How to Reverse the Aging Process: New Findings

For centuries, people have been looking for ways to reverse the aging process or at least reduce the inevitable aging process. Are there ways to reverse the aging process?

So far, only one living organism can reverse the aging process – Turritopsis nutricula. Turritopsis nutricula is about the only creature that can keep on living indefinitely; that is, unless the nerve center was removed from its body. Turritopsis nutricula is a hydrozoan about 4.5 mm in size. Hydrozoans are very small, predatory animals which can be solitary or colonial and which mostly live in saltwater. They are related to the jellyfish and corals, generally referred to as the coelenterates.

Transdifferentiation

An adult Turritopsis nutricula reverts completely to immaturity after reaching sexual maturity through transdifferentiation. Transdifferentiation is a process whereby the cell that has attained maturity differentiates into a different type of cell instead of undergoing the process of deterioration. The mature cell differentiates into a younger cell. Transdifferentiation allows Turritopsis nutricula to bypass death. Essentially, the hydrozoan is immortal.

Transdifferentiation occurs in the exumbrella of the hydrozoan. Exumbrella is the convex surface of the bell of a medusa, the free-swimming sexual phase in the life cycle of a coelenterate. All specimens of this hydrozoan exhibited the process of transdifferentiation. This means that all the mature cells reverted back to younger cells. If this happens in humans, upon reaching adulthood, humans revert back to being adolescents or even younger.

Turritopsis nutricula

The process of transdifferentation in Turritopsis nutricula is difficult to study in nature. Even though these hydrozoans may be theoretically immortal, they are also highly susceptible to predation and disease.

Is it Possible to Reverse the Aging Process?

Is it possible for humans to transdifferentiate just like Turritopsis nutricula? Although scientists tried to isolate the mechanism of transdifferentiation in Turritopsis nutricula, they were unsuccessful in unlocking its secrets. The secret to reverse the aging process is just evasive.

But there is still hope. New findings show that it is possible to reverse the aging process but unlike that in Turritopsis nutricula. Here are some of those research findings that revolutionized current thinking about the phenomenon of aging.

1. Thinking back can reverse the aging process. Dr. Langer, a Harvard psychologist, found out that if people are made to live back in time, this could effect a measurable change in their health. Dr. Langer and her associates retrofitted a remote monastery to 1959 and asked nursing home residents between the age of 70 and 80 to act as if they had traveled back in time. In just 7 days, the subjects had more joint flexibility, increased movement, and decreased arthritis in their hands. Their levels of intelligence and cognitive function measurably increased, as did their walking, muscle strength and posture. Aging turned around.

2. Training the brain can reverse the aging process. A study by researchers of the University of California in San Francisco discovered that a marked improvement in brain cells occurred in rats after undergoing intense auditory training. Their sound perception greatly improved in contrast to previously experienced normal, age-related sensory-processing degradation.

3. Young blood can regenerate old ones and reverse the aging process. A Harvard University study noted an unspecified factor in the blood of young mice that can reverse signs of aging in the circulatory system of older ones. The regenerative power to reverse the aging process appears to be due to osteoblasts or bone-forming cells. Osteoblasts from young animals can make blood-forming stem cells from old mice act young and vice versa. This author also heard accounts of older people looking younger after being transfused with blood from younger persons.

4. Exercise can reverse the aging process. Dr. Simon Melov of the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, California studied small samples of muscle tissue from a group of healthy young and older adults. They found out that older and younger muscle tissues differed significantly in their gene expression profiles. The difference indicated that older muscle tissue had impaired functioning in mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell. Impairment was reversed after 14 of the older adults studied underwent 6 months of strength training. The gene expression profile in their muscles showed a more youthful appearance. Exercise can reverse the aging process.

In summary, these studies demonstrate that thinking as if you are young can help reverse the aging process. Aging is just a state of mind. Never think that you're getting old and you will live a fruitful, youthful and long life. Forget your birthday, get up and stretch those muscles.