Fountain of Youth begins at the cellular level

I have developed a list of habits and thoughts on healthy life extension over more then half of my life… it’s interesting that only NOW are studies beginning to come out proving the logical conclusions I had come to so long ago.

Fit people stay younger then sedentary ones

Just this week, a study was reported by ABC News that found out that chronological age isn’t related to cellular age. If you abuse your body taking drugs (including tobacco), alcohol (more then one drink every few days) and just live the couch potato lifestyle, the cells within your body are quickly deteriorating. As a result, organs that become “sick” loose their efficiency, kinks begin to form in the bodies armor and voila… a few decades down the line, you are in a wheelchair gasping for every breath. The study reported that people who exercise regularly have cells that are actually younger then their sedentary counterparts by up to 10 years! Yes, the fountain of youth begins at the cellular level! This isn’t news to me, I have observed this all my life.

Why this is true?

Although I have explained this many times, repetition is the mother of retention as, Anthony Robbins often says. Our bodies are MEANT to be active, no, I am not talking about walking from the television to the fridge to get a bear, I mean ACTIVE like walking for HOURS each day, straining your muscles lifting heavy objects and eating incredible amounts of whole food. It’s no secret that our modern lifestyles are killing many humans off, our bodies are optimized for hunter and gatherer type activities. What do hunters and gatherers do all day? Well, they WALK, RUN, FIGHT, CRAWL, BUILD and MONITOR their environment, in other words, they are incredibly active in every sense of the word. The mind is always racing along with the body. The body is incredibly nimble regarding resource allocation… it doesn’t want to waste one ounce of energy towards activities that will not lead towards living another day. For example, your body would far prefer that you sit and wait for prey to come in your sights instead of running for hours on end to capture the same prey. Why? Because out in nature, energy is a very valuable resource, the body doesn’t want you to become a muscleman with 2% fat, it wants you to become a typical couch potato because it guarantees you will have enough energy to get you through the typical abundance / starvation cycles found in nature. The entire purpose of your body and mind is to make you live long enough to pass on your genes, it doesn’t care what you look like or your emotional well being as long as you… PASS ON YOUR GENES!

How to improve the health of your genes

This is rather easy, just think of yourself living 20 000 years ago before modern conveniences existed. I am not saying you need to throw away your toilet and replace it with a hole in the ground anymore then to begin hunting the neighborhood squirrels for you super but there are some things you can do to extend your healthy lifespan.

1) Throw away the Junk!

If you don’t know what you are eating, the ingredients don’t make sense and the packaging says “now lower in xyz”, throw away this junk! You cannot expect a long, healthy life eating garbage. Eat every few hours, small portions and every once in a while, eat everything you see… you want to keep your body guessing and try to mimic what nature built our bodies for… survival.

2) Lift heavy weights!

Get yourself a personal trainer if you must, but you must lift heavy weights throughout your lifespan, not only does this improve your central nervous system but it also increases bone density and muscle strength. You really need to strain your muscles on a continuous basis, if you never worked-out before, you need to educate yourself so that you don’t over-train or injure yourself. You need to be as strong as possible when you are young so that your muscle mass when you are older (when it’s needed the most).

3) Stress your heart and lungs

I am lucky, where I live now, there are mountains up to a kilometer high… I climb up them without taking a break… I can actually HEAR my heart beating loudly while climbing, my legs are mush, it’s difficult to breath and I am sweating profusely but you know what… it feels great afterwards! I am still young so this is fine but it beats any type of treadmill out there in every possible way. You need to optimize your cardiovascular systems (heart, lungs) as much as possible when you are young so that you can stave off common diseases when you are older.

4) Get outside!

We are not meant to live our lives in self-contained static environments (ei: office or home)… get outside every chance you can, if you live in a big city, get out and move to the country (or another country if you can). Everyday, the weather is different, the temperature, humidity etc… this keeps your body optimized so that you keep your internal calibrations constantly guessing. If you live in a place plagued with unhealthy air, you need to move! Your health is worth far more then any high paying job in a polluted environment.

5) Keep thinking

Get lost on purpose, when you realize that you have no clue where you are, the mind instantly focuses on the task at hand… getting you back home! This can be exhausting but it’s well worth it to do every few weeks to keep you sharp! We all have an internal compass that falls into disrepair due to lack of use, you need to get it back into shape. I know for me, it’s getting ever more difficult to get lost because I am starting to memorize, without my knowledge, key points that help me find my way back.

The Bottom Line

Stressful situations are essential to a long, healthy life… as long as they are from within.