It’s odd to talk about telomeres out of the context of aging since they are so intimately related to why we get old.
Over the past 9 years I have often written to you about how shortening of the telomeres advances the aging process. Indeed, the Life Length Test which I offered a discount on a few months ago as a bonus to you, tells chronologic AND Biologic age since there is a difference. But the thing that some of you who did the test better understand now is that shorter telomeres can also be related as an Independent variable to your ability to function.
For the sake of simplicity let’s define function as the basics of everyday living that we all need to do to have a shot at getting along in the world. Some examples from the study I am citing included walking, carrying groceries and climbing stairs. While those are basic basics, the spectrum is not a suddenly on suddenly off kinda thing. It starts subtly because we do have reserve capacities.
You don’t generally “get old” suddenly although if you think about it you probably know someone who has aged quickly at a certain age. That is when they ran out of reserve. The trick is to pro actively do something before it happens and is too late. Too late currently, that is. When gene therapy becomes more wide spread and affordable we will be able to aggressively reverse things.
But given all the attacks on anti-aging medicine, telomere theory and stem cells I would not hold my breath waiting for modern medicine to catch up. It won’t happens until Big Pharma owns the technology. And that won’t happen until its all been worked out including any risk factors. Since there will be decades of unknowns and outliers and such our dear friends at places like Bayer and Pfizer won’t risk anything until then.
I hate to say this but its highly likely you and I will be long gone unless we start acting now. This by the way is why I applaud people in their 20’s who are being aggressive about pro activity.
For the rest of us, don’t feel to bad. Most of this stuff was not around even 10 years ago so start now and get what you can before its too late!
Now here is one more thing to consider and it’s a chicken or egg question. Does loss of functionality accelerate aging and does aging accelerate loss of function. The answer of course is “YES!” and both yes’s are tied together by telomeres.
So stay functional through physical exercise, supplementation and life style and buy yourself as much run way as you can so you are ready when the next big thing comes along oh in about 6 months or so!
Here is a ticket for the train that is heading in the right direction!
Doc
1. Reference: Diego Montiel Rojas, Andreas Nilsson, Elodie Ponsot, Robert J. Brummer, Susan Fairweather-Tait, Amy Jennings, Lisette C. P. G. M. de Groot, Agnes Berendsen, Barbara Pietruszka, Dawid Madej, Elodie Caumon, Nathalie Meunier, Corinne Malpuech-Brugère, Giulia Guidarelli, Aurelia Santoro, Claudio Franceschi, Fawzi Kadi. Short Telomere Length Is Related to Limitations in Physical Function in Elderly European Adults. Frontiers in Physiology, 2018;9