All About Life Extension

The Life Extension is movement which refers to increase in maximum or average lifespan, especially in humans. The person who supports the Life Extension movement is called life extensionist. Average Lifespan is determined depending on the several factors, such as exposure to accidents and age-related health problems such as cancer or cardiovascular disease. Extension of average lifespan can be achieved by doing daily exercise, taking good diet and avoiding excessive eating of sugar-containing foods and smoking. Maximum lifespan is determined by the rate of aging for a species inherent in its genetic code. Calorie restriction is the only recognized method of extending maximum life span. Theoretically, extension of maximum Lifespan can be achieved by molecular repair or rejuvenation of deteriorated cells and tissues, or by periodic replacement of damaged tissues etc.

The researchers of life extension as well as biogerontologists known as "biomedical gerontologists". These people are trying to understand the aging and they develop treatments to reverse nature of aging processes or at least to slow them down, for the improvement of health and the maintenance of youthful vigor at every stage of life. "Life extensionists" are the people who apply the Life Extension findings on themselves. The primary life extension strategy currently is to apply available anti-aging methods in the hope of living long enough to benefit from a complete cure to aging once it is developed, which given the rapidly advancing state of biogenetic and general medical technology, could conceivably occur within the lifetimes of people living today.

Many biomedical gerontologists and life extensionists believe that future breakthroughs in tissue rejuvenation with stem cells, organs replacement and molecular repair will eliminate all aging and disease as well as allow for complete rejuvenation to a youthful condition. Many Life Extensionists arrange to be cryonically preserved upon legal death so that they can await the time when future medicine can eliminate disease, rejuvenate them to a lasting youthful condition and repair damage caused by the cryonics process.

Strategies of Life Extension:

Anti-aging nutritional supplementation and medicine:

Most of the anti-aging medicines has been concerned with the use of nutritional supplements to extend lifespan. Antioxidant supplements, such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, lipoic acid and N-acetylcysteine, might extend human Life stems from the free radical theory of aging. Diabetes resembles accelerated aging and is associated with cross-linking of proteins by sugars. Some believe that anti-glycating supplements (supplements that reduce the protein cross-linking by monosaccharides), such as carnosine, pyridoxamine, benfotiamin and lysine, might reduce aging.

Hormone replacement therapy: This therapy aims at restoring youthful levels of hormone, projesterone, melatonin, estrogen, testosterone, DHEA and thyroid(all of which go down with age) has also been tried as means of reducing the effects ogf aging. Some supplements have been shown to be of benefit against some aging-related disease conditions, or have extended average lifespan. Calorie restriction and supplementation with the minerals zinc, selenium and chromium have been shown to extend maximum lifespan.

Calorie Restriction: The restriction of energy intake, or calories, in an otherwise healthy diet has been shown to extend the maximum lifespan of almost every species on which it has been tested, including rats, yeast, fruit flies, and nematodes. In rodents, a roughly 50% maximum Life Extension is seen with a roughly 50% restriction of calories from what would be consumed by freely-feeding animals.