Just how much do you want to live a long, long life?
You’re already eating properly (well, most of the
time), you keep fit (when you remember) and you
don’t smoke, having given up successfully many
times. What other lengths are you prepared to go to?
In the past, people tried many different methods to
promote their longevity, some more pleasant than
others. Did you know, for example, that Taoist sexual
practices, if performed correctly, are supposed to
confer immortality? Over the centuries humans have
tried to live longer by eating such things as
rattlesnakes, caterpillar fungus and bee pollen.
They’ve drunk mercury, tea mushroom extract and
colostrum, the first milk of new mothers.
Nowadays we know a lot more about strategies that
can really work. Here are some of the more unusual
ones.


10
Starve Yourself

Scientists observed as long ago as 1934 that lab rats
fed near-starvation diets lived much longer than
expected. This effect was confirmed by an
experiment carried out by R. Weindruch and others
using mice in 1986. Since then nearly every species
tested has given the same result. As long as the
essential nutrients are given animals live longer on a
diet that keeps them hungry but alive.
Now humans are trying it for themselves. The CR
Society is a group of people dedicated to prolonging
their lives by living on a reduced calorie diet. People
who embark on this diet do exhibit many anti-aging
effects, such as lower insulin resistance and reduced
blood pressure.
Also, one of the longest-lived peoples in the world,
the Okinawans, practice calorie restriction as part of
their culture. Known as hara hachi bu, their custom is
to stop eating before they are full, and they eat only
about 1200 calories a day.
So, starve yourself to life? Maybe. How much you’ll
enjoy that life without your favorite nibbles is
another question.


9
Learn a Language

A well-functioning brain is key to a long and happy
life. It becomes hard to make good decisions about
your health and care for your own well-being as your
brain shows the effects of aging.
A number of studies have shown that the ability to
speak two or more languages significantly slows the
onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s, two fatal diseases
of old age. Dr. Fergus Craik and others of the Rotman
Research Institute, Toronto, found in a study of 200
patients that those who had spoken two or more
languages for many years had delayed onset of
Alzheimer’s, in some cases up to five years.
This may be because speaking two languages creates
a greater brain reserve, or ability to function
normally despite damage. Certainly the cognitive
benefits of bilingualism, such as better executive
function, are well known.
This effect was seen even in people who had learned
another language as an adult.


8
Live on a Mountain

People living on mountains live longer. It’s as simple
as that. Whether you’re talking about long-lived
communities in the US, seven out of ten of which are
in high-country Colorado counties, or the tiny
Sardinian mountain town of Ovodda, where as many
men as women live to be 100, there can be little
question that that fresh mountain air does you good.
Or maybe it’s because if you live on a mountainside
at least half of your walking is uphill. That would be
giving your heart a good workout whenever you set
foot outside your front door. Whatever it is, just
moving to the mountains could give you extra years
of life.
And you get to see beautiful scenery every day.


7
Get Religion

Only the good die young? Well, it’s a sad fact that
whatever god(s) you believe in want to keep you on
this Earth a few years longer than our atheist friends.
Many studies have shown a positive correlation
between religious belief and good health. In a meta-
analysis of 42 independent studies Michael E.
McCullough of the National Institute for Healthcare
Research found that the likelihood of mortality when
participants were followed up was higher among the
non-religious group.
The Seventh Day Adventists living in Loma Linda,
California are a case in point. They are the long-lived
community in the US, even the ones who don’t follow
the vegetarian diet mandated by the church.
Whether this is due to the better levels of social
support provided within religious communities or
divine intervention is still not known.


6
Gene Therapy

Okay, this isn’t available just yet, but in 2012
scientists at the Spanish National Cancer Research
Centre managed to prolong the natural lifespan of
mice by up to 24% through gene therapy. The good
news is that the treatment was carried out on adult
mice. Previously the scientists had managed to alter
mouse embryo genes to confer a longer life, but
treating human beings in this way is unlikely to be
judged ethical.
Protip – the younger you’re treated the better. The
mice treated aged one lived longer than older mice
receiving the same treatment.


5
Get Rich

Sorry, were you thinking of getting rid of all your
personal possessions and living a simple life, free of
the trappings of consumerism? If you want to live a
long time, think again. Wealth and long, healthy living
is positively correlated all around the world. Poorer
countries have predictably lower life expectancies
because their governments have less money to
spend on health care, but even within rich countries
the rich live longer than the poor.
So you may want to reconsider getting out of the rat
race. The ‘haves’ really do have it better than the
‘have nots’.


4
Work Hard and Be Stressed

More bad news. The Longevity Project, a study which
analyzed eighty years’ worth of information,
beginning in 1921, on group of 1,500 children, found
some surprising information. Those children who
were happy-go-lucky, carefree, and had a good sense
of humor lived shorter lives than those who more
serious, persistent and prudent. As adults, these
people were the most involved with and committed
to their jobs. So you might want to stop all that
kidding around.
This confounds earlier findings that happiness and
health go hand in hand. Yes, they do, but probably
people are happy because they’re healthy, not the
other way round.


3
Take Drugs – The Right Kind

The yearning for eternal youth has enabled many a
fast buck to be made over millennia, selling
medications supposed to prolong life. But there
really are drugs in existence that increase longevity
in animals and probably would in humans too.
One of these is rapamycin. A study undertaken by
David E. Harrison and others published in Nature in
2009 showed that mice lifespans were increased by
up to 14% by treating them with this drug.
There has to be a catch? Yes, rapamycin is prescribed
to organ transplant patients to help prevent rejection
by suppressing their immune systems. A suppressed
immune system puts you at a greater risk of
developing cancer.
But the work with rapamycin shows us that the
prospect of taking a daily pill to increase your life
expectancy isn’t an impossible dream.


2
Grow New Body Parts

When you die, it’s often just one vital part of your
body that fails, while the rest of you is in good
working order. What if you could pre-grow new
organs ready for when your current ones bail on you?
The technology to do this is already here. Doctors
have been growing new skin for years, and have
recently branched out into trickier organs such as the
heart and bladder. The advantage of this technology
is that the tissue is grown from the patient’s own
cells, so there is no risk of rejection.
The most recent breakthrough has been seen in the
use of 3D printers that use computer imagery to
create cell-based structures that are an exact copy
and so fit perfectly in to the patient’s body.
Unfortunately it isn’t possible to grow yourself a new
brain, because your current brain contains all your
memories and experiences, so a new one would be
more like a blank slate than the real you. But
replacing other defunct organs is no longer in the
realms of science fiction.


1
Do Some Good in the World

It shouldn’t be all me, me, me, though. Paradoxically,
one of the best ways you can help yourself is to help
others. A review of more than thirty longitudinal
studies carried out by the Corporation for National
and Community Service found that volunteering
increases your life expectancy significantly, especially
if you’re doing it for purely altruistic reasons.
Not only that, volunteering builds your social
networks, and having a host of friends around you in
your old age also helps you live longer. The same
effect isn’t noted for family relations, though. What’s
that saying, you can choose your friends..?

SOURCE::: www.listverse.com/2012/05/31/10-unusual-ways-to-live-longer/?utm_source=more&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=direct

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