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As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

arstechnica.com

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Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#41

Post by shrimp_emoji »

glibgil wrote: post #21
ShabbosGoy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to metabolism. As you age, your metabolism slows. Coenzymes like NAD+[0] are depleted. [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/nrneph.2017.5

Right, so just back up a step and stop the metabolism from slowing

Or cut the knot. Upload mind to digital facsimile.

Die, per nature's capricious designs.

Robo-you lives smugly without any of this nonsense and can be resurrected if the power cuts out and sent across the stars at light speed with no need for fuel or supplies--breathes

... to somewhere without air.

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#42

Post by Waterluvian »

evo_9 wrote: post #37
ransom1538 wrote: post #9

I always think of these two monkeys[i] when I consider slowing down my age. [i] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

Yeah I have gone and done it, I have decreased my calories by roughly 30% in the past year or so and dropped around 30 pounds in the process, plus an aggressive vitamin and supplement routine, along with taking metformin. I also workout 7 days a week including playing hockey 2, sometimes 3 days (and also working out before or after), the group I skate with is highly skilled and the intensity is pretty up there, I've…

That's great. But that seems like a large commitment. I don't want to die at 70 but I also don't intend on spending my life thinking and working hard on prolonging it.

I'm kind of taking the 80 / 20 approach to living healthy. Don't smoke. Don't eat too too much. Sleep well. See the doctor each year. I'll let you know how it goes.

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#43

Post by [deleted] »

mysterypie wrote: post #34
ransom1538 wrote: post #9

I always think of these two monkeys[i] when I consider slowing down my age. [i] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

It's an interesting well-written article, but you realize that their main point was that it contradicts the earlier calorie-restriction study: "The Nature authors found no increase in lifespan; the calorically restricted animals lived no longer, statistically, than their well-fed cousins." They try to reconcile the studies: maybe it's the natural-ingredient foods vs the refined foods, maybe it's the generous diet vs…

[deleted]

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#44

Post by njarboe »

mysterypie wrote: post #34
ransom1538 wrote: post #9

I always think of these two monkeys[i] when I consider slowing down my age. [i] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

It's an interesting well-written article, but you realize that their main point was that it contradicts the earlier calorie-restriction study: "The Nature authors found no increase in lifespan; the calorically restricted animals lived no longer, statistically, than their well-fed cousins." They try to reconcile the studies: maybe it's the natural-ingredient foods vs the refined foods, maybe it's the generous diet vs…

I think that individual genetics and behaviors are very important for these kind of health studies. Some things are quite clear and apply to all humans. For example: you need vitamin C in your diet or you will get scurvy. Then less general rules that might not apply to you given your genetics and behavior. Vitamin D supplements? Maybe, but probably won't hurt. Drinking Milk? Very variable on its benefits and costs to different people. Down to things that some people should do and others should not do depending on genetics and behavior (most studies these days).

Massive individual genetic testing and constant cellphone behavior monitoring might be able to produce decent studies in the future for your specific attributes, but for now advice from parents and grandparents may be the best you can do.

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#45

Post by Thriptic »

Isn't this a bit of an oversimplification? It's not like if you knock out p53 and something else you instantly get a metastatic tumor. Granted if you remove key tumor suppressor genes your probability of mutations persisting skyrockets, but that in itself doesn't create a dangerous tumor. You need many more mutations than 2 to be able to acquire the functionality to grow, persist, escape the local environment, and establish a foot hold in a new environment.

Here is the classic review paper on tumor formation: http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(11)00127-9

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#47

Post by csallen »

d1zzy wrote: post #39
evo_9 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I have gone and done it, I have decreased my calories by roughly 30% in the past year or so and dropped around 30 pounds in the process, plus an aggressive vitamin and supplement routine, along with taking metformin. I also workout 7 days a week including playing hockey 2, sometimes 3 days (and also working out before or after), the group I skate with is highly skilled and the intensity is pretty up there, I've…

(this may be an unpopular opinion but...) The problem with having a healthy lifestyle is that our lives aren't statistics. Big number theory does not apply, we only have one draw, one life and if it happens that we are one of those unlucky ones to get lung cancer while never having smoked or generally lead a healthy life then we still die within a year and there's nothing we can do about it. Any drastic lifestyle cha…

I have two ways of thinking about death that I've found helpful.

The first is to sincerely imagine that I will die in 10 years. That's far enough away not to require drastic changes in my life — I still want to work hard on something that I'm passionate about — but close enough to remind me not to fuck around and take these years for granted. There's also a bonus that, if I do happen to run into some bad luck and have my life expectancy cut short, then it won't come as such a shock, because I've been living like it's my last decade anyway. And if that doesn't come to pass and I live a normal life, I'll feel more gratitude for it.

The second trick I use is to imagine that reincarnation is true, but that instead of "coming back" as plankton or a bug or another person, I come back as me and relive my life, over and over again, forever. In that situation, I'd want to optimize to have a great quality of life, and spend as little of it as possible worrying about my inevitable death, or agonizing over things that have gone wrong in my past. Since my rebirth is inevitable, I'd just be dooming myself to future agonizing. It sounds morbid, but I've found that this helps me to recover a bit when I feel down about something.

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#48

Post by HugoDaniel »

evo_9 wrote: post #37
ransom1538 wrote: post #9

I always think of these two monkeys[i] when I consider slowing down my age. [i] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

Yeah I have gone and done it, I have decreased my calories by roughly 30% in the past year or so and dropped around 30 pounds in the process, plus an aggressive vitamin and supplement routine, along with taking metformin. I also workout 7 days a week including playing hockey 2, sometimes 3 days (and also working out before or after), the group I skate with is highly skilled and the intensity is pretty up there, I've…

Did you try https://how-old.net/ ? It usually doesn't care about hurting your feelings.

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#49

Post by andai »

csallen wrote: post #47
d1zzy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(this may be an unpopular opinion but...) The problem with having a healthy lifestyle is that our lives aren't statistics. Big number theory does not apply, we only have one draw, one life and if it happens that we are one of those unlucky ones to get lung cancer while never having smoked or generally lead a healthy life then we still die within a year and there's nothing we can do about it. Any drastic lifestyle cha…

I have two ways of thinking about death that I've found helpful. The first is to sincerely imagine that I will die in 10 years. That's far enough away not to require drastic changes in my life — I still want to work hard on something that I'm passionate about — but close enough to remind me not to fuck around and take these years for granted. There's also a bonus that, if I do happen to run into some bad luck and hav…

What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!"

Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: "You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine." If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, "Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?" would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science

Re: As we age, cancer rates go up as immune system winds down

#50

Post by drcross »

mysterypie wrote: post #34
ransom1538 wrote: post #9

I always think of these two monkeys[i] when I consider slowing down my age. [i] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

It's an interesting well-written article, but you realize that their main point was that it contradicts the earlier calorie-restriction study: "The Nature authors found no increase in lifespan; the calorically restricted animals lived no longer, statistically, than their well-fed cousins." They try to reconcile the studies: maybe it's the natural-ingredient foods vs the refined foods, maybe it's the generous diet vs…

>I never find that these kinds of studies lead to correct and actionable information about how to slow down aging or how to lead your life.

I think the modern life has maxed out as much life extension as we are going to get from our nutrition and lifestyle. We need to do interventional genetic modification to see any further improvements.

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