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)

主站蜘蛛池模板: 国语性猛交xxxx乱大交| 明星女友开挂吧电视剧在线观看| 国产亚洲欧美日韩亚洲中文色| 91香蕉国产线在线观看免费| 成人高清毛片a| 九九精品国产99精品| 波多野结衣av高清一区二区三区| 国产99视频精品免视看9| ww亚洲ww在线观看国产| 大香伊蕉国产av| 中文字幕在线最新在线不卡 | 国产v亚洲v天堂a无| 136av导航| 天天射天天操天天干| 中文字幕精品一区二区| 最近中文国语字幕在线播放| 四虎影视精品永久免费网站 | 中文字幕在线永久视频| 日韩精品无码一本二本三本色 | 国产一区二区三区影院| 在线亚洲精品视频| 三上悠亚电影全集免费| 日本爆乳片手机在线播放 | 风间由美中出黑人| 奇米777在线视频| 久久久久国产精品免费免费搜索 | 欧美日韩在线观看视频| 免费一级肉体全黄毛片| 老师别揉我胸啊嗯上课呢视频 | 亚洲精品在线电影| 精品久久久久香蕉网| 国产三级在线看| 91精品欧美产品免费观看| 国产精品永久免费| 99久久精品费精品国产一区二区| 幻女free牲2020交| 丽玲老师高跟鞋调教小说| 日韩精品免费一区二区三区| 亚洲另类无码专区丝袜| 欧美黑人巨大xxxxx视频| 依依成人精品视频在线观看|