QDNA^® Health

Turn Back The Clock | The Telomere Effect
Secrets To Defy Aging From The Inside Out
Science Shows How Healthy And Happy Lifestyles Impact Key Element of Cellular Aging

By Marina Rose, QDNA^®

QDNA^® Health | Epigenetics| Telomeres | Cellular Regeneration

April 01, 2017

“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes"
-- Frank Lloyd Wright

Less than a few generations ago it was the common belief that the coming age of technology would make life simpler and easier, freeing us from the drudgery of mundane personal tasks, automating work, and heralding in a new age of economic progress and individual freedom.

So confident in the benefits of technology were we, that many of the predictions back then sounded much more like actual promises, leaving us all to expect that the many high tech tools and trendy personal gadgets coming our way would all but guarantee that we would find ourselves happily living in futuristic bliss--working much less, vacationing much more, retiring far earlier, and in general, having so much free time on our hands that we would all soon be pondering just what we were going to do with it.

Although there’s no doubt that the arrival of computers, Internet, smart phones, 3D Printers and the whole myriad of today’s amazing technology has dramatically transformed our world in many powerful and unimaginable ways, unbounded freedom from economic progress however is certainly still illusory -- if not intangible for most--and nearly everyone, everywhere, seems to be far busier than ever.

The Age of Perpetual Busyness

In the hyper-active, traffic-filled, email-driven, turbo-charged, social media shared world that we live in today, far too many of us find ourselves in perpetual motion, leaving us sleep-deprived and forever rushing. We struggle to keep up with work, busy careers, and all that’s happening in our personal and family lives. Despite our never-ending selection of time saving gizmos, quality distraction free personal time for ourselves is now increasingly more elusive.

In a surprising and unpredictable twist of irony, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and even Millennials now find themselves looking back at the past and lamenting the good old days when life was more minimalist and simply not so busy.

And if we’re not careful, days, weeks and even years can vanish in a blink of an eye, with the effects of being so “crazy busy” obviously shown.

And it’s not just the wrinkles, extra greys or superficially how we look on the outside, but even more concerning is how all this busyness affects us on the inside, particularly in terms of happiness, optimism, enthusiasm, and in general, how we actually feel.

If as the saying goes, age is not how old you are, but rather how you feel, then we can all take heart knowing that despite living in the “Age Of Perpetual Busyness”, enjoying a simpler, healthier and happier lifestyle is still well within reach. And the good news is that science now shows that doing so can not only have a dramatic positive impact on the quality of our lives, but can actually even slow and reverse aging.

Cellular Replication And The Science of Aging

Human anatomy is astonishingly complex. Scientists estimate that there are about 37.2 trillion cells in the human body. That’s quite a number. Although tricky to estimate, they can derive at this figure by breaking down the total number of cells in each area of the human body—from your head to your heart to your knees—and voila. The number is huge. And just like us, each of these cells has a life span like our own, aging as we do, unable to live forever. However, during the course of our lifetime new cells are continually forming. From our mother’s womb through adulthood, this is how the human body develops.

However, cells behave differently at different times in our lives. During our childhood, new cells are responsible for making our bodies grow. The body grows, not by cells getting bigger, but by dividing, a process called mitosis, and the two cells created from this division are genetically identical in every way.

At adulthood, when our bodies are no longer growing, cells only replicate to replace those that have died or been damaged. This process is ongoing throughout our lifetime, although it takes place differently in different areas of the body. Heart or kidney cells, for example, only replicate in response to injury, however our skin cells divide daily. New skin cells replace 30,000 to 40,000 of the nearly 19 million cells of our skin on every inch of our body--each day--and remarkably the skin you have now will be completely replaced within a month or two. How about those numbers!

