{"id":9682,"date":"2017-09-21T18:20:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T00:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/?p=9682"},"modified":"2017-09-25T12:32:05","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T18:32:05","slug":"like-jack-benny-im-39-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/21\/like-jack-benny-im-39-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Like Jack Benny, I’m 39 Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may have heard that 60 is the new 40. I\u2019ve generally interpreted that as Unlike previous generations, we didn\u2019t save enough for retirement and now we have to work until we die.<\/em><\/p>\n

Okay, that may be overstating it. I know the idea is that today\u2019s 60-year-olds want to live and feel more like 40-year-olds. Trouble is, plenty of recent studies suggest that the baby-boomers are sicker than their parents were at the same age, largely because of the rise in type 2 diabetes and other features of metabolic syndrome.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll turn 60 in just under 14 months. I don\u2019t know what 60 is supposed to feel like, but I know I feel better at 58 than I did at 38. I\u2019ve also had more than a few people express surprise when they learn my age and tell me they had me pegged at 40-something.<\/p>\n

Well, heck, it turns out my DNA thinks it\u2019s only 39. That\u2019s some wildly optimistic DNA … or perhaps I’ve got a Jack Benny thing going on, turning 39 yet again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Anyway, those are the results of my TeloYears<\/a> test. If they\u2019re legit, then I guess 60 will be the new 40 for me. Chareva will turn 45 in a few weeks, so now I feel like I\u2019m hanging around with a hot older chick \u2026 although as she reminded me, we don\u2019t know her TeloYears age.\u00a0 My daughter Alana also wondered if there’s a separate test for my maturity level.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I paid no attention to telomeres until someone at TeloYears got in touch to ask if I\u2019d like to try the test. It\u2019s a simple matter of filling out a form and sending in a blood sample, so I said sure, why not? But I still didn\u2019t read up on exactly what telomeres are.<\/p>\n

Here are some quotes from the literature they sent along with my results:<\/p>\n

TeloYears is a simple genetic test that reveals the cellular age encoded in your DNA, allowing you to assess how well you are aging at the cellular level.<\/p>\n

The TeloYears test measures one thing: the length of your telomeres, which are the protective caps on the ends of your DNA that tend to shorten with age. To calculate your age in TeloYears, we use proprietary scientific methods to measure your telomere length, and statistical methods to determine your age in TeloYears, based on the average length of other people of the same age and gender.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hmmm \u2026 my concern was that this might be like those online IQ tests that declare everyone a genius. So I did some poking around online and found an interview with the woman who won the Nobel Prize<\/a> for her discovery of and research into telomeres. Here are some quotes:<\/p>\n

If you think of your chromosomes \u2013 which carry your genetic material \u2013 as shoelaces, telomeres are the little protective tips at the end. They are made of repeating short sequences of DNA sheathed in special proteins.<\/p>\n

During our lives they tend to wear down and when telomeres can\u2019t protect chromosomes properly, cells can\u2019t replenish and they malfunction. This sets up physiological changes in the body which increase risks of the major conditions and diseases of ageing: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, a weakened immune system and more. But the process is somewhat malleable. It is happening in all of us at some rate, but the rate can change. An enzyme called telomerase can add DNA to the ends of chromosomes to slow, prevent and partially reverse the shortening.<\/p>\n

We all have health spans \u2013 the number of years we remain healthy, active and disease-free \u2013 and the shortening of our telomeres contributes to ageing and our entry from health span into disease span. But we can [do things that] affect our telomerase and telomeres, that can [delay] entry from health span to disease span. So we are talking more about keeping people healthier for longer and staving off some diseases of ageing. This is not about extreme life span extension \u2013 though of course staying healthier longer does have a reflection in mortality rates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, okay. So according to my results, I have the telomere length of the average 39-year-old male, and that means I\u2019m aging slowly \u2013 assuming the science is all legit.<\/p>\n

If it is, I\u2019m going to be honest and blame a big part of my results on lucky genes, much as I\u2019d like to credit my diet and lifestyle. A lot of people in my family lived to a ripe old age \u2013 in fact, other than the ones who shortened their lifespans with smoking and\/or heavy drinking, they all seemed to live to a ripe old age.<\/p>\n

My great-grandfather, to name one shining example, lived to age 101 and was mentally sharp until the last couple of years. Chareva and I got to know his daughter (my great-aunt) when we lived in Los Angeles.\u00a0 She was 96 and still sharp as a tack when we first met her.\u00a0 I remember her complaining that people in her family live too long; all her friends in Los Angeles had passed away years earlier.<\/p>\n

Apparently, some wing of my dad\u2019s side of the family took the normal 80-year aging program and stretched it out to 100 years. From what I\u2019ve read online, most guys reach their full adult height by 17 or 18. I was only 5\u20198\u201d when I was 17. I didn\u2019t stop getting taller until age 23, when I finally hit exactly 6\u20190\u201d. (I\u2019ve since shrunk to 5\u201911\u201d despite having DNA that thinks it\u2019s only 39.)<\/p>\n

Of course, I believe diet also plays a part. Although I didn\u2019t start seriously cutting back on carbs until my 40s, I\u2019d pretty much given up sugary sodas, candies, pies, cookies, cakes, donuts, etc. by the time I was 20. Sugary stuff just didn\u2019t appeal to me anymore, and given that I tended to feel like crap when I did indulge, I was convinced it couldn\u2019t be good for me.<\/p>\n

The TeloYears literature lists dietary tips for slowing the aging process, and avoiding sugar is one of them. Unfortunately, other tips appear to be straight from the USDA\/American Heart Association playbook. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n