Staying young means understanding getting older!

Aging haunts us all, there is nothing we can do about it. At least that’s what we thought until ten or 20 years ago, when top scientists, namely molecular biologists, gave us new insights into the wondrous world of our body cells.

What happens around the clock in every cell is so incredibly precise, intelligent, highly complex – as if a city with a million inhabitants had been shrunk to a micrometre!

For example, did you know that our body replaces 50 million of its cells every second? 50 million will be reduced, 50 million will be created. And what do we notice about it? Nothing!

Aging: What happens with aging?

We now know that over the years the ingenious dance of the molecules in our cells slowly gets out of step. Unfortunately, the irregularities in our almost unearthly cell perfection start at the tender age of around 25 years.

Our three essential cell competencies begin to weaken imperceptibly:

1. The billions and billions of cell divisions that constantly renew almost all of our organs, skin and hair no longer run perfectly.
2. The energy supply starts to stutter because our cell power plants, the mitochondria, lose power.
3. Cell cleaning, recycling, is slowly but surely leaving a lot to be desired. The cells become littered.

And what does that mean for us now? If our cells have lost some of their fitness by the age of 60 or 70, then the diseases of old age have an easy time of it. Unfortunately, we are often attacked by several at the same time. This is the “secondary aging” – so cell aging.

Cell biology gives us hope

Today we know so much about what gets out of balance in the cells over time that we can give the first serious recommendations on how we can strengthen cell fitness, push age-related diseases off the edge of the bed – and experience more healthy years.

For example, with the help of the so-called “lifestyle factors”. The most important factor in this has been shown to be healthy longevity nutrition. We know a lot about that today. Then there’s the exercise factor: which types of sport exactly and how intensively? Proper breathing, but how does it work? Cold and heat, what’s the deal? Sleeping optimally is also part of it – can it be learned?

And then there are the dietary supplements. There are some hopefuls there, but also non-starters. And a number of new active ingredients in the test, such as carnosine, spermidine or NAD+.

But medicines, stem cell therapies, gene therapies and many other exciting things are also very important. Of course, something like this is stronger than breathing training. But it can also have side effects.

YET there isn’t that much good quality on the market, but there is a gold rush atmosphere, especially in the USA, Israel and Asia. Rightly so! Medicines and other therapies that allow us to stay healthy much longer in old age are definitely worth their weight in gold!

This article first appeared in the My life print edition 09/2022.

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