However, despite the amazing prowess of cellular regeneration, cells do have a lifespan and can only replicate a limited number of times before they enter a dormant stage and then eventually die. Science shows that the reason for this is directly related to telomeres, the protective caps at the tip our chromosomes, the strands of DNA which houses our genome, or genetic information. In our youth telomeres average 8,000-10,000 nucleotides long, but with each cell division a small portion of the telomere is lost. Over time, as we age and as telomeres shorten, they eventually reach a critical length such that cells can no longer divide, and when this occurs they ultimately die. This internal “clock” on cellular regeneration is what scientists have been actively studying, and research shows that there are a growing number of ways that make it altogether possible to “turn back the clock” and buy our cells more time.

Turning Back The Internal Clock

In a recent Stanford University study published in the FASEB Journal and conducted by Dr. Helen Blau, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology and director of the university’s Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Dr. Blau states “Now we have found a way to lengthen human telomeres by as much as 1,000 nucleotides, turning back the internal clock in these cells by the equivalent of many years of human life.”

The researchers of the study used a modified type of RNA to extend the telomeres. RNA is the carrier of genetic instructions from genes in the DNA. Researchers modified the RNA coding sequence with Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase or TERT, an active component of the naturally occurring enzyme called telomerase, and it’s the telomerase that ensures that the telomeres of cells maintain their length and stay in top condition. The Stanford researchers say that modified RNA treated cells of the study performed as if they were much younger than the untreated cells, vigorously multiplying rather than stagnating or dying. Skin cells that were treated with the procedure were able to divide up to forty times more than untreated cells. These highly effective results point to new ways to treat diseases caused by shortened telomeres.

“This new approach paves the way toward preventing or treating diseases of aging,” said Blau. “There are also highly debilitating genetic diseases associated with telomere shortening that could benefit from such a potential treatment.”

And the news gets better.

Researchers say that this newly developed technique has a distinct advantage over other potential telomere lengthening methods in that it’s temporary.

In the Sandford procedure, the modified RNA is designed to allow the TERT encoded message to only last about 48 hours, after which the newly lengthened telomeres will begin to progressively shorten again with each new cell division, as they would naturally. This critical difference insures that the treated cells do not continue to divide indefinitely, which would make them extremely risky for use in potential human therapy because unchecked cell division is a known factor in increased risk of cancer.

The study is an important first step toward the development of telomere extension therapies with the potential to treat a wide range of disorders caused by accelerated aging in humans.

What’s more, the latest research also supports that each of us may have much more control over aging than we think.

Healthy Lifestyles Form “The Telomere Effect”

The first steps to feeling healthy, happy and energetic at any age begins with creating a wholesome and balanced lifestyle. While exercise, diet and nutrition does wonders for the body, balanced living is much more than that. It also requires a commitment to building essential habits that nourish and nurture the mind and spirit. Not only does incorporating daily yoga, meditation and other forms of mindfulness practice provide this nourishment, it also serves as a natural counter-balance to the perpetual busyness and everyday stress of our hectic modern lives. And if that wasn’t already incentive enough, research has now shown that it can also dramatically impact the rate of our cellular aging.

In a research study that was conducted by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco and the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, a nonprofit public research institute in Sausalito, California that investigates the effects of diet and lifestyle choices on health and disease, for the first time, scientists have shown that changes in diet, exercise, stress management and social support can directly impact the length of cellular telomeres. And the results are astonishing.

In recent years, scientific research has demonstrated shorter telomeres are widely associated with a broad range of aging-related diseases, including many forms of cancer, stroke, vascular dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis and diabetes. But the good news is that the UCSF study shows that living a healthy and happy lifestyle can make a difference.

In the study, researchers followed thirty-five men for five years who were diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer, exploring the relationship between comprehensive lifestyle changes, telomere length and telomerase activity. Ten of the patients underwent major lifestyle changes including eating a plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables unrefined grains, and low in fat and refined carbohydrates. This group also began a regime of moderate exercise, such as thirty minutes of daily walking, as well as stress reduction that included yoga, breathing, and meditation. They also participated in weekly group support to aid in their emotional recovery. They were then compared to the other twenty-five participants who were not asked to make any significant lifestyle changes.

