Three Not-So-Bad Things on Aging and Longevity
A Weekly Newsletter
There’s no denying it: we are constantly bombarded with bad news. A pandemic, climate change, inflation, war, political discord—the list goes on. Here at the Longevity Project, we understand that bad news can be enough to take years off your life, so we want to do our part (however small) to balance the scales.
At the end of the day, though, we’re realists. Good news is hard to come by, no matter how hard you look. So we’ll aim a little lower and without further ado, we are pleased to share our first weekly newsletter: Three Not-So-Bad Things on Longevity and Aging. Feel free to share with others and send us items you want to see included. With some luck, you will see this newsletter (and some more not so bad news) every Wednesday.
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January 15, 2025
1. The Iguana Was Not a Cake.
Tired of trying to keep up on the latest in fitness and nutrition? Worried that you’ll miss out if you devote your leisure time to watching Is It Cake? on Netflix, rather than boning up on the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine? We got you (at least this week) with two new studies that caught our eye:
It's better to be fit than thin is the conclusion of a comprehensive study published last week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Being out of shape and being overweight have both long been considered markers for increased risks of premature mortality, but the new study suggests that we should focus principally on fitness rather than weight. According to the findings, which were based on a worldwide review of past studies, being out of shape doubled or tripled the risk of dying prematurely, whatever your age or body mass index. But someone who is obese but aerobically fit was about half as likely to die young as someone whose weight was normal but had poor aerobic fitness. Comparatively fit people of any weight were likely to have the same rates of all-cause mortality. So, if you are still pondering that New Year’s Resolution, our advice is to start with that long walk rather than bypassing dessert.
And if you are pondering that resolution over a piping hot cup of coffee, better to do that in the morning, according to a new study published in the European Heart Journal. The research found that people who drink their coffee in the morning had a lower risk of heart disease and all-cause mortality than the average person, but that advantage disappeared if coffee was consumed throughout the day. It’s not known exactly why this is the case, though some researchers believe that morning coffee may better align with the body's natural sleep and wake cycles and may be more effective in reducing inflammation, which tends to be higher in the morning. It is also possible that the connection is more correlative than causative, due to the possibility, as some experts have also suggested, that people who happen to drink coffee in the morning have for unrelated reasons better sleep patterns overall and healthier lifestyles.
2. TikTok, The End May Be Drawing Near.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in TikTok v. Garland, a last-ditch effort to forestall the implementation of a new law that would require TikTok to sever its relationship with Byte Dance, its Chinese parent company, or stop service in the United States. A decision is expected this week, before the January 19th deadline in the law, but Supreme Court observers have generally predicted that TikTok will lose the case.
What that means is rather hotly debated but it does seem likely to have an unfortunate and immediate impact on the growing group of Grandfluencers, who have been working to reshape the understanding of the public, especially among young TikTok consumers, of what it means to grow old. We’re particularly partial to Retirement House, which has almost 6 million followers on TikTok, but not to be missed also is Grandma Droniak (14.6 million followers) and the Old Gays (10.8 million followers). Oh well, there’s always Instagram.
3. We Didn't Even Make It To Quitting Friday.
One of our New Year’s Resolutions was to never, ever write anything again about Bryan Johnson, the oddly fascinating tech entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to living as long as possible, even if that means giving up on some of the pleasures in life (like eating after 11 am), taking dozens of supplements a day, and otherwise making life as an uninteresting and uncomfortable as possible.
Well, so much for that resolution, as Johnson has made “news”, by announcing that he is abandoning rapamycin, an anti-cancer drug that has drawn interest from longevity enthusiasts because of its reported positive longevity effects on mice. Johnson has been taking rapamycin off-label for a number of years, but discontinued it in November as he was experiencing occasional skin and soft tissue infections, abnormal levels of fats in his blood, elevated blood sugar, and a higher resting heart rate.
We don’t wish Johnson ill, though judging from comment pages, plus lots and lots of mean-spirited posts on X, we are in the minority in that respect, but this again confirms the nonscientific and potentially dangerous aspects of his lifelong experiment in super longevity. Our advice instead is to chill out, have a nice cup of morning coffee, and get some exercise. You may or may not live longer than someone taking 60 supplements a day, but you will certainly enjoy those years more.
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