Pursuing longevity, with body and mind

    Updated: 2013-07-21 08:25

    By Abigail Zuger, M.D.(The New York Times)

      Print Mail Large Medium  Small

    Pursuing longevity, with body and mind

    A huge number of how-to books have been written to cater to the industry that has sprung up around the notions of how to think and feel young.

    As Lauren Kessler estimates in "Counterclockwise," at the rate of a book a week it would take almost 160 years to read them all. That didn't stop her from writing one more, of course.

    Ms. Kessler, who never mentions her age, tested popular techniques. "I did everything," she says, "so you don't have to."

    She starts with the cosmetics of aging, visiting researchers at the University of North Carolina who specialize in digitally aging faces. Their work provides a detailed scientific analysis of the wreckage time leaves behind: The face alone sustains almost two dozen assaults, from sunken cheeks to larger ears (the cartilage actually grows).

    Ms. Kessler investigates plastic surgery options. Everything she hears is light on the blood and gore, heavy on the appealing metaphors. Young skin is spandex; older is linen and needs loving attention. "I am seduced by this language," she admits.

    She undergoes a little botulinum toxin treatment to the forehead ("the change is subtle, like good lighting") and a variety of potions and laser treatments. Surgery on the rest of the body she leaves to those with "more money than sense."

    Pursuing longevity, with body and mind

    Then it is on to the body's interior. Ms. Kessler's first step is a complete evaluation of her risks for imminent collapse, with measurements of blood pressure, cholesterol, stamina, flexibility, oxygen-using ability. She even has a researcher check the health of her mitochondria, cell components whose vigor wanes with age. It turns out she has the mitochondria of a fit young woman, "way too much" body fat, fabulous blood pressure and borderline cholesterol.

    Time to embark on the cure. Ms. Kessler starves, diets, detoxes, cleanses, and eats berries, salmon and all the good-fat-filled, antioxidant-rich edibles of current vogue. She stretches, lifts weights, runs races, and signs up for classes featuring the repeated spurts of all-out exertion thought to optimize fitness.

    She lies on a hypnotist's couch to cultivate calm and optimism. It is this forward-looking spirit which, she suspects, kept her great-great-grandmother preparing the family breakfast well into her 10th decade.

    After a year Ms. Kessler has improved enough in some objective measures of biologic age to support current estimates that a full 70 percent of the disability of age may be caused by factors within our control. (The other 30 percent is genetic, and even the most energetic test subjects can't do a thing about it.)

    For those who want more information about the mind and aging, Dr. Hilary Tindle's "Up" may help.

    Dr. Tindle has unusually strong credentials in this field. A cardiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, she is among those whose research shows that optimists live longer, healthier lives than pessimists.

    As an expert in the new science of outlook, Dr. Tindle offers definitions of optimism and pessimism, supplies a questionnaire for readers to rate their tendencies, and provides "seven steps of attitudinal change" for those who come up short. These steps will probably be especially useful for individuals with a particularly bad quality known as "cynical hostility," which she has found to be associated with a 16 percent elevation in mortality over eight years.

    Some people are, sadly, too far gone to view this statistic with anything but cynicism and hostility, but those who can still save themselves may be well advised to do so.

    The New York Times

    (China Daily 07/21/2013 page11)

    蜜桃无码一区二区三区| 久久久久久无码国产精品中文字幕 | 国产精品99久久久精品无码| 国产精品无码无片在线观看| 国产综合无码一区二区辣椒| 亚洲欧美综合在线中文| 色窝窝无码一区二区三区| 中文成人久久久久影院免费观看| 中文无码一区二区不卡αv| 蜜桃臀无码内射一区二区三区| 一本本月无码-| 欧美日韩国产中文字幕| 中文字幕丰满乱子无码视频| 国产成人AV片无码免费| 无码一区二区三区视频| 中文字幕永久一区二区三区在线观看| 无码AV中文字幕久久专区| 性无码专区| 久久久精品人妻无码专区不卡| 国产V亚洲V天堂无码久久久| 无码人妻一区二区三区免费n鬼沢 无码人妻一区二区三区免费看 | 久久无码AV中文出轨人妻| 国产精品无码a∨精品| 无码av最新无码av专区| 中文字幕乱偷无码AV先锋| 中文字幕国产| 一区二区三区在线观看中文字幕| 最近中文字幕大全中文字幕免费| 无码中文字幕av免费放dvd| 亚洲AV永久无码精品一区二区国产| 免费精品无码AV片在线观看| 永久免费AV无码网站国产| 亚洲爆乳无码一区二区三区| 无码人妻丰满熟妇区免费 | 亚洲日韩av无码| 亚洲AV永久纯肉无码精品动漫 | 亚洲日韩欧洲无码av夜夜摸| 亚洲性无码一区二区三区| 日韩av无码中文字幕| 国产成人精品无码一区二区 | 天堂在线资源中文在线8|