Remarkably, without any direct medical intervention, the group that underwent major lifestyle changes experienced a “significant” increase in telomere length, as much as ten percent in all cases.

In addition, the more these changes were sustained, the more dramatic the improvements in telomere length. When researches compared the results to the control group who made no changes to their lifestyle, this group demonstrated measurably shorter telomeres over the five-year period, with as much as 3 percent overall reduction.

And the researchers say the results are likely not at all limited to prostate cancer, but are rather likely to be relevant to general overall health and aging as well.

“Our genes, and our telomeres, are not necessarily our fate,” said lead researcher Dr. Dean Ornish, MD, UCSF professor of medicine, and founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute. “So often people think ‘Oh, I have bad genes, there’s nothing I can do about it. But these findings indicate that telomeres may lengthen to the degree that people change how they live, and research indicates that longer telomeres are associated with fewer illnesses and longer life.”

It’s good to know that each of us has the power to make it happen.

In fact, molecular biologist Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn is on a mission to ensure just that.

Professor Elizabeth H. Blackburn, PhD. is a Nobel Laureate and Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology, in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). An extraordinary leader in the area of telomere and telomerase research, Dr. Blackburn discovered the molecular nature of telomeres and their essential nature for preserving the genetic information and co-discovered the ribonucleoprotein enzyme, telomerase. These highly impressive accomplishments along with a Nobel Prize are pretty lofty professional accomplishments, and most researchers would have been satisfied to rest right here on their laurels. However, Dr. Blackburn was increasingly frustrated that the extremely important health implications of her work just weren’t reaching beyond academia to benefit the general public. So she teamed up with noted psychologist Dr. Elissa Epel, PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at University of California, San Francisco, to publish her findings in a new book called The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, providing readers with a compelling scientific case to motivate towards heathy lifestyle choices.

In their book, the main message the authors want to express is that we all have much more control over our aging than we may imagine.

Along with Dr. Blackburn’s impressive body of cellular research, Dr. Epel provides highly complementary insight from her studies of psychological, social, and behavioral effects of chronic stress, and its acceleration of biological aging, with a focus on the telomere/telomerase maintenance system. She has also conducted numerous clinical trials to examine the effects of meditation and mindfulness practice on cellular aging.

Now a New York Times bestseller, The Telomere Effect has more than accomplished Dr. Blackburn’s goal of getting the message out to the public. It provides exhaustive research in the study of cellular regeneration and empowers readers by showing us just how specific lifestyle and psychological habits can protect the telomeres of our cells, slowing disease and improving our overall quality of life.

And while a great many factors contribute to aging and illness, the authors’ cutting-edge research skillfully provides the science behind the long-hypothesized telomere mind-body connection, providing the scientific proof that shows how every aspect of our life and lifestyle—from what we eat and the quality of our sleep, to chronic stress, negative thoughts, and even strained relationships, can all have a profound impact on our cells. The authors encourage us to reassess how we live our lives on a day-to-day basis and to make the necessary changes that help us “turn back the clock” so to speak, deep at a cellular level, allowing us to keep our cells healthy, stay disease-free longer, and live more vital and meaningful lives in a hyperconnected perpetually busy age.

And guess what, you don’t even need a smart phone app or other techno-gadget to do it.

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Copyright© Written by Marina Rose
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Marina Rose is the founder and developer of QDNA^®, Quantum DNA Acceleration^®, a revolutionary new technique for quantum growth in life and business. QDNA® uses the latest cutting edge science in Neuroplasticity and DNA Reprogramming to develop plans of action that activate solutions for you and your business needs. It compounds Quantum Field principles, Positive Psychology, and Epigenetics, in a powerful new technique to assist you to achieve desired results. Accelerate your life and business now.

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