-3 fish oil, Vitamin C and Vitamin E.
Healthy “Paranoia” of Toxins
Modernity is an awful soup of industrial toxins that interfere with our telomeres. Many will say Nowadays everything gives you cancer! Why even worry about it? It’s probably impossible to live a totally toxin-free life but being a little more attentive about what you are consuming makes a difference. Read labels and avoid products that contain a bunch of hard-to-pronounce chemicals, spend a little more to get organic products, avoid crappy Chinese-made products, and demand to see COAs of health supplements before you buy them.
Don’t Be Obese
A 2009 study of 767 people demonstrated, unsurprisingly, that obesity is awful for your telomeres. Your best bet for losing weight is not the latest fad diet or a $79/month gym membership, start by habituating fasting in two forms:
- Intermittent daily fasting - Do all your eating and snacking within an 8-hour window, typically noon - 8 PM.
- 24-hour fasts - from lunch to lunch. Do this at least once a month, perhaps weekly if you have some pounds to lose.
Do Some cardio
Exercise is important of course, a 2017 study out of the University of Massachusetts found that 45 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise three times weekly will get your telomeres in the same shape as those of marathon runners.
Like many, perhaps you’ve implemented a lot of these sorts of health and lifestyle hacks and they didn’t make that much of a difference. When biohacking doesn’t work, it’s often because our genes are unresponsive. We spend a not-insignificant amount of money and time on these things to signal to genes but without sufficient amounts of the NAD+ molecule, the genes don’t get the signal. It’s like trying to make an important phone call with your phone in airplane mode.
NMN - The Epigenetic Vitamin for Telomeric Tranquility
Taking Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) is the most direct, practical way to supplement the NAD+ molecule.
- NMN is an accelerator of health. As an epigenetic signal booster, it multiplies the effect of the other good things you are doing for your body as it empowers the Sirtuins to turn on or off the right genes at the right times.
- NMN is far from the fringe of questionable health and anti-aging tools, it’s used daily by some of the world’s top anti-aging authorities, like eminent Harvard anti-aging researcher David Sinclair.
- It’s been the subject of over a hundred scientific papers. Absent, crucially, from the scientific literature is evidence of risk and incidences of concerning side effects.
What science says about NMN...
- NMN is currently undergoing a human clinical trial in Japan, the esteemed journal Nature is optimistic about findings on cell senescence (cell death) and telomeres.
- A 2019 study out of Baylor College of Medicine published in the journal Cell Metabolism, demonstrated the causal effect of NAD+ administration in maintaining telomere length while mitigating damage.
David Sinclair, Ph.D. tweeted
Telomeres loss may accelerate aging. New study @bcmhouston shows eroded telomeres shut down sirtuins, longevity-promoting enzymes. The natural NAD precursor NMN reactivates sirtuins, stabilizes telomeres & protects cells. Cool. https://t.co/XohZWfauz0 @Cell_Metabolism #nmn pic.twitter.com/2mwZAlEimI
— David Sinclair, PhD AO (@davidasinclair) April 3, 2019
What people are saying about NMN’s antiaging effects...
57 going on 30 years old - D. Speight
“I may be the "youngest looking" 57 year old in Florida, but my body rarely feels like the 30 year old it resembles. When I read a few of the reviews about how quickly one could feel the results, I was skeptical. Not anymore! So the supplement option was already appealing to me. While I don't expect this to be an instant "fountain of youth," I'm optimistic it might come close in the long term.”
Want to feel younger with a boost of energy? - Angelo
“Infinite Age's PURE NMN supplement should be included in anyone's supplement regimen. I noticed clearer thoughts, increase energy levels, and improved recovery time. I am half a century old and being able to keep pushing throughout the everyday grind, it allows me to reach my goal of retirement much sooner; Infinite Age PURE NMN is one supplement to give a try.”
Fantastic Product, Great Effects - Logan Tibbetts
“I have many years of experience trying a broad range of supplements, and so I have a lot of experience testing for effects and avoiding placebo, as well as many points for comparison. When starting, I was expecting a slight increase in energy or mild effects on my cognition. Instead, I have felt a substantial boost of (non-stimulating) energy, meaningfully improved clarity and quality of my thoughts, brightened mood, and most surprising to me, a pretty noticeable reduction in the day-to-day aches and pains that I, unfortunately, live with. Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised and impressed with Infinite Age's NMN.”
Didn’t expect it to work so quickly!! - Eric G
“I have tried many supplements over the years and have yet to come across something as profound as this!!! Within about 1 hour out of nowhere, I felt this sense of positivity and just overall felt great. Something I couldn't explain as I never just felt "good" without being able to point out exactly why of how. I feel naturally energetic and the normal nagging pain in my neck isn’t there...”
I delve a lot deeper into the NMN science and evidence for the Epigenetic Vitamin here...
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