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Does the human lifespan have a limit?

nature.com

211–220 of 227 posts

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#211
post #105

My grandparents are now 95 and 96 (just shy of their 75th wedding anniversary). They are wonderful people, but it is clear that life is hard for them now. They have chronic pain and nothing can really be done about it. They have very limited opportunities for enjoyment or activity. Watching them, and also my mother struggle with health issues at 73, has really changed my perspective on aging. I am very focused on enj…

I have a gut feeling that as physical medicine has advanced faster than neuro or psychiatric medicine, people will live long enough to want to die, and euthanasia (self or pre arranged) will become acceptable, even normal. I would choose to give my children financial benefits instead of years of late life medicine, even if I could afford to live over 100.

I would love for quality of life to improve so you could enjoy until, say 100, and then euthanize. The two problems i see are:

- Retirement age will likely be pushed until 80-85, to avoid long pensions.

- Young people will find it harder to get a job, even harder to get a well-paid one.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#212
post #105

My grandparents are now 95 and 96 (just shy of their 75th wedding anniversary). They are wonderful people, but it is clear that life is hard for them now. They have chronic pain and nothing can really be done about it. They have very limited opportunities for enjoyment or activity. Watching them, and also my mother struggle with health issues at 73, has really changed my perspective on aging. I am very focused on enj…

That's where my grandparents are right now. They retired in their early 60s, and they have a solid income between ss, pension, and 401k, but their healthcare takes up more-and-more of that money and they still struggle with their health. And just what have they done with their 30-odd years since they retired? They didn’t travel, pick up new hobbies, or finish their educations. Retirement isn’t my goal. I want to work…

An old guy driving a car very fast would be a sight to behold. Most have slow reflexes and vision problems.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the comment also said that this person’s views aren’t taken seriously in the aging research community. So the combination of their ideas and a desire to profit from them raises flags.

I don't think Harvard would let Sinclair have a lab with some 35 people and publish articles under their name if he was a total fraud/quack. My impression of Sinclair is that he likes public attention too much and often reports on work in progress with too much certainty, but results like this [1] seem to be fairly impressive. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2975-4

Counterpoint from someone more educated (with a more precise conclusion that he is "not evidence based")

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1492902239312039938.html

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#214
post #105

My grandparents are now 95 and 96 (just shy of their 75th wedding anniversary). They are wonderful people, but it is clear that life is hard for them now. They have chronic pain and nothing can really be done about it. They have very limited opportunities for enjoyment or activity. Watching them, and also my mother struggle with health issues at 73, has really changed my perspective on aging. I am very focused on enj…

I remember my grandpa in the hospital after it was deemed surgery was unlikely to succeed and he decided to try to sit up which seemed to be quite difficult/painful and he says “well that’s the last time I sit up”. And he was correct.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#215
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eventually we will fix all these issues. The only deaths will be freak accidents or killings/suicides. Youth forever. We're less than a hundred years away from that kind of tech, I believe.

That is essentially a religious belief with no scientific basis.

No, it's not. We are machines, we can be fixed. Just a matter of when, not if.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's where my grandparents are right now. They retired in their early 60s, and they have a solid income between ss, pension, and 401k, but their healthcare takes up more-and-more of that money and they still struggle with their health. And just what have they done with their 30-odd years since they retired? They didn’t travel, pick up new hobbies, or finish their educations. Retirement isn’t my goal. I want to work…

An old guy driving a car very fast would be a sight to behold. Most have slow reflexes and vision problems.

My 70 year old father-in-law driving his Tesla s plaid would like a word

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect or at least incorrectly stated with respect to the word "you". I didn't start running regularly until my late 40's and I loathed nearly every step for the first year but my fitness and enjoyment levels slowly improved especially after discovering trail running. I started participating in ultra trail races after a couple years and found a wonderful community of people enjoying an activity all around…

If you had followed the exact same fitness regimen when you were 25, you would have seen better results: higher speeds, more endurance, shorter recovery times, etc. That’s why I mentioned sports: even people who have worked out their whole lives, at the top of their sports, see declines in physical performance as they age. Congrats on getting in shape. Relative improvements in physical fitness are beneficial and poss…

Obviously had I started from an earlier point, I may have achieved a higher overall peak performance level but that isn't the point I was addressing. Nothing reverses entropy that we know of but that isn't the point either. The point is that saying "you can’t do at 50 what you could do at 25" is patently wrong. I point this out simply because many people have an incorrect perception of their ability to alter their fitness via lifestyle changes.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#218
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dr. Sinclair's book Lifespan ( https://www.amazon.com/Lifespan-Why-Age_and-Dont-Have/dp/150... ) talks about extending the health span of people. I've been personally taking 1g/day of NMN for almost 3 years now, and I feel like aging has paused or is going backwards slowly.

I'm going to save you some money. What really works well and better than taking NMN orally( ), eat a natural clean whole food diet (no pufa's or processed food), no alcohol or smoking and walk or do some sort of light exercise for about 30-60 minutes a day. I am willing to bet it will do more for you than taking NMN. Peter Attia has discussed this with folks who know a lot more than Sinclair and they have concluded t…

but what if I do all of the above?

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#219
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't bother. Sinclair is considered a quack by even some life-extension enthusiasts. He owns part of the company that makes patented NMN which is just another form of NR which is a another form of very cheap Niacin. He also owns part of the company that claims he is rolling back his biological clock. That's not science, that's marketing and profiteering. NAD production slows down with age and illness. All he is doin…

I am doing some experiments with NR (no Sinclair in the business chain AFAIK) and pterostilbene and my ability to exercise has improved noticeably. I am 43 and I used to be fairly sore after a strenuous 60 minute exercise - especially my sinews were bad. This wasn't getting any better with more exercise, actually it was slowly getting worse with age, to the degree that I wasn't able to exercise in two consecutive day…

I had a similar response doing a mostly vegan calorie restricted low protein diet. I was blown away because I had always been told protein = recovery, calories = recovery, but I have been able to rock climb pretty hard 6 days a week for the past 4 months now. Keto, general healthy eating, tons of supplements and all the other things I have tried have resulted in maybe 3-4 hard sessions a week and achy joints.

Re: Does the human lifespan have a limit?

#220
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people doing most community spreading weren't the 90 year olds.

Statistically, there are more people younger than 90 than older, so I don't dispute your statement, but I don't see your point. Is this to justify them breaking isolation? My understanding of the parent is that it is rational to break isolation because the likelihood of death from other causes is so high already. If the hypothetical 90 year old lived alone (aside from visiting family), then maybe it might adds up tha…

From my experience the 85+ year olds were mostly isolating at home, the 0-50 year olds out and about in schools, shops, restaurants etc. I'm not sure you needed regulations on the 85+ at all as most are not party animals and the risk of dying for them probably outweighs potential government fines.
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